Chics are now about 4 weeks old. The temperature here is rising fast , tomorrow will be in the 90s and at night in low 70s.
We have red brooder lamps in chic and duck pens .Ducks are 6to8 wks,old.
All birds have at least a 5ft. area to get away from heat if they choose.Ducks have 10 ft. area.
All are doing great, chics run to us and ducks not as affraid .
Lots of lettuce and grass and non medicated starter for ducks.
Chics eat cantolope ,apples plums and same starter as ducks.
We have been very busy lately, and hope things will slow down soon.
We are building a screen around the porch so we can go out without being exsposed to flying insects , bugs are just too bad here .
I am still doctoring under arm area from infected tic bite I got last week ! I had a tic bite me under my arm 4 times , had knots there that have gone away.
Be careful with insects, they seem to be more dangerous now than ever .
When to Take Heat Off Chics?
Tell me about it!
You having trouble with bugs too Patchouli ?
Yes! Read my post entitled " Anyone else having problems with bug swarms?" These gnats are literally killing my chickens!
I remember now, how terrible .
Do you know about the heat for chics ?
lets see, 95 degres fro first week, decrease by 5 degrees each week till down to 70 degrees at six weeks of age, assuming they are fully feathered then [some are slow]
i think switching to a 60 or 100 watt bulb would be fine. mainly if they have a DRAFT FREE area to huddle together in soft warm bedding...
tf
Thanks so much.I was tld they were born May 2nd. so they are 4 wks old.
They are in a pen that is covered in 1 inch chic wire with hardware clothe floor .It has a roof with a loft with no draft .But they prefer to sleep on perch or by plywood door.
They were out of 100 watt bulbs, only had the 250 brooder bulbs. Since it's open and on one end maybe they will not get too hot , they are flying around out there now under the red light .
We got behind on other things by buying chics ,ducks and not being prepared .Now my plants ,house and other chores are behind.
yeah, tell me about it!
glad they are fine...
whatsupdoc,
Mine are a few days younger than yours. Hatched 5/5. I no longer use their light during the day. Only at night. I'm using a 85 watt red spotlight (Walmart) on the ducks and a 100 watt red spotlight on the chicks. Our temps are running at 50 nights and 70 days. They're spending a lot of time outdoors during the day. When I need to lock them up during the day I put up a barrier across the door so they get lots of fresh air and nothing can get in. Once nights are 60 and higher I won't run any lights.
MollyD
Molly, I wish I could say the same about our temps. We did have the temp in the 40s last night, but the two previous nights were in the 20s. My youngest chicks and the keets are 2 1/2 weeks old so I have to keep the light on them for a while yet.
GG
Yep you are right GG. When it gets into the 40's I turn on the heat plus the lights. They seem to be really well with just lights at night here. When my next batch arrives they'll get the light all night. If I can keep the brooder warm enough (it'll be well into June) I shouldn't have to run the heater too.
MollyD