Heat lamp advise please

[musikfan6]

I have my heat lamp suspended with a heavy duty chain. I wanted to make double sure it wasn't going anywhere. I can adjust the height with an S hook in the chain. Yes, I heard about nasty fires with these lamps. I wanted to be extra cautious. Hope you are able to get things back to normal. Glad no one was hurt!

I have a 250 watt heat lamp with a clamp from TSC. It somehow fell into the wood chips and lit my house on fire.

This happened about an hour ago. The heat lamp had no trouble for the first six hours of use so...

Pro-tip = Make sure the clamp works well where you set it. I can only assume that something wasn't put on correctly.

 

[The Accidental Coop]

Thank you everyone for your help! They are doing great!

Here they are...Our little peeps. I have already started to move the heat lamp farther away. I really hope I chose little girls... I picked the smallest in the group....

This photo was taken 3 days ago...They now are getting in their wing feathers.

 

[teach1rusl]

OMGosh...they are adorable!!! Do you know what they are? I was wondering whether the tannish ones were d'uccles?? Or are they cochins??

 

[onedoodle3]

oh wow! I hope the fire wasn't too bad...I know any fire is bad but geesh!!

I also have the 250 watt heat lamp with the clamp from TSC. I put it on the tote and made sure the clamp was secure before I turned it on. It had a loose wing nut so I tightened it and found the clamp worked better. Since then I have had to move the heat lamp to a dining room chair. It is clamped on the top of the chair. Seems to work for the chickies. It's supposed to be warm today so I'm hoping I can take them into the back yard and introduce them to their pen for a few hours. But I found out that new chickies definately need a heat lamp!

 

[The Accidental Coop]

OMGosh...they are adorable!!! Do you know what they are? I was wondering whether the tannish ones were d'uccles?? Or are they cochins??

Thank you! I selected them from a shipment of strait run Bantams at a Tractor Supply store so they are a mystery. I think I can see the beginnings of beards on the tannish ones....It would be wonderful if they are D'uccles. I think the light one may be a Cochin. Time will tell! I really hope we have Lilly, Paula and Clare...NOT Lyle, Paul and Clark!

 

[hooadefender]

im hopeing the temps at night will keep rising here in the north east we are spoiled right now with temps in the 70s during the day its abnormal for march i would like to keep my chicks in the house for the first week or 2 them move the brooder out to the coop heres to thinking warm

 

[Daisy8s]

Last time I had chicks I followed the standard advice to start them at 95 degrees the first week and then decrease the temp by 5 degrees every week. I felt like it took them forever to feather out. That was a year ago and since then I've read a lot about broody hens and realized that there was no way a free ranging mother hen was keeping the chicks at 95 degrees every minute for a week, then 90 degrees, etc.

This year I had a 250 watt Havell heat lamp on them, but aimed at the side of the box, not straight down, for the first two days. From holding my hand at the warmest spot it I'd guess it was 85-90 at chick level and the chicks never, ever stood/slept there. Instead, they stayed on the cool side all the time.

By 3 days old I raised the lamp to 3 feet above the chicks and moved them to a larger box. They still mostly avoided the heat lamp's hottest spot except to sleep at night. By 5 days old I had it turned off during the day (in the house with temps between 68-72) and only switched on at night. Chicks were active and growing like crazy.

By 9 days I moved them outside with no heat lamp during the day (temps are 70-80) and only on at night (temps 45-55). Chicks are very healthy, growing fast, and have feathered up very quickly.

My take away lesson--when a human tells you something must be done a certain way, think about how the animals would do it and go with nature instead.

 

[snoggle]

Of course they won't stay 95 degrees every hour of the day in the brooder either. The 95 degree area, right below the lamp, should be the hottest area of the brooder Then they can move away from it (which they do often) to cool off, get a drink of water, move around, etc.

The big thing to do it watch them. If they are all piled on top of each other constantly to stay warm, they are too cold. When they are comfy, they'll move around a bit and not stay right on top of each other all the time.

 

[cockadoodle]

Won't do much good when you already have chicks, but future tense, these things get amazing reviews and reduce your fire hazard big time. I just ordered one for my new chicks, which are scheduled to arrive in about 6 weeks. http://www.brinsea.com/prod-EcoGlow_Chick_Brooder-239.aspx

 

[Daisy8s]

Quote:
Yes, I forgot to mention that my test, which I applied every hour or so after moving them to a new condition, was to watch them. I was specifically looking to see if they'd be piled up on each other looking cold. I never saw that once. They'd sleep slightly touching, more for comfort that someone was there, but never lying in full contact with each other.

Actually, the major change was that they seemed much more active without so much heat. Makes me think about my grown hens and how lethargic and miserable they are on the hottest summer days. I wonder if these super hot brooders are making the chicks lethargic, which then convinces people that the chicks are cold and lying around to get warm.