In the interest of over-thinking the entire brooding process, we noticed the following: The air temperature is about 10-15 degrees cooler than the litter temperature. Here's the rub: I have a heating mat under the brooder just because I can. It seems the air temperature is most important including, of course, the chick's behaviors. Right now they're hanging out in the middle of the tiny brooder. So all is (hopefully) well for now. In your opinion, where is the best place to take your brooder's temperature? Right now I'm taking it half-way between the lamp and the wall, about 1/2 and inch off the litter. Over-thinking as always, Brian
Yes, overthinking...... as long as the chicks are happy - all is well. I kept a temp sensor thing on the ground where the chicks would sleep - I only did that for a few days and then took it out. I started turning the heat off during the day at around 2-3 weeks, and kept an eye on them - they did fine. On a side note, I have two baby chicks in the coop with a mom hen - they're a week old today, but even on day 2 and 3 mom would be digging and scratching, and they were standing around waiting for her to find goodies, and on those days it was chilly in there (chilly = in the 50's) One of the chicks did find a little ledge where the sun was shining, and dozed off..... Point is, mommy hen is going to get up - go eat, scratch, teach the babies things, so they're not going to be in that warm spot 24/7..... Good luck and relax a little!
