Weaning Chickens from a heat lamp

[Relheok]

So my Chickens are about 22 weeks old now. Fully feathered and really want to switch them from a heat lamp to a regular light buld on a timer to start stimulated egg production. They are in a coop with no windows. What is the best way to make that transition? Also how should the pine shavings be in the coop? Thanks.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Could you say a little more about their environment? Like, are they outside during the day, with the heat lamp on them at night?
If they are outside during the day, you shouldn't need extra light for them to lay their first year.

 

[Relheok]

Inside the coop all day/night until this spring when we can hopefully get a run built or free range them. I was hoping to only use the light bulb on atimer and avoid using heat lamp at all.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Once they were feathered out, they should not have needed a heat lamp at all. What's the temperature where you are currently. How many bodies in what size of space?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Wow!! I don't envy your electric bill. I wean my chicks off heat at 6 weeks. Just 6 weeks of brooding causing a spike in our electric bill. Feathered birds are covered and have a down under covering. The don't need supplemental heat.

If you wish to wean them now, just replace the light. If you wish to change to a small light for "light therapy" the pre-dawn hours works best, in my opinion. Use a timer to have it come on at 5 am and snap off at 8 am. Consider allowing natural dusk to allow them to go to their roosts for the night.

 

[featherz]

Yowsa!! Even when I used heat lamps my chickens were off them by 6 weeks, MAYBE 8 if it was sub freezing outside. 22 weeks?!?!

I have 6 week olds in my barn that are off heat and it's 10 degrees outside, about 30 in the barn. They don't even seem to care.

 

[Judy]

They need some natural light, and they need good ventilation at the high point of the coop, particularly with deep litter method, as I assume you are covering poop with more litter and / or mixing it into the litter. If they are accustomed to being warmer than it is outdoors, they need time to acclimate to the cold.

 

[Relheok]

So our temperatures change from 35 in the day to tonight being -9 forecasted. It is a 4X6 Coop with deep litter method right now. I have *no* windows and this spring will be adding some.

I will attach a picture of the inside of the coop from my first Litter (Brahma's) that were killed in a flood last spring.

 

[SteveBaz]

So my Chickens are about 22 weeks old now. Fully feathered and really want to switch them from a heat lamp to a regular light buld on a timer to start stimulated egg production. They are in a coop with no windows. What is the best way to make that transition? Also how should the pine shavings be in the coop? Thanks.

 

[Relheok]

So I have a ventilation problem since mine are damp then.