Heat lamp exploded

[misdaisi]

Chicks 5 weeks old, first night in the coop was last night. Had remote thermometer in coop, checked on them several times...they had a great night. Morning check, no changes. Noon check: the red heat lamp had exploded in the coop. Don't know when it happened, but all the girls in one corner, snoozing. Stripped the coop (shavings were ony 1 day old, but was afraid of missing shards), swept out and put new shavings in. Taped the pieces of the heat lamp together (like on the forensics shows), and still missing a few medium to small pieces. Probably have about 95% of the lamp.

Everyone acts fine now, but I am worried about if anyone ate any of the glass shards. Anyone ever had this happen? I work 12 hours shifts @ night; hubby says he will check on them tonight. Other than signs of lethargy and bleeding, anything else I should have him be on the lookout for?

Thanks for any advice. Feeling pretty sick and bummed right now...LOVE my chicks.

 

[silkiechicken]

Chickens will eat glass and keep it in their crop as grit lol. I would not worry about glass. Have found nicely rounded down glass in crops when butchering healthy birds.

 

[misdaisi]

Thank you for the blast of reassurance before I left for work!! So far this morning, all is well. No blood or suffering chickens...whew. Can't tell you how much I love and rely on this website. Thanks again.

 

[silkiechicken]

No problem.

Also. At 5 weeks old, unless it's still snowing where you are, you can probably start to wean them from a heat lamp and just pop in a 60 watt bulb, or wait till 6 or so weeks and just take it away. The largest wattage I've used on chicks brooded outside has been two 100W lights on a dimmer, and that was just for the first week of life. Temps were 30's/40's night/day.

 

[misdaisi]

Thanks! We had a spell of really warm spring weather, followed by a weeklong blast of cold temps (when they went to the coop), and now we are back to more "normal" temps. Everyone is doing well; no bleeding, and the lamp has not been on since it blew up. The girls are now officially wearing their "big girl underpants"!

Enjoy your weekend!