Disaster in the Brooder- Averted! a warning...

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
A heat lamp is not meant to heat the brooder (or an entire room) to any given temperature. Measuring the air temperature with a thermometer is useless. The chicks get heat from the rays themselves. It is like the heat lamp that you sometimes find in bathrooms. You get out of the shower and it's a little chilly so you turn on the heat lamp. Does it instantly heat up the bathroom to a nice cozy temperature? No. The air temperature in the bathroom is still rather cold, but those rays feel good. You can't measure the warmth that the chicks get from the heat lamp.

Brooder lamps or propane brooders work even in the draftiest of barns. Generally a ring is placed as a draft guard at floor level and the heat lamp is hung above. The chicks go under the heat as necessary to regulate their own temperature, but by no means is the entire area brought to any specific air temperature. In a very small tub or brooder this can be a problem. Any covers used will trap heat in the tub and the very small space means that the chicks may not be able to escape the rays and regulate their own temperature.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

So what would you suggest I do? I am seriously picking up my chicks in an hour or so and the boss man Is only giving me an extra half hour on my lunch- so I have no time to go shopping.
If the light bulb being close to the tub is causing the spot it is shining on to warm up to 75 (based on thermometer reading), are the chicks going to be okay? Basically it is a tub with half a lid. I cut a large hole in the top for the heat lamp to go through....
Maybe I'll post pics when I go home for lunch...

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
A heat lamp is not meant to heat the brooder (or an entire room) to any given temperature. Measuring the air temperature with a thermometer is useless. The chicks get heat from the rays themselves. It is like the heat lamp that you sometimes find in bathrooms. You get out of the shower and it's a little chilly so you turn on the heat lamp. Does it instantly heat up the bathroom to a nice cozy temperature? No. The air temperature in the bathroom is still rather cold, but those rays feel good. You can't measure the warmth that the chicks get from the heat lamp.

Brooder lamps or propane brooders work even in the draftiest of barns. Generally a ring is placed as a draft guard at floor level and the heat lamp is hung above. The chicks go under the heat as necessary to regulate their own temperature, but by no means is the entire area brought to any specific air temperature. In a very small tub or brooder this can be a problem. Any covers used will trap heat in the tub and the very small space means that the chicks may not be able to escape the rays and regulate their own temperature.

My brooder goes in the Greenhouse next to my bedroom. All open air. I use a childerens hard walled wading pool with the lamp hung above. And wire mesh to keep the cats out....LOL. Its like Chick TV.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Do yourself and your chicks a favor and stay away from the hight wattage bulbs as much as possible.

These do a great job and are MUCH less a fire hazard. Unless your chicks are outside in cold weather, they just don't need that much heat.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Take the lid off. As they grow older they may have a tendency to jump and you can cover it with a screen or some hardware cloth, but at that point they are probably outgrowing it anyways... Hang the heat lamp at the height that the chicks are comfortable with. If they are all clustered directly underneath the bulb it is too high. If they are crammed up against walls, panting, then the bulb is too low. When it is right they will spread out all over the brooder.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

A better analogy may be a campfire on a chilly night. You aren't heating the entire outdoors and you really can't measure the temperature at any specific distance from it, but that campfire keeps you warm. If you are cold you move closer, if you get too hot you move farther away. If you go get something to eat, you come back and sit a little closer until you are warmed up again and then move a little farther away. If you can't move farther away, then you get extremely uncomfortable. The chicks will do the same thing.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Get all that... I've done chicks before, I've just never used a bin before and I've never used a regular light bulb as opposed to a heat bulb, however the heat bulb I used last time was wayyyyy lower wattage. Okay so the lid IS a screen of chicken wire. I cut out the inside of the lid and zip tied wire into it so that I wouldn't have to just lay wire on top of the tub and hope no one hops out. This way I have wire covering the entire bin, but it still fastens on both sides. Does that make sense?

 

[smchickfarm]

Quote:
are u getting your chicks today????

Yes!!! I will post picks tonight when I get home! How are your chicks doing??

So glad u are finally getting your babies

Mine are great!!! Still working on getting pictures downloaded. Had to borrow a camera. She is gonna email me the pics I took and then I will try and post them

Congrats on finally getting your babies!!!

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Yes, that makes sense. The heat lamp just needs to be hung higher and perhaps off to one end to create a warm end and a cool end, as opposed to hanging it in the center where they may not be able to get away if it's too warm for them. Forget the thermometer as it doesn't provide an accurate picture of what is going on. Just observe the chick's behavior. They'll let you know...

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Lol okay. I will NOT let these babies stress me out the way my hatch did! Thank you