heat lamp wattage?

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kinelson57

kinelson57

Hatching
9 Years
Feb 18, 2010
7
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Hi, I am a newby. getting chicks tomorrow, have built the brooder. My question is what wattage of light bulb do I use and what color. I have read posts of red bulbs being used, what is the difference? I plan to buy the fixture at the feed store where I am getting my chicks. Thanks in advance for your help. I am sure this board will be my new favorite place to be as I will have lots of questions in the next few weeks, i am sure!
 
I use a 250 watt red bulb
smile.png
The white bulbs keep the chicks up at night.
 
Umm... It really depends on the number of chicks and the size of your brooder. Recently I had four chicks in a large cardboard box (18"x24") with a 60W red bulb which did them fine for the first couple of weeks. If it's a bigger brooder, get a bulb with a higher wattage. Some people prefer to use dull emitter bulbs, which don't give off any light, just heat. I think the important thing is that you get it all set up before you put the chicks in it and check that the temperature is right. Offhand I can't be sure, but I think it should be 95F at floor level under the bulb, and the chicks should be able to move away to cool off if they're too hot.
 
90 degrees first week dropping 5 degrees per week until they are feathered out...

chicks will tell you if they are comfy... huddles under the light they are cold, if running around and peeping they are fine.
 
Quote:
The size bulb you need is dependent upon the size of your brooder and number of chicks. I always purchase the red heat lamp bulbs instead of the white.
The red bulbs lead to less picking/pecking each other. Also spots or blood are less noticeable to them with a red bulb than a white (so if one were to get an injury you less likely to have it picked on or killed by the others). I'd also recommend that what ever bulb you get... get two of them. If you only have one bulb, you never know when it might burn out... A backup is a good insurance policy!
 

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