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.
Put a thermometer in the brooder. Day old chicks need 90-95 degrees and then you decrease the temp. by 5 degrees a week. If your brooder is draft-free and you can keep the temp. to the level needed, based on age, you won't need the heat lamp. I would however put just a regular bulb in the lamp in case a chick or two gets a sudden chill. Your chicks are your best guide. Chicks that huddle under the heat source are too cold. Panting chicks that try to get as far away as possible from the heat source are too hot. Chicks that are moving freely around are comfortable chicks. I want to add that my chicks at a week old didn't like the 90 - 95 degree range and since I was taking my cue from the chicks not the thermometer, I lowered it to 85 and they were much happier. Just watch the chicks.