heat lamp emergancy

[chicken daze :)]

3 of my 7 chicks are going to be 3 weeks old tomorrow and the other four are almost 4 weeks, and they have had there heat lamp the whole time, but it just had a crash and is history, i was woundering if they are inside, with the bathroom light on and door shut, with all 7 of them if they are ok without the lamp, and if we will need to buy a new lamp... also, how old do they have to be to move to there coop? please help. i dont know if they need the heat lamp anymore! thank you

 

[BrattishTaz]

As long as they are mostly feathered they will be fine. They can go to the coop once they are feathered as long as it is not too cold outside.

 

[DancingHen]

I generally keep my chicks under their lamp until they are 6 weeks old. That is also the age I start moving them outside. The rule of thumb is to start them at 95 degrees, and then reduce that by 5 degrees per week until they are at 65 to 70 degrees. Also, be sure they have fully feathered before you move them outside.

They are pretty hardy most of the time, but the heat helps them develop stronger.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

The general recommendations for chicks are:
90-95 degrees for the first week of life, then decrease by 5 degrees each week until fully feathered (even on the head), which is usually around 6 weeks.

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/chickcare.html
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKRaisingChicks.html

These links might help.

(They also need to be able to get away from the heat.)

Edited to add: Yes, dancing hen has it right- decreases to 70 degrees.

 

[idispatch4911]

I'm a newbie here, so maybe this is a bad idea anyway, but I was having trouble with my light and the chicks seemed cold, so I put a heating pad under the brooder insulation and it got nice and warm! HTH!

 

[GLBRWyans]

from Louisiana .

 

[Imp]

If the bathroom is warm 70+*F and draft free the 4 week olds will be OK. The 3 week olds would probably like it to be closer to 80*F. Can you use a regular light bulb?, if your heatlamp broke. It will provide enough heat. Or heating pad as suggested before, or even an electric room heater. If all else fails even a hot water bottle can give them something warm to snuggle with. If you have no options and it is too late to do anything, I think they will be fine, although maybe not perfectly comfortable. You could pretend it's July and crank the house thermostat.

Imp

 

[ChicksterJo]

At 3 weeks old they could do without a heat lamp. I like to let my chicks get natural light and I start turning off the lamp at around 2 or 3 weeks old anyway. As long as they are not in a drafty area they will be warm enough. Also, I turn off the lamp/room light from time to time to get them used to the dark. When they move to the coop they will not be so freaked out when dark comes.

 

[ragerkid2]

you will be fine!!! they get shipped in frigid temps when they are a couple hours old. R u getting another heat lamp? A normal 70 watt light bulb could also work for the time being

 

[Anianna]

As long as they are not exposed to really cold temps, there is no need for a new lamp. If they get a little chilly, they will snuggle with each other.

You can move them outside once they have all of their feathers, probably in a couple of weeks.