Baby Chick and Heat Lamp Questions

[Catfsm]

We have 8 new chickies. We put them into an empty aquarium with wood shavings on the floor. We are worried that a heat lamp might light the shavings on fire. We lost a couple babies last spring due to smoldering shavings and toxic fumes. How can we be sure that the heat lamp will not cause embers to be created in the floor material. We have a top we made by drilling big holes in some wood and cutting it and putting hardware cloth over it. That is for their safety because animals like rats can get in. We try to keep them out, of course. Anyway, the question is about the floor material and the heat lamp!

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

I would just use an incandescent lightbulb..... a higher wattage one will suffice.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

We have 8 new chickies. We put them into an empty aquarium with wood shavings on the floor. We are worried that a heat lamp might light the shavings on fire. We lost a couple babies last spring due to smoldering shavings and toxic fumes. How can we be sure that the heat lamp will not cause embers to be created in the floor material. We have a top we made by drilling big holes in some wood. That is for their safety because animals like rats can get in. We try to keep them out, of course. Anyway, the question is about the floor material and the heat lamp!

The only way to be sure the wood won't catch fire is NOT use a heat lamp.

How big is the aquarium?
I have used a Mama Heating Pad for several years now. Works great! Try that and see how you like it.
Alternative would be to use a brooder heat plate.

A wood top - is there plenty of ventilation? Making a screen or hardware top may be better. Post some photos of your brooder please.

And I would suggest you also start trapping the rats. It will take some time, but you can get them under control. They are a pain for sure, but it will be healthier for YOU and the chickens if the rats are gone.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/

 

[aart]

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:

They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
-If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
-If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
-If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. If you do use a heat bulb make sure it's specifically for poultry, some heat bulbs for food have teflon coatings that can kill birds. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.


Or you could go with a heat plate, commercially made or DIY: http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate

 

[rosemarythyme]

Best fix is to switch to a heat plate or heating pad. If you'd still rather use a heat lamp, then swap out the bulb for a much lower wattage reptile bulb... I think my reptile bulb is 60 or 75 watt, versus the standard feed store red bulb which is a very toasty 250 watts.