How was this decided?

[JULIE L CORWIN]

Who came up with this idea and how? The break down of temps. When raising baby chicks. Starting at 95 degrees and to decrease it by 5 degrees weekly? Was there a study dome? If so who did it?

 

[Kiki]

Who came up with this idea and how? The break down of temps. When raising baby chicks. Starting at 95 degrees and to decrease it by 5 degrees weekly? Was there a study dome? If so who did it?

Not sure exactly but I bet it was a professional large scale chicken raising practice. Too hot cause problems. I personally think 95 is too hot to start with, I prefer 90.

 

[Folly's place]

I offer a range of temps, with a larger brooder, and a heat lamp at one end, so chicks can decide where to be. Over time, the lamp is raised, and then a smaller bulb goes in, and I watch the chicks so I know how they are doing. Mary

 

[LJBass]

We raised for George's Processing, that's the way it was structured, maybe not those exact temps, but pretty close. We closed the doors when I was 15-16 so I don't remember every detail... I also see people ask on here why put honey in the water. I'm sure that came from large scale broilers also. We ran a medicator drip with karo syrup and bleach for different reasons. I'm sure Tyson, Willow Brook, and the other large companies do the same thing.

 

[tastyacres]

Not sure exactly but I bet it was a professional large scale chicken raising practice. Too hot cause problems. I personally think 95 is too hot to start with, I prefer 90.

Me too.... One year I had it at 95-96 and I was having chicks drowning.... I dropped the temp to 85 and instantly all drowning stopped!

The way they were laying in the water was there whole body.... So I was assuming they were hot and wanted to cool off!

 

[LJBass]

Basically it was a starting point. If they huddled under the stoves, they were cold and would suffocate, so you needed to turn the stoves up. if there were large bare spots under the stoves and they were crowding the walls, turn the heat down. The birds will tell you what to do. On heat lamps you move them closer or farther away.

 

[andreanar]

I also had a big brooder and several areas of different temps so they could choose.

 

[junebuggena]

It's a general guideline. And it should be kept in mind, that it should never pertain to the whole brooder, it's just under the heat source that it should be that warm. The brooder needs to be large enough to allow the heat to dissipate so that the chicks can escape the heat when needed.

 

[lazy gardener]

When folks are brooding chicks in a rubbermaid tote, it's often not big enough to allow the chicks the room they need to self adjust their heat exposure. I've seen chicks crammed into totes that were so tiny that the food and water took up almost 1/2 of the floor space. And the circle of heat from the heat lamp took up all remaining space. Pics of chicks hiding behind the waterer to attempt to get away from the heat. Feed stores don't help matters any when all they sell is 250W bulbs. They don't even communicate with the customer that perhaps that might be too much heat. I agree with Kiki that 95 is too hot.

Now, after all of my ranting against use of totes for brooding, I'll rant in a positive direction: I highly recommend the use of heating pads to brood chicks. It was a struggle (due to large number), but I successfully brooded 44 chicks outdoors with heating pads this spring. Brooding with a heating pad allows the chicks to experience natural day/night lighting. Allows them to have a brooder that is at ambient temperature except for the foot print of heated space under the heating pad. Allows them to get heated through contact (much as they would be heated by a broody hen) instead of being stuck in a space where the AIR TEMP is heated. It allows them to seek the security of a warm dark space, similar to the warmth and darkness/security provided by a broody hen. It allows them to learn to put themselves to bed at night, instead of being under bright lights 24/7. Heat lamp chicks have a difficult time getting the rest that they need. The minute one or more fall asleep, they are apt to get trampled by their cell mates who are doing the all night party thing. IME, heating pad brooded chicks have better social skills than heat lamp brooded chicks.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

As with most things related to poultry (such as nutrition, etc) it stems from commercial production and, as is often found, does not necessarily translate effectively to pet/small hobby applications.