Do you think they're cold?

[dennarahl]

My babies are 3.5 weeks old, and they seem to be blowing all the suggested temps out of the water. They already have very little supplemental heat, the bulb they have is 13W and it's 4 ft from the ground, so there is very little heat coming off of it for them, it's mostly for the light. This was fine in my craft room as it rarely got below 70 degrees in there. Today we moved them to the bunny room (yes, our bunnies have their own room in our house), and it's a colder room. Right now the temp about a foot from the center of the light halo is about 63F. This is them right now (the big clump is in the center of the light halo):


So what do you think?

They don't seem to be any closer or further apart than normal. Up until the move the 3-4 biggest ones always seemed hot, especially when sleeping, which is why we've moved them to a cooler room. We couldn't lower the temp in the other room because we've got the Littles in there. Gratuitous cute picture (Kirk, Picard, Riker, Spock):

 

[iLoveRoosters]

Yes, 63f is way too cold for baby chicks (even too cold for me, lol

) The temp. should be around 80f for that age of chicks. How is their poop? If the poop is watery then that means they're cold. Try to get the heat lamp a little closer to them, or you could get a stronger bulb.

 

[tec27]

Yes, 63f is way too cold for baby chicks (even too cold for me, lol

) The temp. should be around 80f for that age of chicks. How is their poop? If the poop is watery then that means they're cold. Try to get the heat lamp a little closer to them, or you could get a stronger bulb.

x2

 

[dennarahl]

Your comment about it being too cold for you made me realize that was a strange temp in my house. Sure enough the house temp had been turned way down. Doh!

I've been using the babies' response to heat as my guide to lower the temp in the brooder. When it gets over 75-80, several of them start panting. The brooder is 5 ft square and the light was in a corner when it was in the old room. Its centered in the back half now. I set up an electric heater in the room with the thermistat set to 72 so it wouldn't get any colder.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

My 2.5 week old chicks have been outside since they were about a week old. The heat lamps are keeping their hutch at about 85° under the light. The rest of the temps in the hutch depend on the outside temperature. They've been out there in temps as low as 45° still looking happy as little clams. Most of them aren't even sleeping under the lights. IMO- the recommended temps for chicks are bull hockey. Broodies chicks don't stay at a constant temperature, they also don't have that temperature lowered 5° every week. I try to raise my babies more like a chicken mama would. They've feathered out well using this method, ahead of where your older chickies are. Listen to them, if they're cold they'll peep. And they'll all huddle tight under the heat lamps source. Chicks are tough, alot tougher than we give them credit for

 

[halo]

Your chicks look just fine, they are fully feathered. Believe me, you will know if they are cold. They will huddle together, and they will yell at you!! They do not shut up when they are cold. They look perfectly comfortable to me.