The temperature here can vary greatly over the course of a day not including how low it can drop at night. I got tired of fighting with constantly raising and lowering the heat lamps and bought a regular GQF brooder heater. I went one step farther by getting one of the cheap thermostats from eBay. It is set up to operate the socket that the brooder heater plugs into and has a remote temperature sensor that is placed below the heater on the bedding. I still have the heat lamps but they are set high enough that they do not overheat the brooder and are more a source of light than heat. The brooder is located in an unheated building so some heat is required to keep the whole brooder from getting too cold in the areas away from the heater.I'm still 'old school', I use heat lamps. I guess I've been either lucky or just very careful, I haven't had any problems with them exploding, shattering,... just burning out.
I did 'upgrade' the lamps when I think it was @casportpony told me about putting a light dimmer switch on the lamp. Now I don't have to raise or lower the lamp, just make adjustments on the dimmer switch.
Thermostat
heater
A cockerel was running around the living room this morning. I was holding it, wondering if it was worth eating. 
