Brooder Fire?

Guess it depends on how high you place the light. Just checked my brooder light and it is also 250w. My "brooder" is just the bottom half of the kennel/box thing my huge dog used to sleep in, with a hardware cloth lid I made for it. The light is clamped outside of the box about 2 feet above the wire lid. Since the chickens are in my laundry room it stays toasty enough.

I also used paper towels for the first week or so. The bulb is at least 4 feet from the paper....but it still worried me and I checked often. If the bulb is close enough to your bedding to catch on fire.....your poor chicks would be melting. As long as the light can't fall on the bedding??

 

One way to avoid potential fires is to keep a thermometer at chick level. I just tape the thermometer to the side of the brooder at chick level. A draft free area is recommended and a temp of 80* at chick level is sufficient in my opinion. You can raise and lower the bulb until you achieve the temp you desire. The chicks themselves generate heat and this adds to the brooder temp.

A 250 watt bulb is NOT necessary if the room where they are brooded is reasonable. Quite frankly a 250 watt bulb is over kill in many situations. Unless the they are in an unheated room. I have used 100, 75 and 60 watt bulbs in my office that has a average temp of 65-70. I keep a thermometer on the wall of the room that I use for a brooding.

Brooded chicks grow very fast if kept on a grower with 20% protein.

MAKE SURE YOUR LIGHT NO MATTER WHAT YOU USE IS FIRMLY SECURED. I have two in the back room that have bolts holding them in place. I've attached a 2x4 to the wall and drilled holes at different levels so I can raise or lower the lights as necessary. I clamp the light to the 2x4 and then slide the bolt through the hole to fasten the light securely. DO NOT USE THE CLAMP AS THE SECURING METHOD. It can slip or fall off.

If you hang the light overhead make sure it's secured and won't slip or fall. Again use what ever bulb will yield the temp you desire. A 250 watt bulb may not be necessary.

If you are using a BROODY HEN as a heat source it is not necessary to use a thermometer or secure her firmly to the side of the brooder. Hanging her over head is not a good idea either.

Wish you successful and safe brooding

Rancher

 

You know, my husband and I worried ourselves sick that the heat lamp in the garage would burn down the house.

I just ordered an EcoGlow from Brinsea. I did a lot of research first and found that they redesigned the old one to provide 10x the radiant heat of the first. The people that have used the new one are VERY happy with it, and I did some calculations based on my electricity costs, and it would only take 12 weeks of use for the EcoGlow to PAY FOR ITSELF. It should arrive before my next hatch is born, and I'm very excited about being able to sleep at night. Since I don't want to leave the garage lights on all day, I got a red fluorescent bulb, standard screw-in base size (red because white lights can promote pecking). Home Depot and Walmart carry them -- they're called "party bulbs". Only uses about 7w for 60w output, and I had an old clamp on desk lamp fixture that I can attach to the brooder so they'll have light during the day.

I'll let you know how the EcoGlow works for me......

 

I bought an ecoglow. It works great for my chickies! However, before that I was only using 100W light bulbs and they worked just fine. This is in the house - house is about 60F. Chicks even seemed to circle around it so it wasn't like they were huddled under it. I never use a 250W anymore (and now I have an ecoglow).

 

If I'm brooding less than 20 chicks, in a room in the house, I use a red 100 watt outdoor flood light. I hang it from the ceiling, starting low and raising every week, using a thermometer at chick level as a guide, as well as how the chicks behave. I found the bulb in a local Ace Hardware store.

I used to use a red 250 watt bulb but it was heating the entire room too much. Since I use a plastic tub for brooding, I was worried about a meltdown.

Which ever method you use, make sure you have a ceramic socket and preferably a metal cage and hood around the bulb.