Near catastrophe....PLEASE learn from my mistake

[Yard full o' rocks]

Well...just placed my FIRST hatch ever, in the brooder yesterday. On the advise of the local feed/seed store, purchased a 250w infared bulb to use in the brooder and a clamp on lamp. I clamped the lamp onto a nearby 2x4 in my basement and adjusted the height to get the temp as close to 95 degrees as I could. Put in the food/water and finally my 13 baby chicks. I work from my home, but had to run out briefly, so I checked on "my babies" right before I left. What a shock......the basement was FILLED with smoke and the smoke detector had not gone off. (I even have a sprinkler system down there like in comm. buildings). The brooder lamp had fallen at a slight angle and the bulb was resting on the wood frame of my brooder pen. Where the bulb was touching the wood, it had completely charred it and was near catching fire!! See pix below. Fortunately (definitely a God thing....HE knew I could not bear the thought of losing my babies....or my house) I caught it before it flamed up. Otherwise the house, my babies, everything would have been involved in flames yesterday. NEVER USE ONE OF THOSE INFARED BULBS.....PLEASE. I ran to the store and purchased 2, 100w directional bulbs and the area has stayed about 92 degrees....my babies are fine and my heart rate has finally come down. Please, please, please learn from my nearly unfortunate lesson. Everyone on BYC has been so kind to me that I thought maybe even a "newbie" might help someone else for once. Have a BLESSED day.....I already have.

Notice charred spot in upper right corner

Picture from this morning...babies are all fine

 

[Nivrocco]

Good thing you were home...glad everything turned out o.k...by the way, those are some good-looking babies...

 

[kidd42]

I had a large plastic brooder with a plastic lid (You can see photo's of it on my page) Was using a 250 w red bulb for it sitting on a piece of hardware cloth over a hole cut in the lid. The light was on a timer. My stepson went in to look at the chicks and moved the light off the hardware cloth onto the plastic cover, bulb down. Later on that evening I went in to check on the girls, and the timer had switched the light on and the heat had started to melt the plastic lid. Just like you I caught it just in time. Caution to everyone, you have to be very carefule with these heat lamps. Glad that you caught it in time and your babies are alright.

 

[M@M@2four]

Whew!!! Thank God you got to it in time!!! God is good, my friend!!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I support the light with wire from above. Never depend only on a clamp. These lights are dangerous.

 

[mmtillman]

Quote:
YES!! This is the BEST advice in regard to this problem!! Bulbs are not the problem....it is those flimsy wire clamps they make in china that do NOT work and can NOT be depended on at all!!
We attempted to use one , but after 5 mins of discussing the different ways it could fail....hubby just went, got a hanging light, and put up a 2x2 above the coop.. cut some chain..... and now we can sleep nights knowing that light is NOT gonna shift, slip, fall, or tip over and cause a disaster or worse.
Each time I see a picture of a first timers brooder with a clamp light I just shudder ....From now on we should all warn the newbies about this risk...spread the word!
Thanks so much for sharing this warning with us and yes...your babies are gorgeous!!

 

[bethandjoeync]

one thing too is you can get an 80 watt or 100 watt red bulb at WM, that won't be nearly as hot as a 250w. the clamp on our lamp (hmm rhymes didn't plan that) seems quite good but I will re-enforce it next time we have little chickies

 

[toletiquesbysam]

Glad all is well and you were home!!! I use a regular 100w light bulb in mine (read it on here somewhere) and the temp is just fine!! You don't need the heat bulbs to reach 90+ in the brooder, lesson learned!!!

 

[georgialee]

I'm glad you caught it in time!!! I don't like those 250w bulbs. I still have infrared but I changed it to a 75w after the first few days. The chicks were getting way too warm and the outside of the lamp was just too darn hot.

 

[DiVon80]

Quote:
Wow! Scarey! All I use is a regular bulb. I get the reveal bulbs which are natural light(like sunshine) that is all I use. Of course we are very south but, we still had cool fronts comming down. I do not like a lot of heat for my self. My babies all did fine...