when do you turn the heat light out

[Sam208]

I have 4 week xrocks which are doing find but i still have the heat light on them all the time. Thy spend most of the day outside in the run with the feeder and water and what ever bugs they can find.

But the temp are getting down in the low 40s high 30s at nite and the high temp during the day are in the 60-70 range.

they are mostly feather out beside under there wings which is still bare. SO is it time to turn the lights out at nite are what should i do???


thanks sam

 

[bigredfeather]

IMHO they don't need the lamp anymore. I have 63 of them the same age. Our temps have been similar to yours, and I haven't given them any heat for two weeks now. They have been fine. They tend to huddle up close to dark, but so far none have died due to being squished.

ETA: I do have the tractor wrapped with a tarp to give them a draft free enviorment. I think that has helped to keep them warm. When I open the door to the tractor, it is noticably warmer inside my 6'x10' tractor.

 

[jaku]

They probably don't need the lamps anymore, but personally, in those temps, I leave the red lamps on at night, running a extension cord out to my tractor. However, after some discussion about them needing time in complete darkness, I may just cover my whole tractor with a tarp at night this fall and leave the lights off. I would think that the heat generated by 75 birds in a 10x10 area will be enough to stay warm.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
It makes a big difference with the tarp. One night last week we had a light frost. I went out at 6:00am and opened the tractor door, and you could feel they warmth rolling out of the door. The birds were all sitting side by side, as happy as could be. I think if you have enough birds, and it is draft free, it can get pretty chilly without any problems.

 

[jaku]

Quote:
It makes a big difference with the tarp. One night last week we had a light frost. I went out at 6:00am and opened the tractor door, and you could feel they warmth rolling out of the door. The birds were all sitting side by side, as happy as could be. I think if you have enough birds, and it is draft free, it can get pretty chilly without any problems.

So you cover yours then?

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
It makes a big difference with the tarp. One night last week we had a light frost. I went out at 6:00am and opened the tractor door, and you could feel they warmth rolling out of the door. The birds were all sitting side by side, as happy as could be. I think if you have enough birds, and it is draft free, it can get pretty chilly without any problems.

So you cover yours then?

I moved my current batch out to the tractor at four days old. I had two heat lamps in the tractor, and all open areas were covered by the tarp. At two weeks, I took out the heat lamps, but left the tarp on. I take the tarp of when the weather is nice during the day. I put it back on everynight. It has probably been off about half the time the last two weeks. I will probably take it off for good in another week or two depending on the weather. It has worked great. The worst part was developing a method of quickly getting the tarp secured easily. Come next spring, I am going to ask my wife to sow a tarp that will tightly fit over the tractor, having the corners sowed for a custom fit.

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This picture was from this Spring. I don't have any pictures with the tarp on.

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It will cover the entire front six feet of the tractor. I will figure out a way to have some bungy straps or something to quickly secure the custom tarp. I'm hoping next Spring to put chicks in the tractor from day one.

We'll see what happens.

 

[Sam208]

Are them the 4 week old you said you have . because if they are mine are way behind them. but the roosters weight about 4 lbs and hens 3-3.5lbs

thanks sam

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
No, those are my Spring batch. They are 7 weeks old in that picture. That has been the best batch I've done. Only lost 1 out of 35 chicks, and they averaged right at 4.5 pounds each at 8 weeks. I think using a tractor is the best method. The birds seem much happier than they were in the barn.

 

[Sam208]

thanks