lighting and heat at night

[kdcolorado]

My chicks are about to venture out into there new home today, i am very excited. I am concerened about the heat lights i have.
My coop is 8X10 and thier roosts are six feet long, i have 16 chickens. 5 Rhode Island reds, 6 New Hamshire Barred and 5 Cinnamon queens.
I have two 250 watt red lights. Do I put them above the roosts? The nights here in colorado can vary from 48 to 60 degrees right now, but the wind
can be wicked?
Can someone give me advice on this matter, please?

 

[ladyride]

how old are your chicks ??

 

[bryan99705]

Your temps are fine, save the electricity. It's 40 deg here this AM and my 3 & 5 weeks chicks are wondering around and scratching and generally being happy chicks with no concern about the weather but they're in a area that has no drafts on them. Focus on you ventilation and draft control because a draft on roosting birds is bad.

Think of it like your winter clothing, once you block the wind it does not take much to stay warm. Maybe design a way to control the ventilation so you can open or close certain ones to clear out the moisture and ammonia fumes based on prevailing winds in different seasons.

 

[kdcolorado]

My chicks are 6 weeks old, and huge and all feathered.

 

[teach1rusl]

The wind won't make a difference if the coop is draft free. At six weeks, with that many chicks, they will probably do fine without a lamp at night (assuming they've been weaned off of warm temps a bit???)

 

[kdcolorado]

Thank you all for your input. Saving electricity will be great and i will put a thermometer in there to make sure the nights are not too cool.