How Warm Should Broody Mama & Chicks' Coop Be?

[khind]

I have 3-to-5-day-old chicks. They hatched beginning Mon. through Wed. this past week under my hen Buffy. This all took place in a setup in the garage due to big storms that came through. Last evening, Fri, I moved them all into the small coop/run separated by the adults' run with hardware cloth. This is indeed a tiny coop, so the entire setup is in the run (until the chicks get big enough to go up the ramp and roost with mama).
The run is 3' wide X 10' long. It's very short (See Pic - it's from Last Summer).
My 2 concerns are:
1) the temps in that run being warm enough for the chicks but not too hot for mom.
I've left the plastic hanging down over the run walls on the long S and N sides with 1-2" space at the top for ventilation. I can also prop 2x4s along points at the bottom to keep out drafts on cold draft days or just cool but very windy days.
2) Drafts vs temp: I figure I should keep cool air/drafts out from the screen "window" that's open to the adults' run and its breezes. That window is 27" X 27". I covered most of it today with plastic fearing the chicks would get chilled.

Temps: this a.m. it was 39° F out, but it's up to the 70s this afternoon, and suddenly it's 86° in that run. (The humidity is just 22%.) I feel like that's good for the chicks but it's not always the best for an adult chicken. She looks like she's doing OK right now, but tomorrow & Monday it's supposed to get up into the eighties (& I'll be at work Monday et al). Buffy is a bantam Cochin.

On Monday, the chicks will be 5 to 7 days old.
I DO have the ability to remove or open some parts of the run.
(The outside picture doesn't show the plastic down. Rooster in doorway is useful to show scale!)
Thank you for any thoughts!

 

[rosemarythyme]

The mama will take care of warming the chicks, there's absolutely no need to provide additional heat.

1-2" at the top isn't very much ventilation. As long as mama and babies have a draft free area they can choose to use if needed (i.e. the coop) and there's not unusual weather conditions such as a strong storm, mama should take care of things for you.

 

[DobieLover]

I have 3-to-5-day-old chicks. They hatched beginning Mon. through Wed. this past week under my hen Buffy. This all took place in a setup in the garage due to big storms that came through. Last evening, Fri, I moved them all into the small coop/run separated by the adults' run with hardware cloth. This is indeed a tiny coop, so the entire setup is in the run (until the chicks get big enough to go up the ramp and roost with mama).
The run is 3' wide X 10' long. It's very short (See Pic - it's from Last Summer).
My 2 concerns are:
1) the temps in that run being warm enough for the chicks but not too hot for mom.
I've left the plastic hanging down over the run walls on the long S and N sides with 1-2" space at the top for ventilation. I can also prop 2x4s along points at the bottom to keep out drafts on cold draft days or just cool but very windy days.
2) Drafts vs temp: I figure I should keep cool air/drafts out from the screen "window" that's open to the adults' run and its breezes. That window is 27" X 27". I covered most of it today with plastic fearing the chicks would get chilled.

Temps: this a.m. it was 39° F out, but it's up to the 70s this afternoon, and suddenly it's 86° in that run. (The humidity is just 22%.) I feel like that's good for the chicks but it's not always the best for an adult chicken. She looks like she's doing OK right now, but tomorrow & Monday it's supposed to get up into the eighties (& I'll be at work Monday et al). Buffy is a bantam Cochin.

On Monday, the chicks will be 5 to 7 days old.
I DO have the ability to remove or open some parts of the run.
(The outside picture doesn't show the plastic down. Rooster in doorway is useful to show scale!)
Thank you for any thoughts!

Ambient temperature. Mom takes care of the heat needs of the chicks and she needs no supplemental heat.
I would personally not isolate her from the flock. She will protect the chicks. How many birds are you housing in that tiny coop?

 

[NatJ]

Above freezing is good (so the water doesn't get covered with ice.)
Above freezing is warm enough for the chicks.
Small breezes are fine, but heavy wind is not.

I would try to block any heavy wind, but otherwise keep it as cool as possible, with as much ventilation as possible. So for Monday with a predicted 86 degrees, I would remove ALL the plastic.

As others have said, the mother hen will warm her chicks any time they need it.

 

[khind]

The mama will take care of warming the chicks, there's absolutely no need to provide additional heat.

1-2" at the top isn't very much ventilation. As long as mama and babies have a draft free area they can choose to use if needed (i.e. the coop) and there's not unusual weather conditions such as a strong storm, mama should take care of things for you.

Thanks. I was wrong - it's more like 3-4" at the top.
And just to be clear, there's no heat added. The brooder side is just wrapped because we've just come out of winter and we still get nights at 30°. Now we're suddenly getting a huge temp surge to 70 and 80 the next few days.
Anyway, I got concerned because while I watched them this a.m., I felt a cool breeze coming from the adult run (which I thought was great), but then noticed the smallest chick *appeared* (to my human eyes & assumptions) to be chilly; but mama was digging around in the run (within a foot of that chick, who was at the end of the line of the chicks hanging around near her. That might be the youngest chick. Anyway, that's when I decided to cover much of the window to the adult run.

 

[khind]

Ambient temperature. Mom takes care of the heat needs of the chicks and she needs no supplemental heat.
I would personally not isolate her from the flock. She will protect the chicks. How many birds are you housing in that tiny coop?

She's raising them in that run. I have the little coop closed off. The run they're housed in is 3ft wide by 10ft long. The adjoining, adult, coop is much larger.
The little one and the adult one are usually connected to add 10 more feet of run for the whole flock. The adults typically move from the big side into this one. (But not now because I've blocked it off for the mama and chicks. There are 5 chicks. And mama is a bantam.)

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thanks. I was wrong - it's more like 3-4" at the top.
And just to be clear, there's no heat added. The brooder side is just wrapped because we've just come out of winter and we still get nights at 30°. Now we're suddenly getting a huge temp surge to 70 and 80 the next few days.
Anyway, I got concerned because while I watched them this a.m., I felt a cool breeze coming from the adult run (which I thought was great), but then noticed the smallest chick *appeared* (to my human eyes & assumptions) to be chilly; but mama was digging around in the run (within a foot of that chick, who was at the end of the line of the chicks hanging around near her. That might be the youngest chick. Anyway, that's when I decided to cover much of the window to the adult run.

3-4" is much better, but I would definitely open up most (if not all of it) when it's warmer like you're seeing in day time right now.

Unless a chick is sickly and seems to be struggling to get to mama to warm up (and can't) OR mama is disregarding the chicks completely I'd assume they'd know when they need to heat up and when they don't. Good to keep an eye on things but I think between mama and baby they'll figure it out.

At night, mama and the babies should all be snuggled together, so 30F should be just fine for them as long as she has sense to be somewhere indoors with them.

 

[khind]

Ambient temperature. Mom takes care of the heat needs of the chicks and she needs no supplemental heat.
I would personally not isolate her from the flock. She will protect the chicks. How many birds are you housing in that tiny coop?

The rest of the flock is 8 hens and 1 rooster. I like to have her raise them on this side because it's so long (10 ft). Their run is typically visible by screen to the adults, and then once they're maybe 5 weeks old (?) I let them out with mom in the chicken yard, supervised but fenced off from the others. Then gradually mix them outside.

 

[khind]

3-4" is much better, but I would definitely open up most (if not all of it) when it's warmer like you're seeing in day time right now.

Unless a chick is sickly and seems to be struggling to get to mama to warm up (and can't) OR mama is disregarding the chicks completely I'd assume they'd know when they need to heat up and when they don't. Good to keep an eye on things but I think between mama and baby they'll figure it out.

At night, mama and the babies should all be snuggled together, so 30F should be just fine for them as long as she has sense to be somewhere indoors with them.

Thank you!
I'll open up the plastic now.
We tend to get strong winds here (Oklahoma - that jet stream is no joke), but that's not happening today, and I don't think for the next couple of days.
I have a crate that they sleep in at night inside the run. She does bring them in there.

 

[khind]

Sorry, I tend to get long winded in my posts.
Just to be clear, there's no additional heat in that coop or run. And they're living in that run, sleeping in a crate inside it at night. (At least that's what she did the last time, with no issue - I'll find out tonight.)

I had opened part of the plastic after the coolest temps passed, but then it seemed the smallest one might have been chilled, so I covered most of the wire walls. But later, once the outdoor temps climbed, I was still shocked to see it had gotten to 86 inside. That's why I inquired.

I just opened the plastic on all but the north side. I'll watch the temps!!