I don't heat or light my main coop but I feel the chicks should be able to get out from under mom and not be too cold. I don't usually have a broody with chicks this early in the year, but I have a White Java pullet that insisted she needed to hatch some eggs......so who was I to deny her that privilage? I did try breaking her but when my DH said, "Just give her some eggs" (this is the man who thinks my "chickening" is a bit on the looney side), I gave her 6 eggs. She now has 5 beautiful Icelandics and they have a heat lamp that is 5 feet off the floor. I keep a check on the temp in there to know if I need to unplug it. I also have a remote sensor in my main coop with digital read-out that is on the top of my refrigerator that I look at to see how cold it is out there.
