Is this heat lamp secure enough?

[loveourbirds]

I just realized that I had seen them checking out the food dish, but not the waterer. So I woke them up...again...and dipped their beaks in the water. They stood there and drank on and off for a couple minutes. I think maybe they were starting to get thirsty. I have electrolytes in the water as well, so hopefully now that they know there is cool water in there to wash down and that food and pine pellets they keep throwing around, maybe they'll be able to regulate their temps even better. Thanks for all your help. It seems like so many of us on here see our chickens the same way we see our dogs and children...a good chicken parent never stops worrying I guess

as a rule of thumb a chicken has no friends, except for their owners. my wife and I look at our chickens kind of like adopted kids. she does the feeding and egg gathering, I do the watering and man the incubators. we both split the cleanups, and she helps me with moving them around when needed. (lets face it, its hard to hold a roo and hen while opening a shed door).

my neighbors giggle a little about the barn we have just built for our chickens. its not all the way finished but It is 20x24, it will have 40 3x4 pens. these pens are for our breeders, a pair of really large birds (white and barred rocks, nh reds and so on. if the birds go about 4 lb average we put 3 in a cage. our old English bantams are really small, so with them I put 4 in a cage. each cage has its own light bulb on a dimmable circuit for temp control in the cold months. in the summer we switch to more energy efficient bulbs. when completed it will have 4 foot by 8 foot flaps on the upper half that can be opened and make an awning over the open areas of the barn. this will help protect against strong sun, while allowing a ton of ventilation.

since we now make our living with our birds, we tend to put a lot of money into things like this to improve quality, and quality of life for the birds.

I have a couple "tractors" I use now. I have plans of building more and planting oats for the birds to eat (green sprouts). since oats grow fast I figure I can cycle the tractors about every 4-6 weeks replanting every time I move it. (move it weekly for best nutrition) I wish I could afford to build a house and large run for each group of birds, but average coop/run cost for us is about $500. now multiply that by about 75 pens and you will see why I haven't went that route.

 

[Chickmagnet36]

I had a similar setup for my first brooder and have some friendly advice...First within one week or so, it became too hot for my chicks with the 250 watt bulb, so keep an eye out for open mouthed panting or huddling as far from the light as possible(signs that they are hot). Second, by 2-3 weeks of age or so, they will fly out, so you may want to cover with some hardware cloth or something similar to that. Hope this helps.

 

[SobbaChickens]

a chick does need to rest, but if they are stretched way out; they are to hot. as far as your brooder, that is how I brood mine without the wire. I cant say that this runs true everywhere but a lamp that has a ceramic base is usually stronger. most of the time they even have better clamps judging by the ones available locally.

it sounds like you do have it plenty secure, just make sure your daughter cant trip over the wire and you should be fine.

since you are doing this in your house, you may be able to get away with a 150 watt bulb in a 16-18 gallon tote.

I used a 150 watt and clamped it to the side of my tote but the lamp went down into the tote so the heat wasn't everywhere. 150 was perfect. I tried to give my chicks a 250 watt light and they freaked, wouldn't go anywhere near it.


-Katie

 

[SobbaChickens]

I had a similar setup for my first brooder and have some friendly advice...First within one week or so, it became too hot for my chicks with the 250 watt bulb, so keep an eye out for open mouthed panting or huddling as far from the light as possible(signs that they are hot). Second, by 2-3 weeks of age or so, they will fly out, so you may want to cover with some hardware cloth or something similar to that. Hope this helps.

Mine had to go outside into a bigger brooder at 2.5 weeks (my guess) because they were started to fly

 

[foxy2320]

Thanks for the info. I'm trying to find a weaker bulb, the supply store only had 250, I'll check some other places today.

 

[loveourbirds]

if you cant find a 150 heat lamp, a 100 watt halogen will normally work if its in a house. these are a little more expensive, but they don't bust as easy and tend to last longer.