Are there any alternatives to a heat lamp?

[stephanie1992]

i put my chicks in a dog crate with a heating pad with a towl over it. works great and keeps the chicks nice and warm

 

[JodyJo]

be careful..I had a friend use an old waterbed heater, it shorted out and burned the entire coop down and killed the hens....!

also watch out if you use a rubber maid container, the bulb is not too close to the side, it will melt!

I would go buy a desk lamp with a bendy neck, then set it high up, use a thermometer and watch the temps...

I did the above for a couple EE babies, I actually turned the light off after 2 days, they didn't like it at all, so they went without a heat lamp from day 2, imagine that, and all the hoopla about keeping the heat at a certain temp!

**my other chicks I raised outside in the coop, and they did use a traditional brooder and heat lamp...go figure!

 

[TheHalfWayCoop]

Thanks so much for all the great advice! I'm waiting for DH to get home so we can run out and either get a desk lamp or check out the heat situation at Petsmart, so in the mean time they're sitting on my electric blanket and see mto be okay with that. I folded it in half so that they can sit on it to be warm, or move over to the other side to get off of it. Hopefully this works, I hate interferring when they have mamas!!