We're keeping some chicks in a brooder in my mud room, which stays fairly warm this time of year. The chicks are a week old today and up until this morning, we had a heat lamp on them in one end of the brooder. It just seemed so darn hot in the room, and not wanting to waste the electricity, I set a thermometer in the brooder. With the heat lamp on, the temp there was about 95. I turned it off, and without the lamp, the temp is about 82-84. This is with the windows open in the mud room to allow fresh air circulation. Question is this- is it necessary to continue using the heat lamp if the ambient temp is that warm? I still need to see what the temp is at night and will likely need the lamp then, but I couldn't decide if it was necessary during the day. All chicks are active, perky, and look comfortable. I only randomly saw any chicks hanging out under the lamp when it was on- most were on the other end or inside of the chick hut (the shipping box turned upside down with doors cut in two sides). Thanks for any insight!
I think if it's that warm, things should be fine during the day, and like you mentioned, you will probably need the lamp on at night. Here in Ohio, it can be in the 80s during the day and then go down to the 60s at night.
