Ceramic Heat Emitter....

[andham]

I have seen a few discussion of using these. I would love to hear about anyone who has. I have new chicks in today. They are under a 250 Watt red heat lamp. I want to use the Heat emitter at least for night time as it would give the chicks some dark time.

Thoughts?

 

[groundpecker]

Welcome to byc!

First of all, a 250w heat lamp is a bit too much, unless you are brooding 100+ chicks in a very large space. I brood around 40 chicks with a 100w light bulb in my multi-stall brooder house. After 4 weeks i go down to a 60W bulb until the start leaving the brooder box and on to open space, then i turn the light off.


Chicks should be heated around 90F for the first 3-4 weeks. They do not need dark time as they will rest when they are tired.

 

[pdirt]

I keep reading folks saying that 250w is too much. We currently have our small brooder in our basement (which is about 60F) and with a 100w bulb, it was only heating to about 70F. With the 250w bulb suspended now, it stays at 87-91F now, under the lamp. We have the lamp hung as low as it can go, which is about 6" above the tallest chicks heads. What are you doing differently than allows for only a 100w bulb? Are you brooding in a heated space?

 

[thepouts]

With my first lot of chicks i used a red 250 watt bulb but I'm currently using a 100 watt bulb for 2 chicks they are 1 week old. After about 3 weeks I turn it off during the day and then only put it on of a night. My 100 watt bulb cost $3.30 compared to $20

I don't measure the temperature in the brooder and my chicks always do fine I have never had any problems.

 

[jmagill]

I use a ceramic heater. I won't go back to a normal heat lamp. My chicks do much better when they have a regular light cycle. They are very quiet at night when the lights go off. I love this because they are brooding inside. I found when I used a light they would get upset when we transitioned them to no light and dark at night. I don't have that problem now.

 

[Kernel Cluck]

I have used both. Here is my opinion... when i used the 250 bulb.. the whole brooder box was bathed in heat. That was fine most of the time but the little peeps could not get away from it and I would find them crowded on the opposite side of the box. I switched to 100 watt and what I found is that it allowed them to determine their comfort. Under the bulb for warmth, away from the bulb for less.

 

[debid]

I keep reading folks saying that 250w is too much. We currently have our small brooder in our basement (which is about 60F) and with a 100w bulb, it was only heating to about 70F. With the 250w bulb suspended now, it stays at 87-91F now, under the lamp. We have the lamp hung as low as it can go, which is about 6" above the tallest chicks heads. What are you doing differently than allows for only a 100w bulb? Are you brooding in a heated space?

I brood outdoors in a secure coop with the pop door closed until they are feathered (for draft protection) in spring and didn't need more than 100W unless it was going to be below freezing. At those times, I swapped for a 175 and was good into the upper teens (it didn't get any colder here).

How are you measuring temperature? A thermometer measures air temp, an infrared lamp heats objects. So, the effect on a chick is not the same as the effect on the air around the chick. The thermometer is measuring the heat radiating off of surfaces and I didn't find it to be all that helpful so I just go by chick behavior. They are obvious about being too cool or too warm. I put the lamp in a corner to give them a snug and secure feeling sleeping place.

 

[moetrout]

I have used regular light bulbs, 250w heat lamps and the ceramic heater emitter. I like the ceramic emitter best. It just seems like it's the safest and as someone else said it gives the chicks a normal light cycle.

 

[jmagill]

I have an infrared temp gun and had not thought about using it to measure the temp. DUH!!

It works great and even better in the incubator for temp checks on the eggs. Thanks!