So my chicks are a little over a week old and it is 92 degrees in the brooder. They are perfectly comfortable...not to hot not to cold. They are spread out not huddled together or trying to get away from the heat lamp. Cackle's care instructions say the heat should be 95-98 degrees for 3-7 day old chicks. But my chicks seem comfortable at 91 degrees. My question is when they are 2 weeks old is that when I make it 5 degrees less? I am so confused...but I'm happy the chicks seem comfortable. How old should the chicks be when it is 85 degrees in the brooder? uhhhhh I'm so confused!!!!!
The rule of thumb is to drop the temperature by 5 degrees Fahrenheit every week until they fully feather out, which is around 4 to 5 weeks old. On day 8, drop it 5 degrees. I like to keep one area of my brooder in the recommended range and let the rest be a little cooler. For example, I put my brooder in the coop with great draft protection, kept one area in the recommended range, but the far corner was around 70 degrees. The first couple of days they pretty much stayed under the lamp but by the third day they were roaming all over the brooder. I start in the range of 90 to 95 degrees, not 95 to 98 degrees. Hope thus helps. Good luck and congratulations.
You're right to be watching their behavior for your biggest clue. Don't forget that the rules are guidelines, and the chicks haven't read them. When chickens are cold, they look for heat, so if your chickens are comfortable, that's the most important.
mine haven't read the chickie manual either. I have had next to no luck regulating the heat for my 3...in the first week alone it varied from 85-100 degrees...the chickies didn't seem to mind at all; they roamed quite contentedly from food to water to heat, then cooler area, not at all distressed by the variation in temperature. I just lower the lamp if I see it getting too chilly, but I am afraid I'm the kind of 'laisser faire' Momma-hen that wants to let the little rascals determine if they are happy, as much as possible, without putting them at jeopardy.
I kept my new chicks at 95. They hated it and went to sleep where it was cooler. I raised the heta lamp so it was around 90, they liked it there. They are now almost 2 weeks old and happy when I shut the lamp off during the day for 30 minutes or so at a time. I have opened the top of the brooder so it lets more air in too. I'm thinking about moving them to the outside pen and just using the lamp at night next week after I move the older chickens out.
