height of heat lamp

[dlaciv12]

How high up from the brooder floor should a 250 watt heat lamp be to get the chicks up to 95 degrees? I have had my lamp on for a couple of hours now and the thermometer is reading 75 degrees. The bulb is about 24" up and pointed at a 45 degree angle to cover as much area as possible. The brooder is a cardboard box that measures 32"x34". I really don't have any way of suspending lower in the box, right now it is clamped to a corner of the box.
Thanks!
Dave

 

[debilorrah]

I'd check it every few hours. Mine took abut 6 hours to get warm enough.....

 

[homestead5er]

Just point the light to the corner, and put to thermometer under to light.

 

[lil_chick_chick]

we aim ares in a corner, we have 2 lamps and their both in the same corner of the brooder that way if the chicks get to hot, they can get away from the heat if they needed to. The rest of the brooder is shady.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree. Point it at a corner and get the heat up there.

It is best to have some difference in temperature in the brooder. The recommendation is 90 to 95 degrees and some seem to like it a little cooler. Give them a little difference and let them find their comfort zone. It is better to be a tad cool than too hot.

Good luck.

 

[dlaciv12]

Quote:
So aim it straight down or at the opposite corner?

 

[homestead5er]

Straight down in one corner.

 

[homestead5er]

Oh when its time to start raising the temp. you can put a chair by your brooder and clamp the light to the chair.

 

[AndyL]

I also noticed that the temp. did not move much at around 24" away even after a decent warm up period. I am going to be using a old dog crate/kennel for a brooder for my chicks, after one or two more test runs to get the temp. up I finally just clamped the light to the top of the cage from the inside and pointed it to on corner and that seemed to work well with the range around 95 deg. + or - a couple of deg.