energy saving tips for a brooder in an uninsulated cooo?

[RollinWithTheStones]

DH is allergic to chickens so they can't stay in the house, brooder will need to be in the coop. My coop is not insulated and has no electric ran to it. Heat lamp will need to be ran by extension cord. I have a 2/29 hatch planned.

Any ideas or tips for keeping the energy bill from sky rocketing?

 

[CarolJ]

I brood my chicks in my uninsulated chicken house. We have electricity - and when it's really cold, I use two heat lamps in the brooder. I raise or lower the lamp(s) depending on the temperature and the chicks' behavior. If they are huddling together directly under the heat lamp - I lower it and turn on the second lamp. They grow in their feathers so quickly that the lamps are only needed for a few weeks.

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

About how much does your electric bill go up? Our winters were very mild until recently.

 

[jerryb]

if you run a 250 wall heat lamp for 24 hours you will use 6 Kwhr of electricity. where I live I pay about $.16 per Kwhr so it costs me $.96 a day for one 250 watt heat lamp.

the way I reduce this is to use a light dimmer to reduce the wattage of the lamp for lowering the brooder temperature rather than leaving the lamp on full and raising it up. I cut an extension cord and ran it into a regular outlet box where i installed the dimmer. I also marked the hi and low directions on it with a sharpie. then I run the cord to the brooder lamp.

so where I live, worst case is $30 a month. but by the time I had lowered to 80 degrees I think the lamp was set to less than half on the dimmer.

good luck
Jerry

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

Thanks, maybe if I can rig up an insulated box it might help lower the bill a bit. We have a aviary at our zoo and they have these wooden boxes with the light inside of them on one end for the birds when it's cool. Maybe I'll try something like that. I have a hatch date of 2/29 so I'll have a bit to experiment with it.