minority opinion on raising chicks

[Rainey]

The first time we got day old chicks we followed the conventional advice, had a heat lamp and very slowly decreased the heat over 6 weeks, fed chick starter, moved them outside after fully feathered at 6 weeks.
Three years later, we're starting a new batch of 8 chicks for egg laying. In the meantime we'd started raising rabbits for meat and had moved them off pellets onto mostly feed we can forage and some whole grains (some sprouted or grown to fodder) We decided to try raising the chicks more naturally. Started with them in a 3'x4' box with wood shavings for bedding. In that box we had a 12"x16" box with a space in the center that would hold a half gallon tin full of very hot water. Lined the box with some fleece scraps, drilled ventilation holes, had an insulated lid. The chicks would go into that box at night, but not during the day. We put in clumps of sod and a branched stick for them to climb and perch on. When the sun wasn't shining into the space where they were, I put a gallon milk jug full of hot water and draped with fleece scraps in the box and sometimes they would circle around that for a brief rest and warm-up before they were back to scratching and climbing.
This week they were 3 weeks old and moved to an outdoor coop with an attached run on one side and a compost pile on the other. I put the warmer box out with them but they didn't use it, even at night. The first 2 nights we went out at dark and moved them into the warm box but last night we didn't. The low was 35 and they were ready to get out onto the ground at first light, no ill effects.
I know that for a few days, chicks need to be kept warm and for somewhat longer to get warmed up occasionally. But it doesn't seem right to always tell beginners that they have to keep them at such high temps and for so long. Or that they have to be fed chick starter. There are other ways to do it--a little more work and more paying attention to the chicks to see what they seem to need.
chicks warming up



the warming box, taken apart to show how it works

 

[Judy]

I agree with you that those high temps are not the only way to go. I just read a thread about someone who uses only a heating pad and a sort of cave made of hay, here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

Here is an outdoor setup for winter:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/735392/redneck-fungshui-brooding-17-degree-temperatures

The last time I brooded (no broody) chicks, it was in the coop from day one. After 3 weeks, they stayed as far away from the heat lamp as they could, which wasn't doing a whole lot, anyway, so I turned it off. Temps were ranging around 50-80.

I have watched chicks under a week old, being raised by a broody, forage all day, running back and forth every several minutes between mama and foraging. Daytime temps were just above freexzing.

 

[nordicacres]

I'm starting to realize the same thing. My chicks did use their sweeter heater for the first two weeks or so. After that I started to notice that they wouldn't sleep under it at night. They slept together all around the edges of the brooder. Even when it was in the 30's and 40's outside (they were in an unheated greenhouse attached to our house). So we moved them out to the coop last night at four weeks of age. When I checked on them after dark I noticed they still weren't using their heater. They are mostly feathered at this point. They still have some down on their heads.

 

[Blooie]

Thanks for mentioning the cave and Mama Heating Pad, Judy. I will never raise chicks indoors with a heat lamp again. Last year was my first and last time doing that! I'm now on my 3rd group of chicks (although one group contained chicks of two different ages) raised with the heating pad and it has exceeded my every expectation! But the bonus is the strength, the confidence and the overall excellent condition of the chicks. THEY set the rules - I just provided a place. If they were chilly or spooked they ran under the cave for a little comfort, just as they would under a broody hen. But they spent most of their time outside the cave, exploring and having a great time. The adult chickens could see them and the babies could see the adults - and learn how to be chickens with no help from me. They are also in total darkness once the sun goes down, so they get their natural day/night cycle going from the start.

Mine have been outside in a pen in the run since we brought them home. Well, that's not quite accurate - the first group was started under Mama Heating Pad in the house, but only because the day we got them hubby ended up spending time in the ER followed by a few days of hospitalization. But as soon as he was out we got the pen set up and out they went. The group that joined them one week later went from the car directly to the pen. Our temps were in the teens and twenties....they didn't even notice! When this new group was only a week old, we had a power outage in the middle of the night - the power coming back on was what woke Ken and he woke me. It must have been out for a few hours. We ran out there in the 60 mph wind and sideways blowing snow and got the pad turned back on. The straw and the cave had held enough residual warmth to sustain the babies well. Next morning when we checked on them they were just fine - eating and running all over their pen. They are almost two weeks old now and spend very little time in the cave......they use it at night but that's about it. I've already lowered the setting on the pad and raised the level of the cave. They just don't need much heat.

@Rainey - you are spot on about the benefits of raising chicks using Mother Nature and a good dose of common sense. But as Ridgerunner said in another thread, those instructions for "heat lamp, perfect temp of 90-95 the first week and lowering by 5 degrees the each week after that" is a good guideline for folks who really want guidelines to follow. It gives them a place to start. He's right. But after that first group of "learn-on-chicks", it's so much more fun to let them be the guide and just enjoy watching them instead of stressing over them. Your idea seemed to have worked extremely well! Kudos to you for letting nature be your guide and raising healthy, happy chicks!

 

[lysanderish]

I think that the conventional approach is a good starting point for new owners. It's what my fiance and I were doing with our flock (our first) this year.

We stopped using the heat lamp altogether at 4-5 weeks after a couple days of letting them be out in the coop all day. Figured they'd been out during the cold and wet already; they'd be fine without the heater inside.

Of course, last night was their first night ouside. At 8 weeks old they barely fit in their brooder anymore and I'm glad the nightly low temperatures are finally high enough that I'm comfortable leaving them out. Now I can have my sitting room back. Lol.