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I live in Ohio. I use the same set up in both the in house and coop brooders. My brooders are both three tier wood construction. The one in the basement has 1/4" plywood top, back, and sides. The forword facing doors are wire covered. Each level is about 48' wide and 24" deep by maybe 20" tall. Each pen has a regular 100 watt light bulb in a metal reflector suspended on a small chain so it is just slightly too warm directly under the light.
The coop brooder is larger and built right into the coop, the back and left sides are the actual coop walls. The right side and front (doors) are open wire covered wood frames. This brooder is about 8 ft long, each level has a removable center divider allowing up to 6 seperate pens. Each level has 2 100 watt bulbs in a reflector suspended on a small chain permantly mounted so the light can not get low enough to be a fire hazard. A opened eye screw is mounted so the light can be raised as the chicks age and need less heat by shortening the chain on this hook. But if a chick jumps up and knock the light of the hook, the chain is connected so it can't go lower than the length of the chain. If colder weather sets in you can open a paper feed bag or news paper and cover the wire sides to hold in more heat.
This is uses alot less electricity than heat lamps, plus less risk of fire.
The bottom tier sits directly on the the cement coop floor, after they have worked their way down to this level I can open the doors and let them have the entire run of that section of the coop but still go back under the light if they need to.
Normal years I hatch late April, May, June, it's just easier.
I live in Ohio. I use the same set up in both the in house and coop brooders. My brooders are both three tier wood construction. The one in the basement has 1/4" plywood top, back, and sides. The forword facing doors are wire covered. Each level is about 48' wide and 24" deep by maybe 20" tall. Each pen has a regular 100 watt light bulb in a metal reflector suspended on a small chain so it is just slightly too warm directly under the light.
The coop brooder is larger and built right into the coop, the back and left sides are the actual coop walls. The right side and front (doors) are open wire covered wood frames. This brooder is about 8 ft long, each level has a removable center divider allowing up to 6 seperate pens. Each level has 2 100 watt bulbs in a reflector suspended on a small chain permantly mounted so the light can not get low enough to be a fire hazard. A opened eye screw is mounted so the light can be raised as the chicks age and need less heat by shortening the chain on this hook. But if a chick jumps up and knock the light of the hook, the chain is connected so it can't go lower than the length of the chain. If colder weather sets in you can open a paper feed bag or news paper and cover the wire sides to hold in more heat.
This is uses alot less electricity than heat lamps, plus less risk of fire.
The bottom tier sits directly on the the cement coop floor, after they have worked their way down to this level I can open the doors and let them have the entire run of that section of the coop but still go back under the light if they need to.
Normal years I hatch late April, May, June, it's just easier.
