heating question

[mamas farm]

my house gets really hot during the day. if the house is hot do the chicks need there heating light during the hot part of the day ? I thought I would wait intell they were two to three days old to use it at night when it is cooler .

 

[nurse_turtle]

I keep my light on 24/7 until the chicks read about 4 weeks of age when I'll turn it off during the day (the chicks are in the sunroom) and run it again at night. I only use a 100w light bulb and raise and lower it to obtain proper temperature. At 2 and 3 days old, if you turn the light out, your chicks will die.

 

[mamas farm]

the tempture gets up to 100 in the house in the afternoon .

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Your chicks will not necessarily die. IMO- to much heat will kill chicks faster then too much cold. I have 2.5 week old chicks off the heat lamp already, they've been back at the coop for almost a week now (and it got a little chilly last night- about 53°) and they were perfectly fine this morning. My last batch of hatchery chicks was started at about 85° instead of the standard 95, then they went into an outside hutch after a week. In February. The temp outside the heat lamp was about 40° and they continued to run around the cool parts of the brooder, just popping under the light to warm up every now and then. Everyone does things differently. Hope this helps, good luck!

 

[LindaJean]

This is all just such a learning experience. I've wondered about the light as well. My chicks are in two batches: some 6 weeks and some are 8 weeks. I've got two lights (75 watt bulbs) and I just leave them on. The chicks come and go in an out of the coop all day and sometimes go snuggle down under the lights to take naps and then at night some roost and some sleep under the light. I guess the "light police" aren't going to come and get me - I don't think I'm doing anything detrimental - but inexperience can be costly. They seem to know when they want to be warmer - am I making a big mistake?????

 

[mamas farm]

I guess it is better to leave it on they will go under it as they need it . I tryed to block the heat so they can go to a cooler side if they are to hot .

 

[donrae]

Please make sure they have a way to get completely out from under the light. Two cardboard boxed with a little door cut our between them works well, put the light in one box and the food and water in the other. Although, if it gets over a hunderd, I wouldn't have a lamp. You don't want cooked nuggets.

 

[mamas farm]

I have been adjusting the light around to make sure I do not cook them.

 

[RonC]

Getting that warm in the house it could be hard to regulate the temperature with a heat lamp. Just give them plenty of room to escape the heat. Donrae's idea sounds good having a completely seperate box for them to retreat too. They are really fragile at that age.