Last minute brooder temp question from a newbie.

[DKForge]

Eleven chicks are coming in the mail tomorrow and we are getting hit by this snow storm. I built a 2'x4' brooder in our mud room. It is not heated but out of the wind and I have a space heater on to raise the temp. I have a heat lamp setup in the brooder and a thermometer directly under the lamp reads 100 degrees. My question is since the chicks have enough room to move around will they move out of the heat if they are too hot and back into the heat if they get cold or does the whole brooder need to be 95 for the first week? Didn't know if they were smart enough right off the bat to move where they need to. Sorry for the newbie question.

 

[sumi]

We were all new and clueless once!
I put a heat lamp on for my chicks and they move around and choose where they're comfortable. A good piece of advice I received once was to watch the chicks. If they don't sit directly under the heat lamp it may be too hot. If they huddle together under the lamp, you should lower it a bit.
What you can also do is spread an old blanket or carpet on the floor for them.
Enjoy your babies!

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

For the first week I keep the temp under the light around 95-100 degrees. The chicks will move around the brooder, eating and drinking but will move back under the light when they get cold. For the first bit they'll probably stay under the light, but after that they usually start moving around.

 

[Tigertrea]

I've had the same learning curve. As long as they can get warm they should be OK. I had an issue my first night. The temp in the mudroom dropped to nearly freezing. My heatlamp only warmed the breeder to about 80. Poor things were cool. Bought a larger bulb and no problems after that with temp being too low, it did get too high tough (over 100!) so I raised the lamp a bit.

I moved them to a bigger brooder this weekend (at 6 days old) and it is much harder to heat. Right under the lamp is registering around 85-95 depending on the time of day and ambient temp. But, the other side of the 4X4 pen is at whatever the ambient temp is. Last night that was somewhere around 50. The seem OK today. I do have the pen covered partly to help keep the heat in also.

 

[DKForge]

Thanks for the quick replies. Here are pics of my setup. Just getting nervous since this storm hit and don't want the kids to wake up in a couple of days all excited to see chicks and have them find chickcicles instead.

 

[sumi]

Looks fine to me. One of those red lights should be adequate. Don't put their water bowl under the lights. I did that once, it just dried up quickly! You should put something non-slippery in there for them to walk on etc. Otherwise cleaning out's going to be a nightmare.
Oh, just a word of warning. Chicks like walking under the light and suddenly go "oh, warmth!" and collapse, laying there completely blissed out until they get too hot, by which time you nearly had a heart attack! It happened to my husband...

 

[Flockincrazy]

I agree with @sumi they are smart enough to move around in and out of the heat and we were all new at one point so ask away the only stupid question is an unasked question

 

[Justy59]

Well I have previously used a heat lamp but I have recently gotten back into raising chicks. I did the brooder plate thing. The chicks are outside and the temp can get to 35 degrees at night but they just go under the plate and stay there to sleep. the plate only gets to about 100 and it mimics a momma hen. I have been very pleased with it. These are the quietest set of chicks I have ever raised.