lighting/heating question

[ilovechickens]

I started out with a white 250 heat lamp and I switched to a Red 250 which is actually amber color, because my 2.5 week olds were getting a little wild, I have 5 possibly 6 roos ( only ordered 2 and low and behold a few pullet got replaced with roo's) They slept well with the white, the red only keeps them a little less active. During their feathering, the white light shows skin, and the red in the toes, the red dosen't show as much. So I guess that it is up to you, as long as they have enough room, and the temperature is correct with food and water, they should do fine

 

[pascopol]

Quote:
I have both 150W white heat bulb and 250W red heat bulb, stopped using 150W white.

Red infrared bulb is better than white, chicks can sleep better at night, and red light reduces or eliminates picking.

I use 250 infrared bulb in ceramic socket (important safety feature, 250W bulb base gets so hot it can melt plastic).

However 250W bulb is too powerful for indoor use, wasting lots of power.

Solution: I ran it through a dim switch (widely available -Walmart etc), so I can reduce heat as needed saving energy. If you try that make sure dim switch,s max wattage rating is same or higher than wattage of your bulb)

For 25 chicks or less 150W or 125W red lamp would be sufficient indoors, but they are not locally available, you can buy those on line though.

 

[sherrydeanne]

I use a white during the day and swap out for the red at night.

 

[cmom]

Check out the brooder thread. Lots of lights and lamps. Good way to see how others put their lights and lamps.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6233

 

[fzouk]

Thanks! I did switch to the red and I notice that they really are sleeping more. Interesting! I never really saw them sleeping with the white, but now they are often all dozing with the red light. I never heard of anything where you can dim the wattage of a bulb- that's also interesting! Thanks! I definitely will check into that.

Frances

 

[the_great_snag]

I prefer red and having double lights in case of the bulb burning out. Just my $.02

I think too much is made of precisely measuring temps and wattages and every other thing by chicken folks. The KEY is to watch the birds. If you let them, they will tell you everything you need to know about the temperature conditions in your brooder.

Cackle Hatchery has a kinda-sorta ok diagram on their website on how to read chick behavior, but in a nutshell this is what you should watch for:

bunched in one spot but not necessarily under the light: probable draft

bunched under light: too cold, lower the heat lamp a bit closer to the floor. otherwise they could pile and kill each other.

bunched as far from light as they can get: too hot, raise the heat lamp up a bit

moving around freely and comfortably: temp is just right.

chicks should be able to move to where they are most comfortable within the brooder space. This is where having enough room becomes very important for your birds' well-being.