Keeping a constant temp on chicks

[CU]

My 3-day olds (25 Cornish X Rocks & 15 Golden Comets) are doing great in their brooder with a 250 watt infrared bulb. I'm hesitant to leave home as the temps vary from 80 degees to 95 in the brooder while outside temps change. Yesterday, I came home from work at 2:30 in the afternoon to find the sun beating down on my coop and temp inside the brooder to be 102. I turned the light off and opened up the brooder to cool things down a bit.

The chicks seem to be doing just fine with the temp swings. However, I bought a lamp timer and will be turning the light on and off during the heat of the day to atempt to keep a somewhat constant temp.

Wondering what others are doing (besides raising and lowering brooder light) to maintain temps with an influence of outdoor temps? Will the light turning on and off have an affect on these little guys?

 

[keljonma]

I wouldn't worry so much about the light as I would the heat. Chickens don't handle heat very well. Make sure they have plenty of cool water to drink.

Our brooder area is in the laundry/mud room of our house. It is near a large sliding patio door, so the chicks can get plenty of fresh air. But the area where I put the brooder pool doesn't get any direct sunlight. So we don't really have that problem.

I guess I'm a bit confused as to your setup. It sounds like your chicks are in an outdoor brooder area. Do you have some way to block the sun so it isn't shining directly on the building? Can you move the brooder? Or could you hose down the roof of the building to cool it down some during the hottest part of the day? Can you get a lower wattage bulb? The higher wattage, the more heat it will put out. I do think your idea of a timer is a good one.

 

[BamaChicken]

I only have a 40 watt bulb in for the nite in my brooder box and i put one of those new fangled bulbs that is not hot an saves energy for the daytime because it is getting up to 95 in the daytime. I leave the lid open so air can circulate. I have them under a shed in the open so it is a bit cooler. Mine are now close to three weeks and faring well

 

[CU]

I've set up my brooder inside of the coop. The lamp timer is helping with the over-heating issue. If I watch the forecast, I can judge when and how long to keep the light off and on.

I wanted to keep the brooder in the basement for the first few weeks. The temperature swings wouldn't have been an issue there. However, one of our neighbors had their brooder in the house, somehow the brooder caught fire and burned the entire house down. Just running a little scared after that...

New coop and brooder inside of coop.

 

[keljonma]

Nice looking setup!

 

[CU]

I may have found the answer to my question. I asked a friend of mine in the heating business if he could come up with something to help. I told him that I needed some sort of thermostat to turn my brooder light off when the brooder reached a certain temp. Here's what he came up with.

He's got it wired where I can set the temp to, say 80 degees, and when the brooder reaches that temp off goes the light...

I'll let you know how it works.