Temperature Question

What are you using for a bulb? If your room is 80*, you should need very little heat at all to bring it up a bit. In an other week, if you keep your room consistently at 80, you may not need a heat lamp at all. As a matter of fact, it will help them if you turn the lamp off for a little while every day. Start with 15 minutes, and increase a bit every day. Base the lamp off time on how they act.
 
I believe I have a 250 watt red light lamp. I moved the lamp back so it's at 85 in the box and all seem to be very content. They will sleep under the bulb but are happy to roam to the other side where the light does not read (this is where I also keep the water and food for them).
 
That is what I figured, once they are 2 weeks old I am probably going to start shutting it off as suggested until I can just leave it off and use my normal bedroom light to light up the inside of the brooder so it's not too dark. I can't lower the temp under 80 in my room because of my rats. Since it's winter if it gets too cold they will become ill and get respiratory infections which can quickly kill even a healthy rat. I just don't risk it and keep my room warm and watch if the room gets too dry or too humid or they can get respiratory infections from that too.
 
Sounds like you've got it pretty much figured out. It's always tricky trying to substitute for a mama hen, lol.

To be honest, I've never bothered about what degree the temperature is. It depends on the chicks. If they're hot, like you said, they'll "pancake" -wings spread, panting, away from the lamp. If they're cold, they'll let you know that too by clustering under the light. Also, most of the chicks I've had will cry incessantly and loudly if they are too cold. I tend to turn the lamp on and off throughout the day depending on their preferences.

My two 3-week-old chicks are in the outside pen right now without a heat lamp, where they've been for the past several days (just during the day). They're pretty content and actually prefer it to being inside with the heat lamp -but then, we're in Arizona, and winter's not really a thing here.
wink.png
 
Yeah it was -2 here yesterday >.< my grown horses don't like it outside right now let alone my chicks I am sure. More than being under the heat lamp though they like to run in the pen I set up in my room. It was my rats play pen when they were babies and too small to freeroam. The chicks enjoy running in that and scratching for food I put in the ground for them to pick at. They also seem to prefer me putting a towel in my lap, putting them all together, and putting a blanket over them. They have never slept so hard in all their lives xD I think they just enjoy being able to know something bigger and living is watching over them.
 
Mine do the same thing! Actually, since I've just got two right now, they like me to put them in a fanny pack. They are so spoiled.

Negative 2? Yikes! You will never catch me living somewhere that cold! You guys are tough!
 
In an 80F room you don't need a 250W heat lamp, regular incandescent bulb will work just fine.
I use a red reptile bulb on a dimmer extension cord to regulate heat output.....
......when I'm not using the heating pad. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate



Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:
They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom