Need advise for outside/garage brooder

[AinaWGSD]

I have 7 3 week old chicks that are quickly outgrowing the small brooder in my basement and I'm trying to get them moved to the larger (8x4?) brooder in the garage. But I'm having a hard time stabilizing the temperature.

When I set it up on Friday it was 60° outside and the temp directly under the heat lamp was 146°!! Raised the heat lamp to on top of the brooder and the temperature dropped to low-mid 50's Saturday (high in the low 30's). Last night (low of 27°) we moved the heatlamp back into the brooder and covered that half with an old comforter. Tracking temps with an ink bird, overnight temps were in the 120's directly under the heat lamp. Moved the thermometer about a foot and a half out from the heat lamp and now temp is about 51°

I'm at a bit of a loss on what to do here. I don't want to cook my nuggets, but I don't want them to get too cold either. Temps are supposed to warm up a little, but they're still calling for wintery mix/snow on Wednesday and the overnight lows are going to be 30's and 40's or lower for the foreseeable future. Do we leave the lamp in the brooder and trust the chicks to find the comfort zone on their own? Keep them in the basement until the absolutely won't fit in that brooder anymore? Move the lamp back to the top of the brooder and hope they don't get too chilled overnight? Put them in the garage during the day and bring them inside at sundown? Help please!

 

[tviss711]

Take this with a grain of salt because I am just sharing based on my experience with my chicks that are about the same age! How feathered out are your chicks? Mine will be 4 weeks old in two days, but for the last three days I've had them in a taller brooder in our garage with no supplemental heat (we used a brooder plate). They have some down still on their head and back, but have grown a lot of their "big kid" feathers by now. It helps keep their body heat from escaping. However, I did provide them a snuggle box (an upside down cardboard box with the side cut out so they can climb under like they would for the brooder plate) with a towel over the top, so if they wanted to get underneath and snuggle it would help to keep their body heat inside the box. They did not opt to use it, even on the first night without the brooder plate. I'd have to say the inside of our garage was probably in the mid 50's and they have been just fine, no one shivers and the only times they huddle/snuggle is at night when they sleep. Depending on how feathered out they are, (if they are anything like mine), I'd guess that since there are 7 of them they should be able to huddle for warmth and tolerate temps in the 50's 60's overnight without any extra heat. How cold does it get in your garage/is it the same as the outside temps? If it was in the 30's inside, I would probably offer them a little supplemental heat (not too hot, just to keep the chill out) for another week or so until they have feathered out more. If they've had heat up to this point though, I would phase it out slowly as sometimes it is the dramatic temperature shifts that are more harmful than the temps themselves, if that makes sense.

 

[AinaWGSD]

How cold does it get in your garage/is it the same as the outside temps? If it was in the 30's inside, I would probably offer them a little supplemental heat (not too hot, just to keep the chill out) for another week or so until they have feathered out more. If they've had heat up to this point though, I would phase it out slowly as sometimes it is the dramatic temperature shifts that are more harmful than the temps themselves, if that makes sense.

Garage is unheated and uninsulated, so it's pretty much whatever the outside temps are. The temperature shift is what I'm worried about. My basement isn't super warm, but it's a  lot warmer than my garage.

I'd guess most of them are probably 60-70% feathered. One has significantly less feathers than the others though

This is the least feathered one

mostly they're this feathered in

 

[rosemarythyme]

Can you move the 8x4 brooder into the basement instead since temperatures are more favorable there? They still need a bit of heat a little longer, but it sounds like the heat lamp is way too inconsistent for safe use.

Alternatively have you tried a lower wattage bulb in the heat lamp? That would help prevent it from having those high spikes in heat.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Can you move the 8x4 brooder into the basement instead since temperatures are more favorable there? They still need a bit of heat a little longer, but it sounds like the heat lamp is way too inconsistent for safe use.

Alternatively have you tried a lower wattage bulb in the heat lamp? That would help prevent it from having those high spikes in heat.

I think the ceiling in the basement is too low to get the big brooder down the stairs. But we could try a lower wattage bulb!

 

[tviss711]

I think the ceiling in the basement is too low to get the big brooder down the stairs. But we could try a lower wattage bulb!

That seems like a good plan to try. Cute babies by the way!!

 

[AinaWGSD]

Replaced the 250W bulb with a 125W and the high temp is a much more tolerable 101-106 directly under the lamp. I'll probably wait until tomorrow to put them out there since I have the day off and can keep an eye on them.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Replaced the 250W bulb with a 125W and the high temp is a much more tolerable 101-106 directly under the lamp. I'll probably wait until tomorrow to put them out there since I have the day off and can keep an eye on them.

At 3 weeks I'd move the lamp or the brooder a bit further away and see if you can get the "hotter" part dropped down further. At this age 70ish should be very cozy for them, and they can use the rest of the space to cool off as needed.

But yes good idea to wait until your day off so you can see how they handle it and adjust if needed.