At what temperature could the coop bedding ignite?

[Darmamommy]

Maybe I'm quite paranoid. When a red heat lamp is pointing at the bedding, at what temperature could the bedding ignite?
What should we do? Last night it was just 60º inside the coop, when we closed the side door. So my hubby thought it was too cold so he put a tarp over the top to help hold in the heat. But it was 110º this morning at 9:00 when I went out to check on them!!! So I was worried about the heat lamp catching the bedding on fire. We are currently using Bedding Pellets. But I am thinking about switching to pine chips.

We have an outside brooder/coop that has a heat lamp pointing in it. We have 3 Buff Orpingtons (3 1/2 weeks old), 3 Black Stars (6 weeks old). Because they are so young we feel they still need the heat lamp especially at night. Our weather has been so erratic that I can't seem to keep a consistent temperature. Could I switch it out to 100 watt or 60 watt regular bulb?

We are still working on the roof.

You can see the lamp is pretty close to the bed. But the other night, it got down to near 30º. So this is how we had it to keep them warm.




Last week it was cold and rainy. Our weather has been so crazy that it is hard to keep it at the right temperature. This is this weeks weather.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This is our first time ever having chickens.

 

[1muttsfan]

110 is dangerously hot for the chicks, let alone the bedding. You only need to provide an area of warmth for the chicks, 80 degrees for the young chicks, and the older chicks likely would be fine without supplemental heat. If you have a lamp with a smaller bulb at one end of the coop so that end is warm, and the rest of the coop cooler, that would be better than trying to heat the whole coop. If you are not sure if it is warm enough, put a thermometer under the light at bird level - you can get the indoor/outdoors ones that have a small outdoor sensor that you can leave in the coop to help make you more confident that they are at the right temp.

 

[azygous]

Good grief! 110! It's a miracle those chicks didn't die!

I guess I get too impatient with people who have the misconceived idea that they have to heat the chicks' total living space. They aren't hamburgers that have to be kept hot! They're like us. On a cold day when we chill down, we go stand in front of the fireplace or wall heater. It's exactly the same for chicks. It can be any temperature in the rest of their brooder as long as they have a warm spot to go warm up under, they will be fine.

It's also best to ignore the chick heat table that says the first week you have to provide 95-100 F. Anyone should be able to watch and understand the body language of chicks. Obviously, if the chicks are huddled in a pile directly beneath the lamp, they are struggling to stay warm. If they're cringing and panting on the outer perimeter, trying to get away from the heat, it's way too hot for them.

The only rule to remember is less heat is better than too much heat. Break out a 75 watt incandescent bulb. It should be plenty of heat for the next few weeks until the chicks have enough feathers where they will no longer require heat at all.

 

[slguy]

Im not sure where you measured 110 degrees - if the bedding was that hot - your chicks should be dead. If just the wood next to the lamp was that hot, it's likely that down at the bedding it wasn't more than 85 with the spacing. You can always find a temperature switch on amazon and put it in the coop to prevent future issues.

I do have an important side question, though - Is this just a temporary chicken tractor for the birds? As far as I can make out in the picture, this coop is far too small for 6 birds, and I see nowhere for them to lay eggs??

 

[Darmamommy]

@1muttsfan Thank you. I have switched out the bulb with a lower watt. I never expected the temperature to change so drastically over one night. No more tarp and high watt bulb that's for sure!

@azygous I understand where you are coming from. I prefer to go with the less heat is better because they tend to keep each other warm snuggling together.

The weather doesn't exactly allow us to acclimate to the changes very well because of the fluctuations. The night before, we were struggling to heat the box area where they sleep and couldn't seem to get it above 70 even with the heat light where it was. With the wind blowing and the weather in the 40's. Yesterday it was only in the low 60's and today it reached in the mid 80's.

@slguy It measured just at the bottom of the "nest/roosting" area at 110. The chicks were on the other side when I looked in and it was at 80 on that side. But there was no bedding there so they were laying on the wire cloth.
We are only keeping 4 birds, 2 we are raising for a friend who can't do the brooding so once they no longer need a heat lamp they are picking them up. Next weekend we are building the boxes that go inside for the final nests, and the roosting poles too. For now I am using a Rubbermaid drawer as a nest box. We figured since it will be a few months before they are even going to lay any eggs, we still had a little bit of time left to build the other little things we will need for it.

 

[kyexotics]

We have 5 incubators and 2 brooders, EACH has 2 of these type of devices(on floor where the babies will be, you can clean them) and never the same brand in anything to hopefully ensure we get accurate readings...

They're $5-10 each but worth every penny...You can get fancy ones that you can set to beep when a range has been exceeded...We go cheap as we monitor them often enough to catch it before ever an issue...

 

[Darmamommy]

@kyexotics I will have to check into getting a couple of those temperature gauges. How do you keep from getting poo on it? Could I cover it with saran or press and seal to make it easier to clean off?

 

[curious chickee]

I have similar weather with two week old chicks. I use a 75 watt infrared bulb. The bulb warms a small section and ranges from 80 during day to 65 at night. The chicks have room to roam then snuggle under the edges of the light when they want a warm up. We also used a tarp over half one night during a rain storm and it was about 88 all night warmer than I like but wanted the dry since we discovered the original coop leaked.

Also use the thermometer/humidity monitor shown above.

 

[1muttsfan]

It can be trying to try to get things just right. Having the chicks in a larger area gives a little more flexability, as they can move away from the heart more easily.

 

[kyexotics]

@kyexotics I will have to check into getting a couple of those temperature gauges. How do you keep from getting poo on it? Could I cover it with saran or press and seal to make it easier to clean off?

easy to clean off, let em poo!!!!!