I've heard that as the big box stores clear their shelves of them, they can often still be found in little mom and pop type stores till they sell out. It would probably be a good idea to look for them whenever out shopping.
After day 3, chicks are much better off with a dark period each night. That's where ceramics shine (so to speak) along with being more efficient. Just heat/no light.
I don't think halogens have been phased out. The whole idea of the rule was that there had to be a certain amount of light output for a certain watt input. LEDs, CFLs and halogens meet that rule, incandescents don't. Halogens put out heat if you want to go that way.
CFLs certainly aren't perfect. They're not great for hot or cold places. That means their life is shortened by putting them in enclosed places like ceiling fixtures. Changing over most of the lights in my house to CFLs years ago did cut my energy bill but I still had to change them as often as incandescents in ceiling fixtures.
I think it's a good idea to use new technologies for specific purposes rather than a one size fits all thing like incandescents.
All the energy input into LEDs goes to light, no heat. They last many years.
I once used incandescents for brooding small spaces like you're doing. I used a droplight with a 75 watt. I also used various wattages for homemade incubators. Another problem with using them for heat is their short service life. With chicks and incubating eggs you don't want to lose your heat source. I've only had one ceramic fail. It cracked right across the neck. I changed to metal heat elements for incubation. They don't fail.
When I was watching the controller constantly cycling on and off, a light bulb went off in my head so to speak. I realized that the constant cycling would dramatically shorten the life of an incandescent and doing so for up to 25 days, 24 hours a day would make it likely I'd lose an entire hatch.
). Maybe you could check your local DS to see if they also carry them?
