How do you heat your brooder???

[Arielle]

With the ever increasing cost of electricity, I'm looking for an effecient means of heating the chicks in a brooder.

I use incandesent now and would like change.

 

[gritsar]

I am using a incandesent black light bulb for the two chicks I have in a brooder. I rarely raise chicks anymore, letting my broodies do all the work.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Electricity is 100% efficient. Resist it and get X btu of heat. Basic laws of physics. So, you'll have to look into propane or natural gas. I'm sure the old timers used Kerosene or similar. Bottom line is that no energy is "cheap" anymore.

 

[Arielle]

Fred's Hens :

Electricity is 100% efficient. Resist it and get X btu of heat. Basic laws of physics. So, you'll have to look into propane or natural gas. I'm sure the old timers used Kerosene or similar. Bottom line is that no energy is "cheap" anymore.

Looking for the best use of the electricity. WIll NOT use propane or natural gas--usually 1-2 houses a year go Ka-BOOOM around here. I donnnnnnn't need my house turned into match sticks.

Which light bulbs use electricity the best for the use of brooder, or other heater for a brooder?​

 

[BarefootMom]

we just use a regular heat bulb - I know not the most energy efficient, but I know it works.

My grandpa who is 80 now was telling me the other day about when he was a boy his mom used raise turkeys for everyone they knew. They had a special shed that they called the brooding shed and it was his job to keep the small wood stove filled up to heat the room. He said it would get so warm and toasty in there that he loved to just sit in there and play with the chicks. I do believe that wood heat would be the most cost efficient (that is all we heat our house with) but you would need a big brooder for that.

And now that I think of it last winter we had a small brooder set up in the house as our chicks hatched. I didn't have a heat bulb on them, but set it close enough to the stove that they were plenty warm. I have a rule though about having chicks in the house and would much rather pay to run a heat bulb than to have chicks in the house.

 

[Arielle]

We heat the house with a wood stove AND brood the chicks in the house which does help keep the house warm, too. LOL

Love the history of the brooder shed with a wood stove. I will tuck that idea away for the future.

 

[mallory2013]

I use a ceramic heat bulb, I love it. It is very efficient and at first I was really worried about it heating up too much but it rarely got above 100 degrees underneath it when it was about 10 inches from the brooder floor. Also, there is no risk (that I know of) of it exploding or something like I have heard the regular brooder bulbs have when water splashes on them. I got mine off of Amazon. Another feature I like about the ceramic bulb is that I can turn the lights off at night and get the chicks on a night/day schedule. Anyway, that is my two cents

 

[packmomma]

I was using a red heat light for my brooder in my coop but because I have a screen top, it would throw my girls off the laying cycle. Even during winter I'd leave one on..eggs were not consistent. This year I asked my sister if I could borrow her ceramic heat bulb because the chicks were in the house and they were keeping everyone up at night peeping. I cannot believe the difference. Now the chicks are able to sleep silently and we don't have light streaming through the house at night. I am definitely going to get one for the brooder and my coop. My plan is to go solar next year. I just have to buy batteries to make a battery bank. Not sure how much I need but I think it will pay for itself later. I hate the cord running 100 feet out to my coop. There is no "cheap" way to do anyting these days..but at least I know with solar if the electric goes out I still have some sort of power from the batteries.

 

[debid]

Check into an EcoGlow. It's a relatively big investment initially but they claim it uses about 1/10th of the electricity of a heat lamp so if you're using it repeatedly, it will pay off.

 

[wyododge]

Dont heat it with auxiliary heat

Put it next to the furnace grate. 70* is plenty warm. The furnace grate will heat it up above room temp by 10 or so degrees, then cool off. They will feather out quicker, move around more, and huddle together if they get a bit cold.