When to turn off heat lamp?

[danadear]

Sorry to hear about your chick

Why don't you put the light on a timer for them? Then you can set the timer to turn the light off at a certain time in the morning and on again in the afternoon (in case you come home late for some reason). Then, over time you change the time to switch off earlier until they don't need it at all.
We bought a timer at our local hardware store. They are fairly inexpensive. The digital ones are the best.

Great idea! Can't believe hubby didn't think of this..thanks!

 

[dainerra]

I agree with Melinda. I start phasing out the heat lamp around 2 weeks old. By the time my chicks are 4 weeks, they are outside full-time.

With a rubbermaid tote, one square cut in the lid really ISN'T adequate ventilation. The plastic is going to hold in a LOT of heat. You don't won't a draft directly on the chicks, but you don't want to cook them either

 

[danadear]

Well it's not just one square. it is basically the entire lid...hubby just leaves the perimeter of the lid so that he will have something to screw the hardware cloth to and so that the lid will still lock in place on the box.

Now I'm just confused. I think I will start turning the heat lamp off when I leave at 8 am. It is in the 80s by noon and in the next couple of days it will be in the 90s.

 

[sumi]

Maybe you should just leave it one for an hour or 3 later. Babies get chilled easily when they are so young still. (I nearly lost chicks older than 2 weeks to cold.) Then when they are 3 weeks old you can cut 30mins off their "light time" and an hour after another week. By the time they're a month old they should be fine without the light. But 2 weeks is still very young.

 

[RonC]

If it doesn't drop below 80 degrees without the light they should be ok. At two weeks they are smart enough to huddle together to stay warm. At three weeks mine didn't stay near the lamp.

 

[dainerra]

it's going to depend most on what temperature you have them accustomed too. If you suddenly move them from upper 80s to lower 70s, you are going to have problems. Avoid dramatic changes in their temperature and watch their behavior.

 

[danadear]

Thanks for the feedback. They were too hot today when the husband got home and they seem to spend most of their time as far away from the heat lamp as they can get. The youngest will be three weeks this weekend and the oldest will be five weeks on Sunday. I'm thinking since the brooder is a plastic bin with just the top open (covered with hardware cloth) and it's inside the garage if I turn the lamp off at 8 am and it's 65-70 outside the garage by the time the brooder starts cooling down the outside temps will be up. At this point I'm more concerned about roasting the poor babies because they can't escape the heat but they can huddle together if they get cold.

 

[jeapa]

I have been brooding my chicks outside in their coop. they are about 2 1/2 weeks old now and I just started turning the lamp off at 7:00 am when I leave for work and I turn it back on around 7:00pm. This seems to be working out just fine for my chicks, but then I did not raise mine in as high temps as the books say. My chicks were most comfortable around 80-85 for the first 2 weeks and now seem okay in the seventies. I would definitely be more worried about overheating then chilling them, but I am new to raising chicks so this is just my common sense.

My mom always let her broody hens raise her chicks so this is all new to me.

 

[lucylover]

Wait until the other three are four weeks old, and then it is time to slowly move the heat lamp farther away from the brooder. The silkies will be fine with a couple extra weeks of warmth. Enjoy your little chicks!

 

[dainerra]

Think of it like this. Does a mama hen keep her chicks at a constant temp? No! She has them outside in the rainand wind from the time they hatch. She gives them a warm place to come to and get warm and then back to the weather they go.
I use my german shepherds dog crate (42 inches) and a regular 75 watt bulb in a drop light as a brooder. The crate is wire so I block off just enough that the chicks aren't roaming the basement. The first couple days they stay in the area of the light where it is warmer. By 1 week, they are roaming the entire area with trips back to the lamp to nap. By 2 weeks, they weren't even sleeping there.
So, my experience is that given a choice, birds will wean themselves off the heat much sooner than you think.