Trouble regulating temp in brooder

Your chicks will tell you if they are comfortable or not.

Radiant heat is hard to measure with an ordinary thermometer so chick behavior is the way to go with temperature regulation.

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Just make sure you have a range of temperature in the brooder so they can choose to move from warmer to cooler if they need to.

 

I understand your concern. To expand on A.T Hagans's comment, if you can keep one area of the brooder in the proper temperature range but let the rest cool off below the proper tmepertaure, they will find their own comfort zone. I'd go nuts trying to keep the entire brooder the perfect temperature.

I have a 3' x 5' wire brooder with a draft guard. I keep one area in the right temperature range, though sometimes that specific area gets a little warm. But the far corners can be as much as 20 to 30 degrees cooler than the perfect temperatue. The first couple of days they tend to hang out under the heat, but by the third day they are playing all over the brooder. I think them playing in different temperatures makes them healthier too.

Good luck!

 

I'm brooding outdoors in a wooden box and basically have two setups going to deal with the swings in temperature. Setup 1 is a 175W infrared heat light at 24" height which works for 65-85 degrees ambient (I shut it off if when it gets hotter than that based on them avoiding the light). Setup 2 is a 100W infrared heat light at 16" and works for temps below 65 degrees (it's been as low as 49 out and they were quite content). They're singing and all over the place so it seems to be working for them.

I gave up on the thermometer because it's very difficult to get an accurate reading with infrared heat BUT it's also very easy to tell by the chicks' behavior whether they are too warm or cool. If they aren't going into the light to sleep, it's too hot. If they are spending their awake time under the light, they're too cold. If they wander around the unheated area while awake and then go into the light to rest, it's perfect.

ETA: The half of my brooder box that isn't under the light is the same temperature as the outside air. I believe that this situation more closely replicates mama hen. A mother hen doesn't provide heat to the surrounding air -- the chicks return to her when they need to warm up.