temperature??? help chick will be here monday

[BrackenFarms]

according to all the literature i have read the temp needs to be 95 degrees the first week and drop 5 degrees each following week. my question is... is this degree a measure of the ambient air? the reason i ask is I have a 250 watt bulb and directly under it is 105 degrees but closer to edge of box is in the 60's... will this be suitable??

 

[E.G.Glayer]

You should try to raise the lamp a couple inches. It should be right around 95 + or minus 1 would be good enough. If you cant raise it try a lower wattage bulb. If it is close to the right temp they will move in out of the heat to regulate their temp. Too cold and they will bunch together and possibly smother each other too hot and they will most defintiely over heat. If your brooder is 105 they will probably just bunch together farther away from the heat lamp but it really is best to try and get that temp down to a tolerable level for them in all areas of the brooder.

 

[Picklestix7866]

You want the temp to be 95 at the height of the chicks, so lay the thermometer on the bedding. You also want to put up a barrier of some kind to keep them near the heat lamp, so they can't wander off into the cooler part of the brooder and get cold. They only need the barrier for the first week.

Good luck!

 

[becky3086]

As far as I know, UNDER the light should be 95 degrees and all the chicks should be able to get under there at that temp. It doesn't matter what the other areas of the brooder are in fact, I think it is actually good if the chicks can get a little cooler at times because they feather out better. Think about when mother hen broods chicks. They don't stay under her constantly, they go out and run around from time to time and only come back to get warm.

 

[Picklestix7866]

Oh yes, they should be able to get away from the heat a little bit, but just make sure that they can't wander off too far.