Can I use a plastic storage bin with my heat lamp?

[ChickenCanoe]

Hi everyone I’m super new to this. Thank you for your help. I’m not loving the cardboard boxes and the chicks are getting bigger anyways. I’d really love to use a nice big plastic storage box but I’m afraid of the heat lamp attached to it. Any experience or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Can I do it? Here’s the lamp

What was your issue with cardboard boxes? I used to brood in the coop and still do from time to time but if I have to brood indoors, I went from Rubbermaid to large moving boxes from Lowes at under $1.50 and expandable if they need to remain longer. I add boxes by cutting doorways between them. Heat in one, feed in another and water in another.
When finished, I just compost the boxes, bedding, feces and all.

 

[aart]

I put a fan behind my heat lamp to prevent it from getting too warm.

This makes no sense<scratcheshead>
Just blows the heat somewhere else.
Better to turn down the heat with a dimmer, or get a smaller wattage bulb.

 

[BalesBgarb]

I use a plastic tote with a heat lamp for the first 10 days.
I don't clamp it to the tote. I clamp to a solid object like a cabinet next to the tote so it's higher.
I also use a plug-in dimmer cord to control temperature.
This is the one I use, it's rated for 300 watts.View attachment 2104451. It's available at Wal-Mart and Amazon.View attachment 2104452. GC

Yes the dimmer plugs into outlet and heat lamp cord plugs into dimmer.
Temps need to go lower as they get older. GC

Aha! That’s the kind of stuff I haven’t figured out...when to stop with the heat lamp or make it lower temp. How do you know when it’s time?

 

[BalesBgarb]

What was your issue with cardboard boxes. I used to brood in the coop and still do from time to time but if I have to brood indoors, I went from Rubbermaid to large moving boxes from Lowes at under $1.50 and expandable if they need to remain longer. I add boxes by cutting doorways between them. Heat in one, feed in another and water in another.
When finished, I just compost the boxes, bedding, feces and all.

I think mostly I don’t like cardboard because I’m not able to rinse it clean. Also their current box is getting too small. Maybe I’m being anal. Plus going to the store these days for boxes when Lowe’s is asking everyone what they’re buying their stuff for...its freaking me out. I have a bunch of big plastic bins already here in the house. I just don’t want to melt things or set things on fire

 

[BalesBgarb]

I wouldn't. They'll just poop all over it.

I fought the urge to buy a heat plate till I did the math and the price of a Premier 1 heat plate was paid for in electrical savings in just over one brooding over what brooding in my old Ohio brooders with heat lamps.

I don’t think my permanent coop with accommodate a heat lamp but you can hang one of these on the wall so it doesn’t get pooped on. Supposedly less chance of starting fires and cool to the touch. I’m just so confused now

 

[BalesBgarb]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01AN2RK5C?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

This is going to be the permanent coop and the. We’re going to have a big run and perhaps free range in the daytime. I was going to get one of those heat pads for this one cause I don’t think the heat lamp will fit. I may put the coop in an empty barn stall or even in my garage cause we don’t put our cars in. I just don’t want the girls to be cold and I’m worried about predators in the barn. mainly mice and the barn cats but the hens will be locked in the coop at night. Or there’s a place in the barn that has a concrete pad where the horses get washed so it’s under cover and I wouldn’t have to worry about animals digging in. What would y’all do? Sorry I have so many questions

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Wow, you are getting lots of answers and opinions! First off, welcome to BYC! When we got our chicks, we did use a plastic tub, and we started them in the house. February in Missouri is cold and wet! We used a red heat lamp rated for livestock (so not Teflon-coated!), and we put the bin in a closet (open, of course!) with the lamp attached to the closet rod high above, so the temp in the bin was 95°F at one end. We wanted the other end a little cooler, where the feeder and waterer were. We knew we needed to lower the temp by 5° each week so we scooted the bin out into the room a little further gradually. We kept them in the house about three weeks.

We had a shed to move them into at that point, and the heat lamp went out there with them as the nights were still pretty chilly. They did just fine and are now about ten weeks old.

 

[rosemarythyme]

They love the light. When I don’t have it on they get so loud.

Not sure how old the chicks are but while they're still little they need access to the heat source all the time, so don't shut it off on them.

I think mostly I don’t like cardboard because I’m not able to rinse it clean.

You don't need to rinse it or clean it. That's what the bedding is for, to catch and contain the poop. Just toss the cardboard or compost it once you're done.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01AN2RK5C?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

This is going to be the permanent coop and the. We’re going to have a big run and perhaps free range in the daytime. I was going to get one of those heat pads for this one cause I don’t think the heat lamp will fit. I may put the coop in an empty barn stall

Unless you live in arctic type climates, there's no need to heat the coop, so you don't have to worry about that (unless you really do live in the arctic!)

So how many chicks do you have? That coop holds 2, if even that, so if you have more than 2, you're going to need to plan on expanding this somehow. There's also no ventilation whatsoever so some needs to be added (I like that they claim that gaps in the wood floor count as ventilation - they don't).

If you have an empty barn stall, that could make for an amazing coop...

 

[Justso]

I use a plastic tote with a heat lamp for the first 10 days.
I don't clamp it to the tote. I clamp to a solid object like a cabinet next to the tote so it's higher.
I also use a plug-in dimmer cord to control temperature.
This is the one I use, it's rated for 300 watts.View attachment 2104451. It's available at Wal-Mart and Amazon.View attachment 2104452. GC

X2 super large plastic tote, heat lamp with dimmer works great for me!

 

[Birdsong 82]

A plastic tub can work but anything you use just stick a thermometer in it a day or so before the chicks so you can adjust the lamp to get the desired temperature. I always stick a thermometer in anything I use first. Once when I did that I couldn't have been happier I did. I had a wire rabbit cage as a brooder and where I had the lamp it topped 110! So adjusted heat lamp as needed. It was better to take that time and end up with fried chicken Same idea I think with anything one uses