when to shut off the heat lamp?

[strawkleberry48]

Hello! I'm a newby at this. Learning as I go. I have 5 five and a half week old chicks. they are just about fully feathered. We plan on putting them in their coop this weekend. Do they need the heat lamp now? They are in a brooder in the basement. The basement is dark, so do they some kind of light besides the heat lamp?

 

[nchls school]

Hello! I'm a newby at this. Learning as I go. I have 5 five and a half week old chicks. they are just about fully feathered. We plan on putting them in their coop this weekend. Do they need the heat lamp now? They are in a brooder in the basement. The basement is dark, so do they some kind of light besides the heat lamp?

Different varieties grow at different rates. There's other factors that need to be considered like what the weather has been like, are there any chicks that are not growing right, and will this change result in a huge temperature difference. Better safe than sorry. Most likely at 5 weeks of age they don't need the heat lamp, but that lamp means more than just heat it is also protection and security to the chicks. My advice is to set up the lamp and then when the birds have adjusted to their new home and no longer use the light-shut it off and take it down.

 

[Drewnkat]

Depending on what your chicks are doing, they may not need it.

Mine are going on 5 weeks, and they've been off the heat lamp since 3 weeks old. But, I live in GA, they are in a non-drafty room, and they were hanging out in the opposite end from the heat lamp, staying as far away from it as possible.

I let their behavior be my guide, they obviously weren't feeling chilled. They've been happy and fine without the heat lamp. They definitely don't need a night light, chicks raised under a broody hen don't have one. I do keep a light on during the day, and weather permitting they've been getting some outside time too.

One thing though, when you first take your chicks out to the coop, if they seem reluctant to roost in there, a little light bulb can encourage them to go in. I used one with my first chicks last year til they got the hang of "coop is safe place to sleep" instead of "coop is big and scary! DO NOT WANT!"

 

[Blooie]

Last year at 5.5 weeks mine were moved out to the coop. It was April 1st. I put a heat lamp in there and a wireless thermometer. All night I kept watching that temperature drop and I kept getting out of my nice warm bed to bundle up and run out there to check on them. They were fine. I was nuts. They were snuggled down in a pile near the pop door - on the complete opposite side of the coop from where the lamp was. The temperature in the coop was 20 degrees. The next night, same story except I only went out once. So the third day that lamp came out! If they didn't think they needed it, then I wasn't risking a fire. That night it snowed, and our last snowfall was on June 6th.

I had turned the heat lamp off a week before they went out, and I also started leaving the regular light off so they'd learn to settle down as the sun went down and wake up with the morning. I think you'll be just fine getting them used to their "coop conditions" now, before they go out, rather than plunging them into a totally strange environment with different "rules" than what they're used to now. As Drewnkat said, a broody doesn't give them a nightlight. When she goes to bed, so do they. And by 5.5 weeks old they wouldn't even be able to fit under her anyway - she'd be teaching them to roost at night.

I currently brood my chicks outdoors in the run from the start, even though our temperatures were in the teens and twenties and we had 60 mph winds with sideways blowing snow. It's been a lifesaver for them and for me!