TEMPERATURE QUESTION for new babies

[tylgar6601]

We picked up our 25 new 4-H babies on Monday. They are black sexlink babies suppost to be 1 day old, however I think some are older than that. They are the sweetest things ever but I have a temperature question. The paperwork that we received with our babies said to keep them at 95 degrees for the 1st week. When we have the temp at 95 degrees they ALL seem to literally sleep. When the temp is 88-90 they are much more active and seem to be happier. Do I need to keep the temp at 95 like I was told or keep it at 90 where they are more active???? They all seem very healthy otherwise. Thanks for any info

 

[Judy]

Use your common sense and keep them where they seem happiest. I personally feel 95 is too warm once they have dried from hatching, or perhaps in a case of bad shipping stress. IMO your chicks are telling you 88 is better.

I've always found they want to be cooler than the charts say. I've turned off the heat entirely at 3-4 weeks, outdoors, with night lows below 70, because they were absolutely avoiding it.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Use your common sense and keep them where they seem happiest. I personally feel 95 is too warm once they have dried from hatching, or perhaps in a case of bad shipping stress. IMO your chicks are telling you 88 is better.

I've always found they want to be cooler than the charts say. I've turned off the heat entirely at 3-4 weeks, outdoors, with night lows below 70, because they were absolutely avoiding it.

x2


Just have a HUGE brooder. Make a "hot spot" and leave the rest cooler. The chicks will adjust themselves. If cool, they'll be under the lamp, if they wish to cool off, they'll be elsewhere. Simple.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Let the chicks tell you if they are comfortable or not. Their behavior will clue you in.

This is what you are looking for:

It's very hard to accurately measure the temperature the chicks are perceiving when using a radiant heat source (heat bulb) so it's better to go by their behavior.

 

[tylgar6601]

Thanks so much everyone. This helps alot. I really thought my "gut feeling" to keep the temp at 88-90 degrees was correct but, since I am a first time baby chick mom I wanted to make for sure. The reply with the pics really helped me know I was doing the right thing. The "temperature correct" pic is what my babies look like at 88-90 degrees. However one end of their enclosure (they are in a huge cattle watering trough) is a bit warmer and they are all over the place with the small temp difference so I think I have got it figured out.

My boys (ages 8 and 10) love these little guys more than anything. I am kinda fond of them too My 10 year old sets with his hand on the botton of the enclosure and they peck and will set on his hand. He loves it.

They also seem to LOVE my fingernails and my diamond ring. They like to peck and pull on my nails and fingernails. My boys even put my ring on and let them pull on my ring

I know we are going to enjoys these babies so much. Going to post pics now of them....Thanks for the advice everyone

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I would not let them peck at the ring. Over the years I've read of a couple of times that a bird managed to swallow a stone out of a setting. Seems unlikely to happen, but I've read of a couple of times that it has.