" Jill" <news@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:6ch0egF3gehbfU1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> martin gutzmer wrote:
>> Hi Folks,
>> I have 50+- chicks that are now 13 days old.
>> I got a mixed straight run - so some are BIG and others ar not so
>> much.
>> Some seem ready to take off - others not.
>> I have two rubbermaid tubs 2 x 4 x 2 feet, and the bigger chicks were
>> escaping into the room!
>>
>> The average night temp is now 70 F and 80-90 F in the daytime - I have
>> discontinued use of the heat lamp at daybreak, can I also discontinue
>> it at night? they seem awfully hot.
>> Also should I separate the little from the big, and keep them in,
>> while letting the bigger ones have some more room?
>> Please advise,
>> Thanks,
>> Martin
>
> The best arrangement is to give them all a lot more space, but leaving
the
> lamp in situ for those who need the comfort or warmth.
> If you take it away altogether you might get chilling nad crowding which
> leads to suffocation.
> You can raise the lamp so they are not too warm beneath it.
> Then change the bulb for an ordinary one once its only being used for
> comfort.
> But the biggest thing they need is space.
> They need to be inside until they are much better feathered - some more
> weeks yet.
> Make an enclosure that you can cover in bedding, pine shavings for
> instance.
> for 50 chicks this will need to be about 6 - 8 ft square at least and
> bigger again in a few weeks time.
When I had this situation, I put my chicks outside in a chickenwire pen
with
a large dog house with a shop light strung into the back (it was one of
those 2-piece houses, so I just hooked the lamp on before closing the lid.
I used duct tape to tape a few small perches in the house. I turned on
the
lamp just at night for a week or so. The cold chicks stayed under the
lamp
and the other chicks perched. When I did this, night-time temperatures
were
in the 50s and 60s, so it might not need the dog house and light (and I
only
had 27 chicks, so a dog house might not work for you).
You might want to look into hanging a hover in the center of their new
digs
until they get acclimated. You can make a hover out of the insulated
****ny
bubble wrap you see at hardware stores. Cut the corners out so you can
fold
and tape it into a beveled box. Hang that with the narrow end up, just
above chick head height. That will hold their body heat in and prevent
them
from piling up in the corners. As they get bigger, raise it a little at a
time until they don't need it. I think there are pictures of this type of
hover out there if I left out some details.
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