How cold is too cold for the area around the brooder?

[hitgsd]

So I will try to be short and to the point. I have 6 babies (4 days old) in a black rubberized horse trough brooder. It is about 18 inches tall, 3 feet long, set up in the garage. Yesterday the weather was a high of about 75. Today 54 is the high, in the 40's tonight. The garage is unheated. Will the babies be ok as long as the heat lamp is warming their area? Or should I also heat the garage? I can put a small heater near them, I just hate to do it since they are dangerous. Or I could partialy cover the brooder with plywood, right now I am just using a screen. Oh one more thing we live in Texas, and well cold is a novelty. Hope to hear back from someone who is use to the cold.

 

[Maev]

My chicks are on my closed in back porch. It stays about 10 degrees warmer than outside. When I first got them we were having highs in the mid 30s and lows in the teens. What I did was lower the lamp a few inches at night and then raise it back up during the day. But you don't want to get the lamp less than 18 inches away from whatever bedding you have them on. Or you could put a higher wattage light bulb in the heat lamp at night and then change to the lower wattage one during the day.

 

[Dukeofhawg]

Just use the heat lamp. Put a thermometer in there and make sure it stays 90 or 95 under the lamp . The chicks will move to where they are comfortable. if the sides get cold they will dogpile in the warm spot.

 

[jeepguy982001]

If it was me i wouldn't bother heating the whole garage i'd just check several times that the temp inside the brooder is good and the chicks are fine. Since you can raise or lower the heat light to make up for the difference in temp.

 

[hitgsd]

Why 18 inches? My lamp is higher than that, but it is 94 degrees in the brooder. And I will be lowering it at night.

 

[Jake1297]

We have cold weather up here, raising and lowering is what I do. I bought a thermometer at Walmart for $6 that is used for cooking meats. The probe is on a cable. I set that on the brooder floor under the light and when the proper temp range hits and stays I mark the height for the heat light, I also did this one cold evening so I could mark the low place to set it. Just remember if you do cover your brooder it could get very hot, maybe too hot.

 

[hitgsd]

Thank You for all the reassurance. I raised chicks before using this set up and they survived. I will not heat the garage, just keep checking the temps.