switching to a white light

[justplainbatty]

Worst I expect is high 30's/low 40's at night and 70's during the best days.

Can I just warn you that they don't yet have enough fat stores or seasonally induced winter down. They should still be kept at about 80* right now and decreasing 5* per week until they hit 70*
IMHO they are not ready for 40* temps.

Edit, Ok never mind. I just saw your other post on the subject. Maybe if I lived where you do,I would try that but temps here are just so erratic, I'd be worrying all the time!

 

[justplainbatty]

So a quick update, I went and got a white 150 watt light. I put it in the lamp and no joke within a minute they were going crazy pecking at each other running around like crazy. So I immediately turned it off and put the red light back in and poof they were back to normal lol. So I did what was suggested and draped a blanket over the top. They didn't seem to like that either but I think they can get used to that. Taught me not to mess with something that is working just fine lol.

yah, quick lesson, no harm done. I usually only cover 3/4 of the cage so they still have the red light if they want it. A bath towel covers 3/4 of the top and I just clip on smaller towels with clothes pins to cover the sides.

 

[geojerry]

Do you use a red light all day and night?

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Worst I expect is high 30's/low 40's at night and 70's during the best days.

Can I just warn you that they don't yet have enough fat stores or seasonally induced winter down. They should still be kept at about 80* right now and decreasing 5* per week until they hit 70*
IMHO they are not ready for 40* temps.:/  

Shhhhh....don't tell my chickens that.

Good thing is, I'm in close contact with my animals 24/7 so if conditions deteriorate unexpectedly I can take corrective action quickly.

 

[justplainbatty]

Do you use a red light all day and night?

Yes, because they get plenty of natural light through the windows where I raise them. The red light is concentrated on one end (about 1/3 of brooder) so it doesn't blind them to normal light. Once it is dark outside and the human lights are on, I gradually cover the cage with the towels, giving them time finish eating and settle somewhere. Once they sit down or perch on the built in branches, I finish covering and turn the people lights off. I also move the food and water over night to the 2nd 1/3 so that if they need it they can see it. Once they don't need the lamp anymore, I continue to use the towels to in conjunction with dusk and the change to total darkness at night so that they are more ready for the natural cues they will use once they go out to the big coop.

 

[justplainbatty]

Shhhhh....don't tell my chickens that.

Good thing is, I'm in close contact with my animals 24/7 so if conditions deteriorate unexpectedly I can take corrective action quickly.

Too late, I already sent them a memo!

Yes I can see how that can work if you're never far from them when the weather gets weird. As you've probably seen from this year's weather for us in the North/North East of the country, you can't trust mother nature for 5 minutes this time of year! Ugg!

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Worst I expect is high 30's/low 40's at night and 70's during the best days.

Can I just warn you that they don't yet have enough fat stores or seasonally induced winter down. They should still be kept at about 80* right now and decreasing 5* per week until they hit 70*
IMHO they are not ready for 40* temps.:/  

Shhhhh....don't tell my chickens that.

Good thing is, I'm in close contact with my animals 24/7 so if conditions deteriorate unexpectedly I can take corrective action quickly.

Just an update: I was planning on booting my chicks from their brooder cage & light earlier this week but the weather channel was predicting 35* & 37* several nights so I held off for several days. Good thing I waited because my outside thermometer showed a low of 30* and had ice in the horse trough. They are now sleeping on the roost bars under the overhang of my barn roof like normal chickens. I was slightly concerned because a few had bare backs from picking due to overcrowding in the 3x5 cage but they did just fine. It was 38* their first night out.

 

[justplainbatty]

Just an update: I was planning on booting my chicks from their brooder cage & light earlier this week but the weather channel was predicting 35* & 37* several nights so I held off for several days. Good thing I waited because my outside thermometer showed a low of 30* and had ice in the horse trough. They are now sleeping on the roost bars under the overhang of my barn roof like normal chickens. I was slightly concerned because a few had bare backs from picking due to overcrowding in the 3x5 cage but they did just fine. It was 38* their first night out.

Glad you waited! They're about a week older now which makes a difference.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Yeah me too. The weather is crazy here also, 75* one day and freezing the next. The day I booted them they were around 33 days old, about the size of a large pigeon and fully feathered. They haven't perfected roosting yet, I still have to manually place most of them on the roost poles at night.

 

[aart]

It's always a good idea, in my opinion, to establish day/night rhythms for baby chicks by draping a dark cloth over the brooder between the light and the chicks at night. This relieves the stress of too much light, even a red light, and encourages them to sleep all night, even during the first week.

I'm surprised this isn't talked about very much on BYC.

This doesn't make sense to me for a couple reasons:
Putting a dark cloth between the heat light and the chicks would dissipate the heat that they need from the light......
.......and it could be dangerous if cloth was to close to hot bulb.