Brooder temp fluctuating

[500Chickens]

When I went outside this morning, the temp in our brooder was about 60F and last night the temp was 96F. The brooder is covered with a piece of sheet metal to keep it warm in there, so I'm not sure why the temp dropped. i was kinda freaking out because i got my chicks this morning so it needed to be warm for them. any ideas?

 

[rosemarythyme]

What's the heat source? 60 is the ambient temperature or that's under the heat source?

With the brooder covered in sheet metal is there still ample ventilation via the walls, for example?

 

[500Chickens]

There is still ample ventilation. The heat source is a red bulb heat lamp and this morning I put another heat lamp in that does not have a red bulb but a black ceramic one that doesn't let off any light. I also covered it with one of my thin horse blankets.

 

[rosemarythyme]

You didn't answer if the 60 is ambient or directly under the heat source.

If ambient that's perfectly fine. If that's under the heat source, then yes you'll need to figure out what's going on with the lamp or the bulb. Since you swapped bulbs has that helped?