HELP WITH BABY CHICKS

[flewdacoop]

I had 10 domineque chicks i bought at the sale barn 2 days ago. they are inside my house were it is 70 degrees i have them in a parrot cage till they get big enought to put outside in the coop.. thy just started to get some feathers.. they are huddeling up together alot so i put a heat lamp on them now they are laying down, and there body looks almost limp till one of them moves and then they wake up and move around a little then they lay down again, now that they have the heat lamp they are spreading out.. want to know about how old they are and when do i take the heat lamp away. or do i leave it on because of temp in my house.. here is a pic of them...


the heat lamp is mounted above the cage facing down, does not have a thermastat is this ok

 

[flewdacoop]

what should i do

 

[bananakaygirl]

Okay... If they are spreding out, that means they are getting too hot.
If they huddle together, then that means they are getting cold.
You should probably try moving the heat lamp a little bit away from the chickens, so the heat isn't hitting them directly.
Or maybe you could turn off the lamp?
It might be a good idea to put a thermometer in with the chickens to see how the temperture is.

 

[bananakaygirl]

They will sleep alot.. but if they're looking limp the way you said... they are probably really too hot.

 

[Pluckychick]

Looks like they don't have enough room in that cage to get away from the heat if they are to hot .

 

[flewdacoop]

ok. now when i say spreading out i mean before they were on top of each other standing up trying to get warm. now with the heat lamp they are laying down next to each other. and it only took about 3 min after i put the light above the cage for them to lay down.. does that mean thay are comfortable...

 

[bananakaygirl]

Oh ok.
I think that means they're comfortable.

Also, you might want to try putting something in the corners of the cage.
Chicks will sometimes pile on top of the other chicks in the corners, and that can be fatal for the chicks on the bottom.
Try rounding the corners with pieces of cardboard or something.