Heat lamp wattage

[Wyandotte Momma]

I have 2 hens and the inside of my coop has just enough room for the girls to lay and sleep and move around. And I have been looking around and researching the heat lamps. However, at the farm store all they have is a 250 watt bulb. I'm just afraid that is way to hot. I have used a bulb and put a trouble cover it. The girls loved it. But then they started playing with it. HELP!?!

 

[rainbowrooster]

Your hens don't need a heat lamp. They will be fine in the cold. There are 150 watt heat lamps but they don't produce much heat so most folk don't bother with them. If you insist on using a lamp then just raise it higher so it is farther away and cooler for the birds

 

[pdirt]

If your hens are playing with the heat lamp, then it is way too close. Since you only have 2 chickens, I suspect you have one of those very cute but very tiny coops. Heat lamps are dangerous in any coop, but in one of those small coops, it's ludicrous, IMO.

Unless it is -20F or you don't have cold-tolerant breeds, you don't need a heat lamp.

There are just way too many fires caused by heat lamps to use one unless you truly, truly need one. They have down coats and unless it is -20 or -30F, they don't need heat.

 

[donrae]

No offense, but it sounds like you're seriously flirting with fried chicken. That small a space may well need more ventilation for them to be healthy, not more heat.

Please cruise around here some and research the threads on keeping birds in cold weather, and be sure to hit the ones about fires in coops from well-meaning folks. Way, way fewer birds die of cold or exposure than fire.

 

[bobbi-j]

Please read the below link. I hope it will save you from a tragedy. I'm not going to repeat all that was said in the above posts, just that I agree with them. Please do your birds a favor and don't put the lamp in...


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/946060/warning-against-using-heat-lamps-in-winter