Heat Dish for Brooder?

[shopchicks]

Good morning. I'm about 6 weeks out from getting my first chicks, and thinking about how to set up a brooder. I'll have 10 chicks, and think I'm going to use the tub in a spare bathroom. Last night I got to eyeballing the Heat Dish heater we bought at CostCo last winter, thinking it might work as a heat source. I'd of course secure it so that it couldn't fall over, and put some screening on the lower half so a chick couldn't get it's head caught in the guard wires. Any reason this wouldn't work? It will be late May, so I think a 250 watt bulb wouldn't get much use, so I'd rather not buy one if I don't need to.

 

[Doll Maker]

Hi, I had my fuzzy butts in a 105 quart Rubber Maid tub. We got a box of two 250 watt bulbs for the brooder, but only used that size for a very short amount of time. I found red heat bulbs from Petco, fairly pricey but they do the trick. I got 100 watt ones but they have them from 75 watt on up. That 250 was to much for ours from the start and we got our babies the end of February!!

Having said that, yesterday we moved them outside to the big brooder in the coop. NOW that 250 bulb is working good. I'm glad now that I have it. The part the babies sleep in is all enclosed with a wire top and the light hangs above it. They seem pretty content.

Good luck with your new babies!!

 

[Purple Veg*n]

I bought a 250 watt red heat lamp and clamp on fixture yesterday. I hung it up over where I've placed my brooder and put a thermometer in there (no chicks until Saturday) to test how hot it'll get. In just a very few minutes the temperature was near 120 F!

Good thing I tested it first! I'll definitely be gettting a much lower watt bulb!

 

[MN Chicken]

I use a 100 watt as well, and might go down to 60 soon since the chicks are getting older, and 100 gives me 80+ degrees no matter what. When I move them outside to the garage, I plan on using a heat dish though and a 250W because my garage is not heated or insulated.