Does anyone turn the heat off?

[A.T. Hagan]

It's all about the chick behavior. They'll tell you if they are comfortable or not. No thermometer or thermostats needed.

This is what you're looking for:

Inside the house you probably don't need more than a 60-100w bulb and it gets warm in that room during the day you may even want to unplug it altogether.

This time of year in my brooders in the open part of my workshop I turn the lights off every day. Outside temperature will go into the nineties by about noon. Come dark I'll turn the lights back on. All of which are 65w floods. Anything larger is just too much heat. In the winter and spring I may use anything from 125-250 watts depending on the age of the chicks/poults and the current weather conditions.

 

[tiny529]

That diagram is very helpful... Thanks!

 

[ashleylancaster]

My Chicks Are About 3-4 Weeks Old And All I Do Is Put Them On The Front Porch When I Get Up And When I Bring Them In At Night They Have A Box With Cloth In It And I Also Cover The Cage With A Blanket. That Keeps Them Very Happy. Their Up At The Same Time Every Morning Ready To Play And Go To Bed About The Same Time Every Night.

 

[Blue]

I used an 85 watt red tinted flood light in the brooder in our basement. My chicks don't even have a light now. I put them outside at 2 weeks old (they're 4 weeks now) since it's summer time and the weather outside is just as warm, if not warmer, than their heat lamp was, and they've been fine in their outdoor pen (it has a roof and the back and one side are covered to help keep any rain or wind out). They all get up inside of an old ferret cage to sleep now, but I'm expecting they'll probably start roosting soon; they're getting a bit too big to all huddle in that cage at night for much longer. I leave the cage door open so they can get out into the pen and to the roosting poles if they want to, but they still put themselves to bed in that cage for now.

 

[tiny529]

It's about 80 degrees outside today... Mine are only a week old, so I'm assuming that's not warm enough. Still, there's no breeze to speak of, so I opened the windows on the other side of the room and turned their light off. According to the thermometer in here, it's about 88 degrees right next to their pen. If it gets much lower than that, I'll open the window closer to the brooder and turn the light back on.

 

[CupOJoe42]

I am using a Brinsea Ecoglow chick brooder which uses radiant heat. The chicks go under it when they are cold and come out when they want to eat or drink or play. It is only 18 watts and although it cost me about $65 delivered, I am saving so much in electricity. There is only a little indicator light on the top to tell you that it's working. The chicks love it and you can raise it to 3 different levels and even if you have it directly on wood or paper, it will not be hot enough to catch fire. There is a whole thread about them so if you are going to have chicks often, you might want to check into it!!

 

[Noymira]

For my brooder I used a 75W red bulb from the pet store, I found it where they sell supplies for lizards. A 250W would have been too much for our brooder.

 

[Blue]

Quote:
You know, with my 85 watt bulb, the brooder stayed at around 80 degrees, and my chicks did fine with that temp., were up eating and drinking and doing all the normal chick things. Since I put them outside at 2 weeks, we've had mostly days in the 80s and 90s, but most nights are in the 70s/60s, and they still seem to be quite content. Just go by your chicks. You could try leaving the light off for a while and see how the chicks react. If they go on like nothing has changed, then they probably don't need it to be as warm as the lamp was making it. I have one of the 250 watt lamps, but thankfully, I didn't even have to use it with this batch of chicks. You could also use a lower wattage bulb, and (depending on your setup), place a towel over part of the brooder to hold in heat.

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
Keep your eye on the calendar. You have five months and counting to buy these if you can find them. OR you can move to Texas where I see that they
are going to pass a state law to make this whole shutdown illegal.

I love Texas.. lol