The summer flock came in this Thursday. I had a couple long days at work, and unfortunately had to spend into Wednesday night making sure the brooder was at temp, and with a proper cooling spectrum. It cools down to 70 a little to quickly. *What I mean is that directly under the lamps it is 100 degrees, but 1.5 feet away it is 70 degrees. So the chicks tend to spend more time than I like huddled under the lamps. They still run around a bit, and look healthy, but would have been a bit better if it was a few degrees warmer on the periphery. With that said I am not changing anything. Do not want those lamps lower. They are at 18inches off the floor- closer can be a fire hazard.
We got 208 chicks in. Had one dopey guy that passed, everyone else is looking great. 100 golden comets, and then 100 factory choice: partridge rock, white rock, rhode island red, black sexlink.
The brooder could have held another 100. I wish I had purchased another 100, but it cost $$$, and 200 is all the eggs I want to pack in the summer. The benefit of having another 100 chicks is the cost of heating the brooder is spread out over another 100 chicks. I have 700 watts going 24/7 right now. Next week one of the lamps gets moved away from the other two. You do this to acclimate the chicks to slightly cooler temps. Then the next week one of the 250 watts gets dropped to a 100 watt bulb, then the 100 watt bulb inside the center brood chamber gets dropped to 60 or 40, then take away one of the 100's, and start giving the chicks day access to an unheated extension of the brooder. Soon they'll be on pasture clucking and squawking when I take an egg!
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