Pickin' Up Chicks

How to keep chickens safe, warm, and healthy.

Pickin Up Chicks

It's April and for the past several weeks, we've had 10 chicks under a heat lamp in our barn brooder growing and acclimating gradually to their new world. A typical heat lamp, by the way, takes about 10 amps of continual juice to run 24/7. Chicks need to be kept warm. They need to start at about 90 degrees from birth and the heat should gradually be dropped to around 70 degrees (or outdoor spring temps) before they can be transitioned to the coop. A standard heat lamp bulb can't be adjusted, so the lamp is just raised or lowered and the chicks self-regulate by moving toward or away from it.

On a sunny day, 10 amps is no problem but since the heat lamp runs all night (while there is no solar power being generated), it creates a continual drain on a solar system. We've mitigated the drain by using a rheostat which allows us to adjust the heat lamp temp to about 8 amps, and eventu…