Temp in the Brooder... HELP!!!

[thereverend]

Ok. my babies are just 30 Hrs old and in the brooder. I had the temp in there at 99.5 but i just
woke up to check on them and the temp is 98.6 I am afraid that the temp will drop more tonight
even with the heat lamp in play. Will they be ok or what should i do for them??

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Make it 100 right under the light an they will move away if they get hot. Only really needs to be 95 under the light though.

 

[mrsbos]

Is your thermometer directly under the heat lamp? Are there alot of chicks that could cuddle together? I kept my 3 one day old chicks in a cardboard box with a heat lamp suspended over it. Temp directly under the heat lamp was between 95-99 degrees F the first week, but they wandered freely around the box without seeming cold, and temps away from the lamp were several degrees colder. I'm sure yours will be fine too!

 

[Akane]

Watch the chicks. If they are huddled in the center of the light then you have problems and need to get a higher wattage bulb or lower the light. If not then no need to worry. 95F is the average temp listed for the first week so you don't have to aim for incubator temps once they are dry. Just watch the chicks. They will tell you if they are too hot or too cold. If they avoid the center of the light and lay toward the edges of the brooder they are too hot and it's time to lower the temp either with a lower wattage bulb (I go from 100w to 60w to 40w bulbs when brooding in the house) or raise the lamp.

 

[Broodica]

When my chicks were 1 day old, they found 95F too hot right from the beginning. I had it at just under 90F for the first week and slowly lowered it without aid of a thermometer. They are 5 weeks now and are at about 65F room temperature (just checked out of curiosity), but they are well feathered....Lesson Learned - forget the temp, check their behaviour. If all cuddled under the heat, too cool, if all away from the heat, too hot, if they sort of go in-between, back and forth, some in the heat some some out....you're OK.

***edited for appalling syntax...

***

 

[kathyinmo]

I don't even use a thermometer. I have a heat lamp on one end, and not the other. They go back and forth. If they are too hot, they go to the cooler end. If they are cold, they get under the heat lamp.

Watch the chicks .... if they huddle together they are likely too cool. If not, they are fine.