Headache Headache Headache!!!!!

[Chickiegirls2]

Ok, here's the dilema. My brooder temp is at 120 degrees... slow cooking chicks!!!! Oh no... any suggestions????

 

[Imp]

Turn off the heat.

What's your set up?

Imp

 

[trilyn]

Oh boy....hurry and move the lamp over to one side, if it isn't already and raise it up! A good 18-20 inches above the chicks should be just fine. Please, tell us your set up!!

Also, make sure the brooder is larger than what you think you need....they need to be able to get away from the lamp to cool off or get closer to warm up...they can self regulate pretty well.

 

[areyoumymother]

I had that problem at first. My day olds started out in a opaque plastic storage tub and at first I had the lamp way to close. What I did not account for was the plastic itself was conducting heat as well and getting way too hot. It took an hour or so of adjusting the lamp a little farther away and checking the thermometer every 10 minutes to monitor the results until finally the heat lamp distance was perfectly adjusted to create a ideal 90 degrees. When it came time to readjust the following week to drop temp by 5 degrees, it was old hat and didn't near as long to figure it out. I did find it was easier to move the tub away from the lamp then to try to adjust the lamp farther.

 

[Chickiegirls2]

My setup is a rubbermaid with the heat lamp attched onto the side of it...

 

[Chickiegirls2]

In a minute it was 90, then 100, then 115, then 120!!!! When I saw it was 120 I was so glad the chicks werent in that brooder!!!!!!!!

 

[areyoumymother]

Quote:
that is exactly the set up I have ....

Don't hook your lamp to the side of the tub, try hooking it to a nearby object like a chair or shelf that way you can move the tub closer or farther from the lamp and get better results

 

[Chickiegirls2]

Thanks... that will be really helpful.... I really dont want to cook my chicks!!!!!

 

[justmeandtheflock]

If you are brooding the chicks in a warm house you can probably use a regular 100 watt light buld instead of the heat lamp bulb. Those 250 watt bulbs are really for brooding chicks outside.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
X2

I really believe they are better off too cool than too warm. It doesn't take much to cook them -- they dehydrate rapidly when very young, and that starts the downward spiral. A solid sided container like a plastic tub IMO is not a very good brooder because they also need a good exchange of fresh air. I know lots of people use them, but.... You might want to read in the sticky at the beginning of this section, the link about young chick mortality.

I have some two or three week olds in the coop with a red heat lamp, now on a timer for night only. They've been there since the day I brought them home from TSC and my broody wouldn't accept them.