Providing Heat Help

Hi, I will be providing heat for my poultry. A few questions.
What is a way that doesn't require cords? Can I use a flashlight (that the plastic or glass gets hot after a while, maybe gives off heat) for a small amount of poultry to provide heat, if it is orange?
Who has tried heated water bottles? How well do these stay warm?
And, with electricity, can you use a regular lamp (60w) to provide heat or do you need a heat lamp? Lights give off heat eventually, right?

None of those options give off enough heat, for a long enough time. You really need to go with electricity/heatlamp not a regular lightbulb. Your chicks need to be able to get their little bodies upto 90° the first week, 5 degrees less each week after until 4 weeks.
Now if it is the heatlamp you dislike you should consider a Mama heatpad. This is the route I prefer.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ooder-picture-heavy-update/6600#post_16988163

I will be getting ducklings. They are hardier than chicks. But chick forums get more traffic so that is why I posted here

OrganicFarmWife said:

None of those options give off enough heat, for a long enough time. You really need to go with electricity/heatlamp not a regular lightbulb. Your chicks need to be able to get their little bodies upto 90° the first week, 5 degrees less each week after until 4 weeks.
Now if it is the heatlamp you dislike you should consider a Mama heatpad. This is the route I prefer.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ooder-picture-heavy-update/6600#post_16988163

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Welshies said:

I will be getting ducklings. They are hardier than chicks. But chick forums get more traffic so that is why I posted here

OrganicFarmWife said:

None of those options give off enough heat, for a long enough time. You really need to go with electricity/heatlamp not a regular lightbulb. Your chicks need to be able to get their little bodies upto 90° the first week, 5 degrees less each week after until 4 weeks.
Now if it is the heatlamp you dislike you should consider a Mama heatpad. This is the route I prefer.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ooder-picture-heavy-update/6600#post_16988163

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You are correct they are hardier, but a regular light, will not be warm enough (even for ducks). Ducks still need their mothers heat and if no mother you need to give them that heat.

@Debs Flock. Sorry I keep pestering you

Usually the older they are the less heat they need but for chicks less than three weeks need a heat lamp

There are some old fashioned alternatives to heating brooders without electricity, namely kerosene, but that doesn't thrill me. The fumes and the carbon monoxide would worry me.

Then I googled and found "haybox brooders". But you need to use a pot of boiling water inside the box of straw, and I'm not wild about that idea, either.

That got me thinking about how much heat green grass cuttings puts out as it decomposes. A lot! If you have grass coming in, go mow it and build a nice box to fit under your brooder. You would need to experiment and make sure it's vented to allow oxygen to get in to help decomposition and any gasses to escape. I'd drill holes around the sides so the air can go directly into the decomposing mass.

Make sure you measure the temp since it could get way hotter than is safe for baby poultry! This is an untested idea! But I'm willing to bet you could get the right temp by adjusting the height of the brooder as it sits over the compost box.

Also, you would not want to heat your entire brooder. The ducklings will need the majority of the brooder to be cool so they can go from warming themselves over the hot spot to cooling themselves if they get too warm. Also they need cool ambient temps in order to feather out efficiently.

I use reptile bulbs (about $5 at walmart). They are 75W. I set up two heat lamps on timers, one regular and one red, so they have optional heat 24/7 but still have a day/night cycle. You really do need the metal lamp though to help direct the heat downward. What is your situation (as far as trying to work around the cords, lamps, etc) so we can better help you?

SunHwaKwon said:

I use reptile bulbs (about $5 at walmart). They are 75W. I set up two heat lamps on timers, one regular and one red, so they have optional heat 24/7 but still have a day/night cycle. You really do need the metal lamp though to help direct the heat downward. What is your situation (as far as trying to work around the cords, lamps, etc) so we can better help you?

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Well, for the first few days they can have a cord as they will be in a kennel beside an outlet. However, they are not allowed in the house so will be moving very soon into the adult coop. Their kennel and cardboard boxes will be provided for smaller cuddling or shelter areas. The coop is 50 feet or so away from our house. No outlets nearby, a big rambunctious pup that chews extension cords obsessively. The coop does not have electricity. They will be staying in the coop while we build their run and pond and when they are 3 weeks they can start going outside with supervision... at 6 weeks we may let them have short unsupervised periods checking on them progressively less often.

Welshies said:

Well, for the first few days they can have a cord as they will be in a kennel beside an outlet. However, they are not allowed in the house so will be moving very soon into the adult coop. Their kennel and cardboard boxes will be provided for smaller cuddling or shelter areas. The coop is 50 feet or so away from our house. No outlets nearby, a big rambunctious pup that chews extension cords obsessively. The coop does not have electricity. They will be staying in the coop while we build their run and pond and when they are 3 weeks they can start going outside with supervision... at 6 weeks we may let them have short unsupervised periods checking on them progressively less often.

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That certainly clarifies things! My setup is similar, with the coop being far from the house with no electricity nearby, and I have contemplated how to work around this. When I did the kennel + heat lamp setup it was on my enclosed front porch while I was in the process of building my coop and I'd rather not do that again. My way around it all this year has been using broody hens but I know that might not be an option for you. My chicks are feathering out really fast because they have been outside since day 1, though, so I definitely think outside brooding is a great thing. On a whim, I googled "how to brood chicks without electricity" and a lot of links come up, especially from homesteading sites, so that is something you can look at. There are even some links back to threads on here.