- Jun 27, 2008
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I'm completely new to chickens and I have 7 chicks who are just over 1 week old and I'm wondering how important it is to keep using the heat lamp. I can and do have cardboard around the chicks to prevent drafts (draughts?) and it is summer and pretty warm in New England - and this heat lamp scares me. I have had the chicks in a ginea pig cage and wanted to completely clean it and leave it in the sun to steralize it, so I moved them to a big plastic dog kennel and the heat lamp was several inches away from the side but it melted part of the kennel!! I don't have a thermometer in the brooder but the outside temps are in the 90s right now (but hopefully cooler inside). Does it matter that they are barred rocks and wyandottes, still no real feathers on them except a few cute ones on their wings.