peachicks and heat?

[gaza]

hi group,i have had my little chicks for 2 1/2 weeks now.
they are in a cage in my bathroom,with a 150 watt bulb above for heat.
well,as they have now grown so much and are just jumping around,one of them must have decided to splash about in the water dish,and this caused the bulb to fail.
i got home,and although the temp was 70,thet were all shivering and huddled together!
they are just now getting real feathers,so do i take the lamp away right away,in a few weeks,or should i lower the wattage gradually from now till then?
also,3 chicks seem alot bigger than the other 6 i got from the breeder.,1 even fans its tail!
does this mean that the 2 are males?,or just maybe not "day old",as advertised,but 1 day old?
the one who fans its tail,,,,,is that a male?,all IB
just asking out of curiousty,as when they get fearhers,indend to dna sex them.
also,they are on wire right now,but want to first,turn them loose in my bath,for a few weeks,then on concrete,on my patio out doors
have only cage birds/quail.
there should be no risk of infections,as i have no chickens??
thanks
gary

 

[little blue]

i would keep 150 watt bulb on them an just raise it up a little every week till they are fully feathered.70 is pretty cold for 2 1/2 week peachicks they say start at 95 an drop 5 degress a week till they dont need the heat anymore.just because you dont have chickens dont mean you dont have perisites in your soil i would wait till about 2-3 months till you put them on the ground.what kind of waterer do you have if it is deep enough for them to spalsh in you should change it out you dont want young birds getting wet. peahens an peacocks will fan wont be able to sex ib till around 10-12 weeks i am very new to this as well but have learned alot from the great people on this site an i am sure you will as well.goodluck lilblue

 

[Kedreeva]

Agree, keep the 150 wat and move it farther away. At 2.5 weeks, I would be keeping them around 90 degrees.

Both males and females will fan, so it's no indication of gender.

Some people can tell gender as early as 4 weeks, but the older the better. For males you will see barring on the wing feathers, something IB peahens don't have.

Are all your chicks getting enough food? Do the smaller ones feel thin to you (can you feel their keel, the brestbone, sticking out?) It's possible the breeder did not have 6 at once to ship that were born the same day. It's also possible that since they weren't hatched by you, the breeder had some problem (Cocci, for instance) that is causing a problem. Make sure all are able to get fresh food and water and that they are eating medicated starter especially since you aren't sure how they started out.