Heat and Light Questions

[Kim_1970]

Hi all

I have 12 chicks about 1 week old in a 54 gal (long and thin) roughneck tub.
I have been using a 250 watt light and its as high up away from the brooder as I can get it and still pug it in.
It was 98 in their brooder when I got home and 87 in the room. I have them in a spare room with the door closed so my cats/dogs cant get in.

Now with the light out for a few hours, the window across the room cracked open 3 inches - the room is still 86 degrees and the brooder is 90.

The light has been off about 2 hours.

My question is... if the room temp is about 86-87 do I even need the red light on them? I can open the blinds of the window to let day light in.
Are they ok in the dark at night as babies with no light on?
I heard that the light stimulates them to be active and to eat - is this true? If so, how do I balance temp and still have light when they are in the house like this?

This is how far from the brooder the light is and it still gets it up to 98 degrees!!

 

[Keri78]

My chicks did just fine in a 70degree bathroom with a 100 watt bulb over them. Most of the brooder stayed around 75-80degrees and directly under the light was higher of course. I'd say if anything use a 100 watt bulb at night only.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

It's around 90 degrees all day here and I turn off the heat lamp on the chicks, because they were panting. It's okay to leave the light off in the day time. But at night I'd leave it on.

 

[bigzio]

You could replace the bulb with a regular bulb of either 60 or 75watt if you like. Even though it's white. Your peeps can't really get away if it's too warm. You could try without the light, but week old peeps need 90f and they could get chilled. If it was me, I'd downsize the heat with a smaller bulb, and possibly need to lower it some then.

Watching the peeps will tell what's up. If they are overheated, that's stressful and they will be peeping trying to find a cool spot. If they are huddled together it's too cool...if sprawled around and content, then it's just right.

Hope that helps.... ~ bigzio

 

[fastpat]

If you put a thermometer directly in the light, it will convert the light directly into heat on the thermomenter and not measure accurately the ambient temp in the brooder. I did that with mine and it read 101, there's no way the actual temp was that high, so I moved it about 8 inches to the side out of the direct light and it read 93, much closer to accurate. My chicks have plenty of room to move away from the lamp, it's in the middle aimed at the wall where it joins the floor. At night, the chicks move in closer to the area illuminated by the heat lamp and during the day with the ceiling lights on and sunlight coming in the window, they're all over the brooder space. My heat lamp is the clamp on type from TSC, hanging from a stand about 18-20 inches above the floor, with a 250 watt red bulb.