In my house its like 70 but at night it goes to 65, they are in my living room.
I am telling you honestly that we baby our chicks too much. Turn off the light, wait 1o to 15 minutes. I honestly believe that your chicks will never make a sound beyond the first few minutes. That is only being startled that the light suddenly went out.
THIS!
I'm sure your right, we do baby our animals lol. I'll see how the 120 watt bulb goes and in a day or two I'll see about removing the light, I just want to wait till the smallest have a little more feathers. Thanks for the advice!!
Part of raising chicks is weaning them from heat. So many folks forget that crucial step. Starting in the second week, if the chicks are using a heat lamp, and especially if they are inside, it's important to turn that lamp off for increasingly longer periods of time. Consider this: Mama broody has her chicks out running all over the yard by the time they are 2 days old. They do not have a heat lamp, and they only scoot under her now and then to warm up a bit... Then, they are off and running again.
Since you have not started weaning them, I suggest that you step down to a 60 - 75W bulb. And immediately start weaning them from the light. By the end of the weekend, they can and should be off the light completely if they are in your house.
Here's the honest truth, nobody needs a 250W bulb in a human house. At all, ever. The 120W would be good for new hatches but at this point, you should be dialing it down, too. Do you have a dimmer cord? They should be off heat at indoor temps by now but you may have delayed their feathering by overheating so back it down according to their behavior.
@click cluck I do hope that you don't feel like you are being attacked by all of this advice. You are caught in the middle between being a cautious new chick owner, and believing the
hype of the feed store employees who are anxious to sell those heat lamps and those 250W bulbs, versus the experience of those of us who have brooded multiple batches of chicks and have learned from experience that there is a better and safer way. Thing is, many of those employees have NEVER raised a chick, and don't have the knowledge to differentiate between farm style chick management: Where chicks are being raised 50 to HUNDREDS at a time IN A BARN. In that case, if heat lamps are employed, the 250W bulb would be necessary. Compared to back yard style: where the typical home owner puts their chicks in a rubbermaid tote and broods them in the living room. BTW, IMO, plastic tote + heat lamp are often called Easy Bake Ovens b/c of the likelihood of overheating the chicks.
My chicks are brooded outside with MHP. They wean themselves off heat without my intervention. By the time they are 4 - 5 weeks old, they are completely off heat, with night time temps going down to 30's!
