A New Love Affair

Hip Hillbilly Farm said:

I just turned it down. Chicks were all under it. Now they are out of it so I turned it down. Only two settings and they are signified by a white notch (not temp. no.) This is all so nerve wrecking - the heat/no heat thing. I am in SE GA and it is hot as dickens (to me). No central air in this house. I can't imagine them cold, but as a neophyte I am trying to do what I am learning.

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In the picture above it looks like they are all huddled away from the heat plate which tells me the heat plate is too hot.

I would suggest not stressing about added heat especially since they are inside your unair conditioned house.

You can leave the heat plate in there but I would pull it away from the edge of your setup so nobody gets stuck under it.
Pull it away so they have room to come out from underneath it from all directions.

Kiki said:

You can leave the heat plate in there but I would pull it away from the edge of your setup so nobody gets stuck under it.
Pull it away so they have room to come out from underneath it from all directions.

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Done. The hygrometer reads 88% humidity . . . geesh. But temp has not changed. I wonder if it is calibrated properly. It was not overly expensive and made in China - makes me wonder if it's any good.

Hip Hillbilly Farm said:

Then I hurried to get their heat lamp set up. The thermometer in their room reads 89 degrees. I hear it should be more like 95.

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The whole room is that warm...or just in the brooder?!
They need a cool spot too....and with the heat plate you won't need a heat lamp,
except maybe for over the feed station for the first day or two.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-chick-heat-blurb.75619/

aart said:

The whole room is that warm...or just in the brooder?!
They need a cool spot too....and with the heat plate you won't need a heat lamp,
except maybe for over the feed station for the first day or two.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-chick-heat-blurb.75619/

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Hmm, well the hygrometer is placed on top of the heat plate which is inside the brooder.

I had a similar setup and mine were in their brooder with heat plate for their first week or two. My heat plate has a "heater" setting and a "brooder" setting, so I used "brooder". Inside my house was 71 degrees. They were all happy. They would run out from under the heat plate to eat & drink & engage in chick mayhem for a while, then go back under to sleep.

When they outgrew the inside brooder, I moved them into a large dog crate on my screen porch with their heat plate. I had the heat plate on the first few days during the day & at night, but then I had an electrical problem and woke up to no power to the heater! Were the 2-3 week old chicks ok? Yup! Night was in the 70s and they were mostly fluff. I just have 7 chicks.

Get to know them & they'll tell you if they're too hot or too cold. Are they huddled together? Then probably too cold. Are they running around? Probably comfy.

Quite honestly, my biggest issue has been keeping them cool. Hence why I have fans on and gave them bottles of ice during that heat wave.

Faeshka said:

I had a similar setup and mine were in their brooder with heat plate for their first week or two. My heat plate has a "heater" setting and a "brooder" setting, so I used "brooder". Inside my house was 71 degrees. They were all happy. They would run out from under the heat plate to eat & drink & engage in chick mayhem for a while, then go back under to sleep.

When they outgrew the inside brooder, I moved them into a large dog crate on my screen porch with their heat plate. I had the heat plate on the first few days during the day & at night, but then I had an electrical problem and woke up to no power to the heater! Were the 2-3 week old chicks ok? Yup! Night was in the 70s and they were mostly fluff. I just have 7 chicks.

Get to know them & they'll tell you if they're too hot or too cold. Are they huddled together? Then probably too cold. Are they running around? Probably comfy.

Quite honestly, my biggest issue has been keeping them cool. Hence why I have fans on and gave them bottles of ice during that heat wave.

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They are playing. Then when I walk in they scoot under the heater (some of them). Guess this giant lady looming over them is not ideal to see.

Hip Hillbilly Farm said:

Hmm, well the hygrometer is placed on top of the heat plate which is inside the brooder.

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Humidity(hygrometer) doesn't matter....temps does.
Best to measure the temps on the floor level of brooder.

Hip Hillbilly Farm said:

They are playing. Then when I walk in they scoot under the heater (some of them). Guess this giant lady looming over them is not ideal to see.

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I don’t know if you want them to run to you or it doesn’t matter, but it is nice to have chicks/chickens run to you when you have food in case you need to round everyone up at any point! I like to put wet mash in as a treat (just a bit of their food moistened with water). I start the first day or two with it in a small container placed in the brooder (think condiment cup to Dixie cup size), by day 3 I hold the container so they get used to my hand coming in, and after a day or so of that 1-2 times a day, I hold the mash in my hand and let them climb on my hand while they eat. I also say “chickie chickie” whenever I give them a treat. My big girls come a runnin when they hear “chickie chickie”, so I can get them to go in the coop, into the run, or come back toward me if they are somewhere I don’t want them to be just by saying the magic “treat phrase”. Lol

Hip Hillbilly Farm said:

They are playing. Then when I walk in they scoot under the heater (some of them). Guess this giant lady looming over them is not ideal to see.

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Does the brooder have open sides or have closed sides? Mine were a lot more skittish when I had them in a plastic container brooder. They're more relaxed now they're in a wire dog crate+wire exercise pen brooder. I spent time hanging out with mine, talking to them, showing them the water & food, tapping my finger on the ground like a momma hen pecking near the food. That plus moving them to the wire crate brooder helped them settle down. They're babies & are learning about the world. I was so worried mine would be scared of me but now they run over to the brooder door when I come with food or water.

Iluveggers said:

I don’t know if you want them to run to you or it doesn’t matter, but it is nice to have chicks/chickens run to you when you have food in case you need to round everyone up at any point! I like to put wet mash in as a treat (just a bit of their food moistened with water). I start the first day or two with it in a small container placed in the brooder (think condiment cup to Dixie cup size), by day 3 I hold the container so they get used to my hand coming in, and after a day or so of that 1-2 times a day, I hold the mash in my hand and let them climb on my hand while they eat. I also say “chickie chickie” whenever I give them a treat. My big girls come a runnin when they hear “chickie chickie”, so I can get them to go in the coop, into the run, or come back toward me if they are somewhere I don’t want them to be just by saying the magic “treat phrase”. Lol

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K, I'm on it. Actually been wanting to do the fermented (soaked, rather) feed thing but wasn't sure when to begin. Okie, dokie. This is very helpful @Iluveggers