Heatlight Fire

In the news here was a story about someone in our County, who, with the best intentions I'm sure, left heat lights on all night in their pole barn Wednesday night for their several animals, they had about fifty goats, some cows, chickens and ducks,. Something caught fire as a result of the heat lights they think, and the barn burned down and all the animals were killed. I'm sure the poor owners must be suffering, and so sick. I feel so sorry for them, and of course, all the animals, too.

Just a reminder that heatlights are so dangerous, and not really necessary. If you're going to use them, monitor them. We never leave them on all night. They can explode or get knocked down, or touch something flammable. Animals put off a lot of heat, and they usually do a pretty good job of keeping each other warm.

 

With just a heatlight, we don't feel it makes a whole lot more difference than sunshine would. So we turn them on during the day when we are home and can monitor them, during periods of extreme cold, and I mean subzero to single digits, so that if they want to, they can jump under there for a bit to warm up. We have chicks right now that their mother incubated and hatched during all this cold weather. We transferred them to a small enclosed pen and the chicks do need the added warmth during the day when they are more active. At night they go under their mother, and it's no big deal for her to keep them warm under there. Heatlight is better for them to stay acclimated to the cold, than bringing them in the house, I don't feel the babies would survive without some artificial heat during the day during extreme cold, anyway, until they get some feathers.

 

Anyway, people have different ways of dealing with the cold, and that's just what we do. If we had other livestock, especially cows or larger animals where they are going to put off some heat, and the chickens can get close to them, we probably would not bother with heatlights at all except for the chicks.