There was a sad story on our local news last night about a coop burning down due to a heat lamp - all birds were killed.
What a horror for the owners.
It was a good reminder to me that this is the time of year for those of who do use heat in our coops to take a close look at our equipment and our set-up and make sure that we have redundant safety systems. I went right out and checked mine (haven't had it on yet as we have been having really warm weather). I use a heater which I suspend from the ceiling, and I also have it tethered to the wall in two places.
Everything looked great, so I dusted it off and fired it up. About 20 seconds later, flames were shooting out of the thing! As it turned out, over the summer wasps had started building a nest inside the heater where I couldn't see it, and of course the paper nest ignited like...well, paper! Good golly! Luckily I was still right there to unplug the thing!
Apparently I'll have to check inside the heater before I fire it up next fall!
It was a good reminder to me that this is the time of year for those of who do use heat in our coops to take a close look at our equipment and our set-up and make sure that we have redundant safety systems. I went right out and checked mine (haven't had it on yet as we have been having really warm weather). I use a heater which I suspend from the ceiling, and I also have it tethered to the wall in two places.
Everything looked great, so I dusted it off and fired it up. About 20 seconds later, flames were shooting out of the thing! As it turned out, over the summer wasps had started building a nest inside the heater where I couldn't see it, and of course the paper nest ignited like...well, paper! Good golly! Luckily I was still right there to unplug the thing!
Apparently I'll have to check inside the heater before I fire it up next fall!
