I'm afraid of murdering my chicks

[Desirai]

OK.. I work some crap hours at work. Usually 1pm to 10pm.

I'm so scared that my chicks will roast to death in their brooder.

The weather is warming up, which means that the sunroom I'm keeping the brooder in is going to stay in the 90s during the day WITHOUT the heat lamp.

I checked the temperature earlier and it was 110 degrees underneath the heat lamp, and 93 degrees on the far side of the brooder.

I don't want to leave them alone when I go to work.. I'm scared they'll die.

What do I do?? There's not enough room in the house to bring them in anywhere except the middle of the living room and that is not an option. And I won't put them outside because critters will get them.

How would I provide them a place to keep cool?

 

[yomama]

Wow, that's tough. There isn't a garage or out building that is secure that you could put the brooder? The chicks really need a place to escape the heat, if they feel they need to. How old are the chicks? If they are more than a week or two old, they may be fine with out the heat lamp, but it depends on how long it takes for that room to heat up to 90 degrees. I guess worse case scenario is you could put a cold water bottle on one end of the brooder, and they could lean against it if they are too hot. I've never done this with chicks, so not sure if it would work or not. A fan wouldn't really work, as chickens don't perspire. Hopefully someone else will chime in with some better advice.

 

[Rachel96]

I can't really help, except to say that maybe putting a bottle of cold water or even a frozen bottle down the opposite end to the heat lamp might work. I try to avoid having chicks during summer because it get up to 45 degrees Celsius (about 115 Fahrenheit I think) regularly during summer. However, we've used the frozen bottle trick with rabbit kittens and it worked quite well.
from Rachel.

 

[jecombs]

Is there anyway you could have someone "chick sit" for you? Maybe the chicks could go to someone else's house (or garage) for a few days. The weather has been crazy-warm here too! Nearly 80 today and it's usually only in the high 50s this time of year.

 

[Othylocke]

Unless you are capable of moving the brooder into a cooler room, my only other recommendation would be finding a way to put the heat lamp on a timer.

 

[DirtLaneFarm]

OK.. I work some crap hours at work. Usually 1pm to 10pm.

I'm so scared that my chicks will roast to death in their brooder.

The weather is warming up, which means that the sunroom I'm keeping the brooder in is going to stay in the 90s during the day WITHOUT the heat lamp.

I checked the temperature earlier and it was 110 degrees underneath the heat lamp, and 93 degrees on the far side of the brooder.

I don't want to leave them alone when I go to work.. I'm scared they'll die.

What do I do?? There's not enough room in the house to bring them in anywhere except the middle of the living room and that is not an option. And I won't put them outside because critters will get them.

How would I provide them a place to keep cool?

Can you raise the lamp up higher so that is does not get so hot where the chicks are or put it on a far end of the brooder? You can also use tin foil to deflect some of the heat.

 

[Desirai]

I have it on one end of the brooder (the brooder is 3ft x 3ft x 3ft)

How would I use tin foil to deflect heat?

 

[Desirai]

the water bottles sound like a good idea.

I wonder, could I take some ice packs and wrap them in a towel? Then the chicks could climb and sit on them and not get dangerously cold.

 

[yomama]

Quote:
If I understood correctly, I don't think the op is having issues with the heat lamp making the brooder too hot, its the room itself that gets really hot. I think the ice packs would work too. I also like the idea of having someone chick sit for you. I don't think the ice packs will last that whole time though. How long does the room stay that hot?

 

[JerseyHen]

Have you considered using a lower watt bulb? Or putting the lamp on a thermostat? I am not sure how the wiring would go, but I know you can wire a lamp to a thermostat for an incubator, so why not a brooder?