New 19 week old pullets - signs of stress/not using roosts?

[aart]

I was following along your coop build page in the beginning but somehow lost it.

Not like you don't know how to find it, but....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/authentic-woods-kd-knock-down-10-by-16-coop-build.1304202/

 

[Kiki]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/authentic-woods-kd-knock-down-10-by-16-coop-build.1304202/

Thanks!

 

[jthornton]

We are on day 12 of the incubation period

One of the things I learned about chicks is they react to you much better if you can approach them on their level. When I built my brooder I assumed a top opening lid would be best for me to get in there and clean etc. however it was the worst thing for the chicks. They would run from me every time I opened the lid and hovered over them, they are hardwired to run from things above. My second batch I modified the brooder so I could sit on a stool and open the front and reach in, all I can say was what a huge difference that made.

JT

 

[Ted Brown]

@Ted Brown I was following along your coop build page in the beginning but somehow lost it.

You did a fabulous job on your coop.

Thank you!

 

[Ted Brown]

One of the things I learned about chicks is they react to you much better if you can approach them on their level. When I built my brooder I assumed a top opening lid would be best for me to get in there and clean etc. however it was the worst thing for the chicks. They would run from me every time I opened the lid and hovered over them, they are hardwired to run from things above. My second batch I modified the brooder so I could sit on a stool and open the front and reach in, all I can say was what a huge difference that made.

JT

A timely post as I am about to build a brooder box. I watched your video and liked what I saw, think I will copy. You mentioned the roost bar from an early post, I see this in the video - nicely done.

Curious why you chose HC around the top, the front part is self explanatory? It looks like your light/heat is on the left? I am thinking of a ceramic heater plus a separate light as I think the heater will be needed for longer periods. How do you control temperature in the brooder? Pictures to illustrate would be very helpful or if there is a video on YouTube that you could point me to?

 

[fsadaBootyEater]

Well, sounds like they are fine. But I would use some branches or sticks as roosting bars. But if it is cold, I would place a heat lamp in their coop. They are probably huddling instead of roosting because they are cold.

 

[jthornton]

A timely post as I am about to build a brooder box. I watched your video and liked what I saw, think I will copy. You mentioned the roost bar from an early post, I see this in the video - nicely done.

Curious why you chose HC around the top, the front part is self explanatory? It looks like your light/heat is on the left? I am thinking of a ceramic heater plus a separate light as I think the heater will be needed for longer periods. How do you control temperature in the brooder? Pictures to illustrate would be very helpful or if there is a video on YouTube that you could point me to?

I have a red heat lamp and I vary the temperature by raising or lowering the height. I used 1" welded wire fence (cage wire) so I could set the lamp right on it when they were just days old. I measure the temperature at floor level and by sight. If the chicks are huddled up under the heat it's too cold for them if they are as far away as possible it's too hot, roaming around like it play time temperature is just right. It's actually taller than it needs to be by a little bit.

When I built it the left side is where the first batch would run and hide while I cleaned out the right side, so really not needed if you have a front door.

If I was to do it all over again and I am by spring I would do some things different.

• Make it easy to disassemble and store flat
• Make it fit on top of my poop table/roost using the poop table as the floor
  
• Make it shorter so it's easier to get the heat lamp closer to the floor
• Make an adjustable height roost built in
• Make a built in adjustable height feeder, as they grow up raise it up
• Use my adjustable vertical nipple water device from the start

Your probley wondering what the adjustable vertical nipple water device looks like... it's just some PVC pipe with a cap on the end and a hose clamp as a stop. I put a dish under to catch the drips. As soon as the first one pecked it class was over for the rest.


I used the Cackle Hatchery New Chicks Guide as my reference.

JT

 

[aart]

I have a red heat lamp and I vary the temperature by raising or lowering the height.

You can also use a dimmer extension cord.

I'll toss my chick heat blurb in here(even tho you didn't ask me):
Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:

They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. If you do use a heat bulb make sure it's specifically for poultry, some heat bulbs for food have teflon coatings that can kill birds. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.


Or you could go with a heat plate, commercially made or DIY: http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate

 

[Ted Brown]

I'll toss my chick heat blurb in here(even tho you didn't ask me)...

The only reason I did not ask was I did not know. Folks on this forum follow your every word and many accept it as gospel coming from the wealth of information/experience you have.

Great tip on dimmer switches: simple, clever and cheap!

 

[aart]

Great tip on dimmer switches: simple, clever and cheap!

I got that from someone else when I first started...
...SO much easier than dinking with changing the height of lamp.
Wasn't long after I stopped using a lamp for the main chick heat tho
I'm an info junkie.
I have tons of notes saved and copy and paste them incessantly,
love good solutions and love to pass them along.