Cardboard brooder box just caught fire !!!

[hcammack]

I had my red light away from my cardboard box that I was using as a brooder for my six blue and black copper marans. I moved them in from being out in the tractor for the first time and thought I was carful about putting the light away from the cardboard to prevent fire. But when I went out 2 minuets before I left for the dentist to check for some eggs I smelled buring and ran to the shed opened it up and their was smoke everywhere and the box was on fire I grabbed the chicks and took them outside in another box and put out the fire. I will never use a combustable material as a brooder again!!!!! Now I am using a plastic tote that is to small till I can get a bigger tote. It was a horrible experiance I hope no one else ever has and I was very lucky I still have all my chicks and chickens and a shed. Just wanted to share this as a warning to anyone who has thought of using a cardboard box as a brooder. I will post pictures of the chicks in their chicken tractor outside later.

Henry

 

[kinnip]

I'm glad everything is o.k. Be careful with the plastic too. I had one that I caught while still in the smoking and melting stage. I've begun to wonder if some sort of heating pad setup might not be better. Heat lamps just scare the hell out of me.

 

[hcammack]

I agree now I am checking the chicks every half an hour how will I go to school tomorrow ? I think a heat pad might work better but I am not sure how much heat it would transfer? I will make sure to be extra super careful with this light I HATE IT SO MUCH !!!

 

[coffeemama]

Yikes!

 

[swtangel321]

OMG !! Thats horriable !! I hate using them also I'm always afraid things like that will happen !! I'm so glad you got the chicks out of there before anything happend to them !!

Was wondering if you were using a "real" heat lamp holder ? I know the cheaper ones arent meant for heat bulbs b/c the socket is made out of plastic and will melt, on the more expensive ones they are made out of some kind of non melting stuff !!

 

[ChickenTender63]

well, glad it turned out ok for ya, but that was a recipe for disaster waiting to occur. Like someone else already mentioned also, the plastic or rubber maid totes are almost just as bad when using heatlamps.

Please be sure that you use good judgement folks. This situation turned out ok, but there are many, many deaths each year from things like this, and I am not only talking about animals.

My wife has been a burn nurse for ten years, and she has seen too many people die needless deaths from this type of thing happening.

hcammack, Please don't take this as me fussing at you for this, I just want to help you let people know how serious this could be. Good post, and I am sorry you had to experience it, but am thankful everyone is ok.

 

[minna]

Oh, wow. I'm so glad everything is okay and hope your chicks didn't suffer too much.

 

[LoneCowboy]

I never use a real heat lamp in a box or plastic container. Too hot. Usually a 75 watt light is plenty of heat, but those can catch fire too. Good thing to remember. Sorry you had to learn the hard way.

 

[KKluckers]

Good thing everyone is okay and you caught it. I use a 100 watt bulb in my platic tote nursery brooders.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Wow! Glad you and the chicks and the building were all okay. Obviously, the light you were using was a bit much.