Do my chickens need a lamp?

[nicksondag]

I think they're around 4 weeks old now and their lamp just broke. They're in a garage kept old water trough. Do I need to worry about it and buy a new lamp or are they fine?

 

[azygous]

How cold is it getting where you live? Have the chicks been weaned off heat during the day? Usually, at three weeks chicks no longer need heat during the day, and by four weeks, are good to go without at night as long as they've been easing off heat over the past several weeks.

If you've had these chicks under heat day and night and have not been weaning them gradually off heat since they were two weeks old, then they are not acclimatized to cool temps and will need heat until you properly wean them off it.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Are they fully feathered? What temperature were they at? What is the ambient temperature? Too big of a drop could be stressful. At 4 weeks they probably aren't fully feathered, so unless you are in a warmer climate I would get a new heat lamp for a few more weeks.

 

[nicksondag]

About 60-65 in the garage average and they've had the lamp 24/7

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We're you raising the lamp weekly? To lower their temperatures. They might be okay if you have been, but I would prefer to get a new lamp.