Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!
Hello! I have 15 -3.5 (I think) week old chicks. A few of them had puffed up or ruffled feathers and I’m a new chicken tender paranoid about cocci.
At that age they are only partially feathered out. I call it the vulture stage after I saw a row of mine that were black lined up on a perch and looking really rough. With some feathers already grown, some growing, and some parts still bare down they can look really rough. If they are standing around looking really lethargic and as if they don't feel well I'd be concerned and treat for cocci. If it is that they are only partially feathered expect them to look really sleek and slick when they finish feathering out, probably within a week.
I posted my setup to a community page and they advised that my brooder plate was too small for their size how (they sleep under it or huddled together). They told me to get a heat lamp.
It is easy to get confused. On social media such as this forum and your community page you can get all kinds of conflicting advice and suggestions. We all have different experiences and opinions. You can see that through other comments you have received in this thread. It does not mean that anyone is specifically wrong for their circumstances but we all have different circumstances.
I have one (while I wait for the second larger brooder) and now the chickens don’t sleep at night when they did previously.
What does this mean?
They are in a room in your house. What kind of light are they getting in there? Does it get dark? If they are active at night they are getting light from somewhere. It could be the heat lamp, maybe something else. I use a red heat lamp in my brooder in the coop, that seems to keep them calmer than a white light. At night it gets dark in that coop.
My approach to heat is to offer them one area warm enough that they can go to so they can warm up when they need to and let the rest cool off as it will. I brood outside so the far reaches of the brooder can cool off quite a bit. In your house in that room you seem to be limited to the 70's Fahrenheit minimum.
The question: Do they need extra heat at that age in 70 degrees F? Mine are exposed to lower temperatures since I brood outside and mine don't need extra heat. If yours haven't been acclimated yours may appreciate some heat. But the only way to know that is to see what they do if they don't have that heat. Are they comfortable and go about the business of being chicks or do they stand around and give a heart rending plaintive peep. Anybody hearing it can tell they are miserable. I assume that room is the same temperature day and night. Try turning off the heat plate and heat lamp both so it is ambient temperature. Observe them few hours and see how they behave. Let them tell you how they feel.
Another way to approach this. There is a rule of thumb on here to start them off at 90 degrees F (some people use 95, a few even start at 100 F, we can never agree on anything) then drop the temperature 5 degrees each week to get a safe temperature. If you do that you get a chart like this:
1 to 7 days old - 90F
8 to 14 days old - 85F (1 week old)
15 to 21 days old - 80F (2 weeks old)
22 to 28 days old - 75F (3 weeks old)
29 to 35 days old - 70F (4 weeks old)
I consider this an extremely safe conservative chart. They can typically handle even cooler temperatures but if you follow this chart you will always be very safe. So how many days old are your 3.5 week old chicks?
Regardless of any rules of thumb or any advice you get, I think it is prudent to watch them yourself and see what they tell you. I think yours will tell you that they do not need supplemental but listen to them.
For background:
I’m feeding them medicated food, they have a brooder plate, large pine shavings, water with probiotic & electrolyte, and medicated starter feed. I clean their bedding at least ever other day if not daily.
I’m new to this and doing the best I can so please be kind.
