Hover (Ohio) Brooder Temp Question

[jaj121159]

I am doing a dry run on my Ohio (Hover) Brooder. I have a thermometer about 3 inches (chick height) off the floor under one of the heat lamps. It's been reading around 80 degrees with no chicks. I know I want to be around 92 with chicks. What should my target temp with no chicks be now? Should I lower the heat lamp some on the side of the brooder to get it warmer. The brooder is in my unheated barn and it is in the mid-twenties outside right now. No drafts on the chick space and very few in the barn. I have fifty-five chicks coming Friday. It may get a bit colder this weekend. Should I put a heat lamp in the food and water area?

 

[Judy]

You won't really know til they are in there spreading their warmth; too many variables to predict this.

I always feel chicks do best in a brooder where it is the target temp in one end, and a cooler area where they can go if they wish. You will probably find they like the heat for sleep but, at least after a couple of days, run all over the brooder when awake. I wouldn't have the hottest place where the food and water are because they can't really get away from it that way. Seems I always had some that wanted to be cooler. Actually, I had to drop the temp below the recommended level because they all went to the other end otherwise.

 

[jaj121159]

The Ohio (Hover) Brooder is basically an upside down box with legs with heat lamps inside. The legs give four inches clearance so the chicks can go under the brooder into the heated area. The food and water is outside in a fenced area, this weekend with the colder temps I do plan on putting a heat lamp over the eating/drinking area to keep the water warmer (it wouldn't freeze) and to keep the temperature variation from under the box and outside the box to the minimum. Don't want the chicks to go from ninty +/- degrees to fifty or less to eat and/or drink. When it warms up next week, I'll turn off the heat lamp over the feeding area.

 

[ralleia]

ddawn is spot-on!

Although the published temp for new chicks is 95 degrees, none of my brooder arrangements ever registered above 90 under the lamp. And as dawn suggested, it is safest to have a variance of temperatures available in the brooding area--that way, the chicks can demonstrate to you if they're too hot or too cold. If they're cold, they huddle under the lamp. Too hot and they cower outside the edges of the light.

I also never put a heat lamp near the food and water. I don't want to "cook" or prematurely spoil those items, and it's not like they're going to be sleeping in those areas anyhow. Put the warm area away from the food and water. They can sleep in one area and play, eat and drink away from the lamp.

It sounds that you're already far ahead of the curve in preparing for your chicks' arrival, so you'll have things readily in hand. If they come in and you get nervous, it seems that the chicken board never sleeps, anyway. You and your chicks will be well-cared for.