Is the temp right?

[Ecto04]

Not sure where you are or where you are keeping them but at 5 weeks they should be ok without the lamp. Living in SoCal I have the luxury of putting mine outside at 10 days old. They get to keep the heat plate till they are 4 weeks old, but by that time they aren't sleeping anywhere near it.

I’m in southeastern indiana. It can still get pretty chilly at night. They are currently in our basement in the brooder. In another week or two it should be consistently a little warmer at night and we will have a larger pen completed around the coop. I think we’ll be good to put them out then. Planning some field trips outside for a couple hours at a time in the meantime.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

It's pretty warm here in Georgia but I have had great success raising them inside for the first few weeks and then moving them to an outdoor brooder where they have a breeze free space with a heat plate to go to. They mostly go in there to sleep, all day long they're perfectly fine and rarely even venture into their box so I'm sure at 5 weeks old yours should be perfectly fine turning the lamp off or spending a few days reducing the temp to kind of wean them off the heat. Once they have plenty of feathers they're perfectly fine, especially if there are plenty of them to "dog pile" at night to stay cozy (unless it's still cold where you are). I found that one of the chicks from my broody hen decided to sleep in said "dog pile" rather than under mom even! lol

 

[Trux]

I’m in southeastern indiana. It can still get pretty chilly at night. They are currently in our basement in the brooder. In another week or two it should be consistently a little warmer at night and we will have a larger pen completed around the coop. I think we’ll be good to put them out then. Planning some field trips outside for a couple hours at a time in the meantime.

Yes then by all means keep them in the basement, but I believe they will be ok without the light. Do they have a roosting bar?

 

[Ecto04]

Yes then by all means keep them in the basement, but I believe they will be ok without the light. Do they have a roosting bar?

Yes. It’s a pretty low bar but they have all used it. 3 fit on the bar. The 4th has to sit on one of the wood blocks. They all just stared at it for the first few days.

 

[WhoDatChick]

Looks like they are trying to get away from the heat.. I wouldn’t use it anymore... or at least move it pretty far away..

 

[Ecto04]

It only heats about 1/4 of the brooder but I think the are done with it. The Orpingtons are well feathered and the Rhode Island’s are getting there.

 

[Ecto04]

Basement temp without the lamp is about 65-66. Are we good without the extra heat now? I’d think so, but just thought I’d double check.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yes I think you're fine without any heat.

 

[Ecto04]

Yes I think you're fine without any heat.

Thank you!

 

[Blooie]

At 5 weeks that's actually quite on the warm side.....my babies are well off heat at that age

I’m in Northwestern Wyoming, not too far from Yellowstone Park. Here we can see snow any month of the year. What is “chick season” in the spring for much of the country is still winter here, with temps in the teens and twenties with sideways blowing snow!

Now that the scene is set, I also brood directly outdoors in a wire pen in the run. Yes, even in those temps! I also use Mama Heating Pad for the chicks. They spend more time out of their “cave”, running around, exploring, and learning to be chickens by watching the adults (who were also raised this way, batch after batch) than they do underneath. By 3 weeks the pad is turned down to minimum warmth, and by 4 weeks they are done, and that was a decision they made, not me. So the brooder and the heating pad comes out and they are fully integrated with the flock and perfectly acclimated to our temps.

I think yours are telling you they are not needing much heat and they are trying to acclimate to ambient temps.