When can I turn off the heat lamp?

[Sweetpea3829]

If my chicks are being raised inside (for now), do I still need to keep the heat lamp on them? They are about a week and a half old, and it's pretty warm in the house. The heat lamp is keeping the brood box really warm...90+, and there really isn't an easy way for us to lower the temp because my husband has the heat lamp attached to a hinged, wire door that covers the brood box (have to keep the kids and dogs and cat out).

 

[Joecool1994]

I'd probably keep the heat lamp on just in case they get cold over night if your house cools down. 90 degrees is about where we kept ours for our chicks until they were about 3 to 3.5 weeks old and then after that we would turn it off during the day and turn it back on at night while putting them outside for some roaming time.

If they aren't staying far away from the light they should be fine with the light on. However, if you want it off, you can keep checking on them to see how they are without the light, if they huddle up then you may want to turn it back on.

 

[Sweetpea3829]

They spread out pretty much throughout the box. Nobody hovers under the light, but they don't seem to try and avoid it, either. I just know that *I* feel hot in the house right now...lol, and was wondering if they still needed it.

Tomorrow is going to be in the 80's outside, so I'm going to set up our Superyard gate and bring them out for a bit of playtime. Hope nobody escapes, lol!

 

[Joecool1994]

Ah ok, well if it's making the house hot I would turn it off and see how they re-act, if they don't change too much then they should be fine without it. If your house is in the mid to high 70's I'd say they'd be fine. As long as they aren't trying to huddle in tightly then I wouldn't worry too much.

Very nice, they will love play time, haha wait until they are a little older and can really run when they get out of their play area. When ours were 'littler' we put ours out for play time and they would screech really loud because play time would be over. Could definitely tell how mad they were.

 

[Sweetpea3829]

LOL, awesome! My husband is going to build their run this coming weekend. We have quite a bit of land (well, for a backyard flock anyways) and a good size chunk of that will be for their run. He said he can't wait to see me trying to catch the chicks once they have access to the full run. ;-)

Hopefully they'll learn to love their treats before they get out there. That should help in catching them.