First day home - sleep/water rotation/pasty butt

[MagistraTn]

we picked up 7 barred rocks this morning. Everything is going great, but they are super hyper! Will they settle down tonight? Should I leave the garage lights on for them? Am I going to get any sleep?I set up a camera and I’m certain I will be checking my phone from bed all night! At least one of them is repeatedly hopping up onto the top of the brooder, despite having a cone thingy that is supposed to prevent that. We are scrambling to find a cover for tonight just in case.

we had one case of pasty butt, and think we fixed her. We started with water with hydro hen, but somehow they spilled it. Cleaned up and gave fresh water with nutridrench. Then we found the pasty butt and I switched them to apple cider vinegar water solution.

how do I know if the brooder plate is the right height? They are coming and going and seem ok, but the (cheap) thermometer I have in there says 85-90 and they are bumping their heads a bit. They do seem close, but there are 7 under there and it’s not that big. I guess I think we are ok, just worrying that I’m over confident.

anyhow, I know people do this every day w/o trouble, I’m probably just overly nervous. It’s definitely reminding me of when my boys were newborn.

Adding some photos (still struggling to get good photos) they are jumping up onto the top of the feathers.

 

[Iluveggers]

Can you find an appliance box or watermelon bin? I used a watermelon bin (4ftx3ft) last year and it held my 15 for 4 weeks. I actually saved it as it was in good shape & didn’t get wet, and I saved 2 boxes we had furniture deliveries come in so I could make 2 brooders this year. (We have 22 chicks ordered plus a batch I’m hatching the same week).

Good luck!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Plate should be angled so one side is higher than the other, that'll allow the chicks to decide how much heat they need. Low side should be low enough so the chicks can sit under it and still touch it, high side should be high enough so they can touch it standing up.

They do not need light at night at all. My chicks are raised with a natural day/night cycle. At night they climb under their heat source and settle down quietly.

I was planning to make the lid into a top with hardware cloth, but need to get the cloth. (Thought I had a couple weeks!) I tried to remove a screen from a window for tonight, but…muh #cityslicker

Bird netting stretched taut and taped down securely to a frame will work. Or even chicken wire, though it's not as ideal due to opening size. But yes, definitely get a "lid" made as soon as possible.

 

[MagistraTn]

Plate should be angled so one side is higher than the other, that'll allow the chicks to decide how much heat they need. Low side should be low enough so the chicks can sit under it and still touch it, high side should be high enough so they can touch it standing up.

They do not need light at night at all. My chicks are raised with a natural day/night cycle. At night they climb under their heat source and settle down quietly.

Bird netting stretched taut and taped down securely to a frame will work. Or even chicken wire, though it's not as ideal due to opening size. But yes, definitely get a "lid" made as soon as possible.

Thank you. The plate is angled, I was worried because they were mostly standing around under there, but this morning I saw them settled down. All seven are looking good, but I suspect at least one rooster (it seems to stand up taller and strut with chest out). Maybe we over stimulated them yesterday, they are resting a lot this morning, but still coming out eating, drinking and pooping like crazy!

bird netting seems like an easy route (we are going to have some blueberries and strawberries that will need some anyhow). Now I need to figure out the best way to expand the brooder—that was the biggest bin I could find, and the stock tanks seem a bit pricy. Temp in the garage held at 60 overnight.

 

[NatJ]

I do have a couple of chicks who have been getting that pasty butt and some people were relating it to the chicks being too warm.

The worries about heat causing pasty butt are usually when people heat the entire chick area to 90+ degrees and there is nowhere for the chicks to cool off. A heat lamp in a plastic bin will often have this problem, but a brooder plate is usually fine because it does not heat the entire area.

As a basic guide for any chick setup:
If the chicks have access to a warm space (under the heat source) and a large space that is cool (preferably 70 degrees or cooler, not under the heat source), then you should not have to worry about temperatures causing pasty butt.

Note: I gave temperatures in Fahrenheit.
90F is about 31C
70F is about 21 C

 

[rosemarythyme]

HI.
I was just wondering about the chicks being able to touch the radiant heater plate. This is my first time using one. It has a hi or a low temperature control so I was concerned about its accuracy. Outside of the heater registered at just a bit over 80 degrees but I couldn't get an accurate number from underneath. But I touched it to see how warm it was and if I held my hand on it more then a couple of seconds I felt like it could scorch my skin. They do gather under it at night so I'm hoping it's safe for them. I do have a couple of chicks who have been getting that pasty butt and some people were relating it to the chicks being too warm.
What do you think?

No need to take a temperature reading with a plate (and it's difficult to get one) as it's the surface temperature of the plate that matters, not the ambient temperature.

That said, if the plate feels too hot to the touch, I'd consider lowering it to the lo setting, and see how the chicks do - if they're upset by the lowered temperature, then turn it back up again.

What's the temperature like in the area outside of the plate? Pasty butt can still happen regardless of temperature, but it does seem to help make a difference to not have the chicks under constant high temperatures.

 

[Iluveggers]

Yup, no sleep for you tonight. I stayed up til 1am the first night I had mine last year! How cold is it in your garage? I always leave lights on the first few nights so they can see food & water (a strand of Christmas lights did the trick without being overly bright.). I would keep the plate low for the first week or so. Do you have a top on the brooder so they can’t jump out if they do get on top?
Barred rocks are awesome, my friendliest chicken Basil is a barred rock. . Good luck!

 

[Iluveggers]

Oh, Christmas lights are a good idea…I think I can make that happen tomorrow. The garage has been around 60 about dawn. We do have a couple colder nights on the forecast, though. I was planning to make the lid into a top with hardware cloth, but need to get the cloth. (Thought I had a couple weeks!) I tried to remove a screen from a window for tonight, but…muh #cityslicker

I used plastic garden fencing cut to the size of the brooder box & clothes pinned to it and it worked just fine! (City girl turned country here, don’t worry you’ll learn fast!)

 

[gailbelanger]

Plate should be angled so one side is higher than the other, that'll allow the chicks to decide how much heat they need. Low side should be low enough so the chicks can sit under it and still touch it, high side should be high enough so they can touch it standing up.

They do not need light at night at all. My chicks are raised with a natural day/night cycle. At night they climb under their heat source and settle down quietly.

Bird netting stretched taut and taped down securely to a frame will work. Or even chicken wire, though it's not as ideal due to opening size. But yes, definitely get a "lid" made as soon as possible.

HI.
I was just wondering about the chicks being able to touch the radiant heater plate. This is my first time using one. It has a hi or a low temperature control so I was concerned about its accuracy. Outside of the heater registered at just a bit over 80 degrees but I couldn't get an accurate number from underneath. But I touched it to see how warm it was and if I held my hand on it more then a couple of seconds I felt like it could scorch my skin. They do gather under it at night so I'm hoping it's safe for them. I do have a couple of chicks who have been getting that pasty butt and some people were relating it to the chicks being too warm.
What do you think?

 

[jreardon1918]

No need to take a temperature reading with a plate (and it's difficult to get one) as it's the surface temperature of the plate that matters, not the ambient temperature.

That said, if the plate feels too hot to the touch, I'd consider lowering it to the lo setting, and see how the chicks do - if they're upset by the lowered temperature, then turn it back up again.

What's the temperature like in the area outside of the plate? Pasty butt can still happen regardless of temperature, but it does seem to help make a difference to not have the chicks under constant high temperatures.

Agree with not needing to monitor temperatures with a plate or MHP(Momma Heating Pad). Our chicks are about 1 week old. They have been out in the run for 3 days using a MHP , and they have just natural light. At some point last night the temperature got down to 40F. They were up exploring the brooder by 7am when we checked on them. The current temp in the brooder is 48F. We know the temperature only because we have a remote sensor we placed in the brooder to observe.