TEMP DROP

[ArthurLedd]

when I went to the brood box this morning the temp was down to 77 degrees peeps were still moving around quite lively. they are are 5 days old today will this temp drop hurt them. the temp was 55 out side last night and will go up to 79 today i have heat light in brood box like i said they still are jumping around

 

[ValerieJ]

Sounds like they are fine to me. If they were cold they'd be huddled together under the heat source.

 

[ArthurLedd]

thank you for the reply I was just thinking that i have 7 hens in the hen house laying eggs every day and with winter coming should i put heat lamps in the hen house also

 

[ArthurLedd]

this is my first year at this I've been reading as much as i can but thought i would ask the persons who have done this before

 

[ValerieJ]

thank you for the reply I was just thinking that i have 7 hens in the hen house laying eggs every day and with winter coming should i put heat lamps in the hen house also

I have used heat lamps in my coops for the last 4 years, but this year I'm not going to. Why? I think I have pushed my luck as far as I dare. Heat lamps with the big red bulbs can get broken, start fires, etc. Last year I did go out to find one such lamp had been shattered. There were pieces of glass everywhere. Luckily, no one was hurt.

This year I will try a couple of things. In one coop I will use a Sweeter Heater, which uses radiant heat, and in another I'll use a pet heat pad over a homemade arch. The third coop will not be heated at all. The chickens all have access to all the coops and go where they please. I know I'll get less eggs because the heat lamp gave them the sense of longer days.

 

[SueT]

My hen took her 2 day old chicks outside with temps in the lower sixties, and they only went under her for warmth about a third of the time. Make sure your brooder has an area where the chicks can get out of the heat into ambient temps, and it will help them prepare for the real world. In another 2 weeks you can start weaning them from heat.
Adult chickens do not need heat in the coop unless you live in the far northern latitudes. Just like the wild birds, they have down jackets and are fine in the winter.