Newbie

[nomoq]

I just brought my chicks home yesterday and have a couple of questions:
One chick just wont stop chirping. All day, All night...Do I have a problem? It is about 90 in the brooder.
Second is, I am using a white light heat lamp for the temp. Do I need a red/black bulb for night time? Do they need darkness?
Any help is appreciated...
Jim

 

[sunket77]

congrats!

I use regular light bulbs for mine, where are you keeping them? if you are keeping them where it is cool then it's prob. good to leave the light on until the start to get some feathers. Red is better for that. Once they start to get feathers then you can turn the light off at night, as long as they don't get to cold. To my understanding if they have light all the time it can lead to feather growth issues and things like that.

as far as the one peeing...not sure, sometimes you get one that will do that, I have one that still does it on occasion.

 

[Kassaundra]

A red light isn't nessecary, but it is said to reduce the amount of picking at each other. If you do switch to a red light, there wouldn't be any need for two (white and red) the red could be used 24-7.

 

[nomoq]

Thank you SO much for your help!
One other thing...As I bought these ladies from a feed store, they are fully feathered and about one to three weeks old. What temp range should I have them?
A low of?
A high of?
Once again..Thanks SO much for your help!
Jim

 

[SIMPleChick]

Put in a stuffed animal, some chicks just get lonley!

 

[sunket77]

at three weeks, it depends on how cold it is... They won't need heat at night. At 3-4 weeks mine go outside with no heat and they are fine, but I live in Texas and highs are already hitting the 100's
they won't need one at night, again, that depends on the temps, if it stays in the lower 70's they should be fine, or even the upper 60's if there is enough of them to keep each other warm

 

[N&MSchroeder]

Since you have a combination of ages, I would keep them under a heat lamp at around 85-90 degrees with plenty of room for them to escape if they wish. I always use a red light and keep it on 24/7 for at least the first 3 weeks, but this depends on the surrounding temperature. The recommendation is to lower the temperature 5 degrees per week until they are fully feathered. As for the one who is peeping, try holding her closer to the light and see if she stops peeping. If she does, then she is cold.

Keep us posted on how things are going and