Two days ago, we received 18 baby chicks in the mail. They're living in a small, enclosed space layered with wood-chips in a coop. Last night my parents kept the heat lamp on all night. The heat lamp is placed in the corner of the house on the roof. I started worrying because it's a wooden coop layered with wood-chips and the heat lamp was left on all night. I live in Arizona, so at night the temp is around 80 degrees this time of year. Tonight I left the heat lamp on for 2-3 hours and turned it off at 9:30. I thought that since it is 80 degrees out, they hurdle together, and have plenty of woodchips and warmth that they would be alright. Should they be ok? Should I turn the heat lamp back on? All answers are helpful. Thank you!
How small and enclosed is the space we are talking about? You want to make sure they have plenty of ventilation and good air exchange, not closed in. Chicks this age need a constant source of heat and 80 is not warm enough for chicks this young. They are not capable of regulating their body temp yet, even if huddled together in bedding. They still need one area of their brooder where they can go to warm up to about 95 their first week, just as they would if raised by a hen, decreasing about 5 degrees each week thereafter. The brooder needs to be big enough so that they can also get away from the heat when they want to. Heat lamps need to be high enough not to overheat the brooder and they need to be very well secured.