Why do chicks need to be in a brooder so long?

[canada-goose]

Quote:
I suppose you could test it if you wanted.

 

[deerman]

Quote:
Mother hen can cover alot more chicks ,than she can hatch. So yes she still can cover them as they get older.


Chick need a place to warm back up after getting chilled.


Just like human children, in the winter time they can place outside, you sure wouldn't want them to have to stay in the cold.

Thats the reason chicks need a place to go back and get warm. If no mother hen, they will need a heated place to return TOO.

 

[LALASD4]

I was just thinking about this topic today.

I have never use heat lamps, but it does not really get that cold here, 50's-60's at night. At night the chicks just sleep next to each other to keep warm inside the house and during the day the chicks runs around outside after the 1st week with no problems.

Is a heating element really needed if the temperture does not get below 50 if there are at least 10 chicks to keep each other warm? Has anyone else raise chicks without a heat lamp.

 

[Rozzie]

Mama bird will spread her wings out to help cover more babies up. As they grow too big to completely fit under her, part of the baby will still be under her. Plus, in a natural setting (even in many secure coops) more birds will be lost to various causes, meaning that by the time the babies are two or three weeks old it isn't likely that mama bird will have as many babies to cover up. IN nature, predators and other accidents will have generally taken some babies. Compensating for these losses is part of why birds hatch so many eggs.

As the birds grow too big to fit fully under mama bird they start to gradually adjust to outdoor temps. Plus, at least where I live, a bird hatching babies naturally is probably going to do so when it's pretty warm outside, even at night.

 

[greenSearcher]

The brooder offers a protected environment for the chicks, not only for physical warmth but protection from the rest of the adult chickens until they learn the "flock rules" I have 6 NN still in a brooder (the brooder is the 4x6 foot covered run that will attach to the coop when I get it finished) that are physically ready to go outside, I simply haven't moved them out of the garage. I also have nearly 30 10 day old chicks in another run, but I have covered the sides with temporary materials to prevent drafts and only turn on the heat lamp at night. Our day time temps (N Central TX) are mid 80s and the chicks are warm enough during the day. They are up and about eating, drinking and pooping and checking out the other birds that are different from them. I will brood these babies until I have the other coops finished and can move them out maintaining the pecking order they will have establish by then.

It was a lot easier with the first flock, I am finding that w/ no mama to teach them pecking order or offer them protection from the other adult birds, I can't put them out as young as I would if I had them with a broody hen.

 

[Beekissed]

I've noticed that chicks raised by a hen will feather out more quickly than those in a heated brooder and I agree with the OP on that point...the chicks are not under her at all times~ but they do duck under and get warmed up from time to time.

I would say that a person could arrange a heating pad into such a way that the chicks could duck into it/under it? for a warm up and still pretty much act as chicks with a mama do.

I try to only get chicks when I have a broody hen now to avoid all these issues. So far, so good....no pasty butts, no crowding to get warm, no heat lamps.

 

[BooBear]

My new chicks are in a brood hutch with the heat lamp on one end. The other end is cooler.
Right now we are in the mid to high 80s during the day and it has started to drop at night to the 50s and 40 ranges at night.
Today was the first day the chicks came home so I have been monitoring the temps to make sure they are just right. I will keep monitoring them to make sure the brood lamp is giving the right temperature without roasting them. I have noticed that the chicks move about the entire hutch from the warm end to the cool end and tend to sleep either at the warm end or close to the warm end. They are soo cute.

I think the warmth issue varies depending on where you live and different ways to keep the chicks warm (ie, broody hen, heat lamp, and other forms of safe heating elements)

 

[JackieinYorktown]

It depends on what you mean as a brooder and what your outside temps are. My chicks have always been raised in a shed I have a heat lamp suspended from the ceiling and a cardboard ring to keep them from wondering off. As they get bigger the lamp goes higher. I am in NY and if I were raising chicks in colder nights I would use a portable radiator in the room.
The ring gets bigger as they do. Once they start flying over the cardboard, it goes down and they have the run of the the shed.
In other words go by temperature.
I don't let them free range until they are bigger.
We never raise birds in the house and have never used a brooder box. But a lot depends on what you have at your disposal. Some people use a covered enclosed porch as well, for example.