Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

It was five degrees last night- I had all three heat lamps going in the barn, my chicks are four weeks old and some are fully feathered but most are not. They seem to appreciate the heat. Am I spoiling them? I figure if they aren't stressed they will do better, but I don't want to over coddle either. Do you go by age or temperature or by feathering to make the lamp off decision?

if they aren't fully feathered they need the heat. if they are fully feathered you are spoiling them and they probably won't mind in the slightest LOL
i go solely by feathering-well, and if someone is looking really cold....certainly last night i had the windows closed and heat plates on for the youngsters! it was 5C at my place too and windy and raining a bit.

Thanks WLLady, I think I will keep those lamps on for now until it warms up at night, then hopefully wean them off soon. They look so comfy and relaxed under them

I go by behaviour of the chicks...I don't use a lamp, instead keeping them near the woodstove or using hot water bottles, heating pads etc. It's normal for them to cuddle up some at nap time or at night, but if they are losing sleep because they're constantly trying to get to the center of the huddle (crowding), or if they're cheep cheep cheeping, I add more heat. Shivering is unacceptable, but I keep them on the cool side whenever possible so they feather out faster. The 5 week olds are still in the house, but fully feathered, and have not been near a heat source in about two weeks. Their cage has been on a chilly floor for a week. The new hatchlings are parked near the woodstove, with a hot water bottle LOL. I'm very miffed that it's cold enough in June to have the darn woodstove on! But ehy need it and so do I! Bring back 30 degrees!

Funny how we all stress about this. My broody turkey had the kids out at 2 days old. She's very good making sure they can snuggle if they want to. When it's been wet the last few days she snuggles them on her feet to keep them dry. This girl is a first year Mum so I hope they make it.

WWW you are tougher than me, I want the chicks GONE from the house at two weeks! The dust is unbelievable. Next time I do this I'll be a bit smarter and pull everything out of the spare bedroom brooding room before the chicks hatch. Killerbunny nothing beats a good, timely broody! Good luck with those chicks sounds like they are in good hands.

sure was a chilly one again this morning. mom turkey had all three bundled up under her wing, between her wing and her body snug as bugs. and all the munchkins in the grow out coop were lying on top of the brooder plate LOL. guess they like the tummy heat....ha ha.
yes, the dust is unbelievable from chicks!!!! very glad it's spring/summer and they can be in the barn because it's not gale force -20 winds outside! LOL (okay, not really an accurate description of winter....especially this last one LOL)

You may have heard this before. Next year I will not incubate. I will leave it all to the broodies. Haaaaa Haaaaa.

Robbie wrote:QR_BBPOST WWW you are tougher than me, I want the chicks GONE from the house at two weeks! The dust is unbelievable. Next time I do this I'll be a bit smarter and pull everything out of the spare bedroom brooding room before the chicks hatch. Killerbunny nothing beats a good, timely broody! Good luck with those chicks sounds like they are in good hands.

You are both braver then me, I really don't want chicks in the house past one week.
I have everything in the room covered with "dust sheets" (old sheets) and I must say the difference with using the flax bedding instead of wood shavings is remarkable, still after the first week they start dusting themselves and bits of bedding are all around the brooder.
Of course the absolutely coldest night is going to be the one week, so it's going to be more like 10 days but thats pretty much maximum.
If I walk in to the room and I smell chicks, they are going out even if it's snowing

I thought I had the dust problem beat with the healthi straw but it's all feather dust! Pounds of the stuff. Almost weightless it is even stuck to the ceiling. Of course almost one hundred chicks is definitely over the top for being in the house- never again! Well not for two weeks anyway.