nervous about heat bulb in incandescent lamp

[urbanolive]

Yesterday we put in a 5.5 inch clamp lamp with a 150 watt infrared bulb in our 4 x 8 coop. It just now dawned on me to look up online what the clamp lamp was rated for and it is only rated for a 75 watt incandescent bulb !!!!!!! I know I need to go get a different lamp tomorrow but will it be safe till then ? ....another sleepless nite worrying about the chickens...

 

[RocketDad]

Eeek!! Replace it with a 60 or 100W white lamp, and make the chickens lose sleep warmly for 1 night!

Oh! And cable-tie the clamp to whatever you have it on so you don't have an outbreak of Stupid Chicken Disorder resulting in a coop fire.

 

[Tala]

Definitely change bulbs!! And DO NOT rely on the clamp alone! Use a zip tie or wire to attach the lamp more securely (usually there are some holes in the reflector that can be used with wires through them)

 

[gsim]

Cannot caution you enough on this. Recent post was xmas eve and woman returned home to find coop burnt to ground behind house. No chook survivors. Was so close that some damage to siding on house too! Culprit was clamp-on heat lamp and spastic chickens likely knocked it down into the dry litter. I will not heat my coop unless it gets to zero or so.

 

[urbanolive]

Well they made it through the night and I am off to TSC to get another lamp ! Oh and I quadruple cable-tied it to a rafter ! I am so confused about this heat lamp situation...lamps are rated for incandescents, so how do you know what that translates into infrared bulbs ? I guess I'll get another brooder lamp but it is a little large for where I need to put it.

 

[RocketDad]

I am so confused about this heat lamp situation...lamps are rated for incandescents, so how do you know what that translates into infrared bulbs ?

All incandescent lamps are heat lamps. Over 80% of the output is IR. That's where you get efficiency from compact fluorescents.

The brooder lamps have built-in reflectors to send more energy out the front of the bulb. The bulb is red so that the IR is passed directly but some of the visible light is trapped in the glass, heating the glass. That creates more heat per watt, but theoretically it's more directed out the front. In reality, you should be fine using a reflector fixture rated for whatever lamp you are using. The brooder lamp I have uses a ceramic bulb holder. I think those are rated for 1000W, but the fixture as a whole is rated lower.​

 

[bukbugack]

As for your wattage question, I think Rocketdad is on the money. An incandescent bulb and a heat lamp are fundamentally the same. Just go by the wattage.

My big question is why are you heating the coop in the first place? How cold does it get where you are? Unless you have breeds which are particularly cold-sensitive, they should be fine down towards zero. Of course, if they have been heated so far this winter, you have to keep it up, but as long as chickens are allowed to acclimate to the cold, they really should be fine. The only season when my birds look stressed is during the summer.

Check out the excellent article "The Cold Coop" at The Learning Center on this website.

 

[urbanolive]

Well I have only given them heat for 2 nights now, temps around 9 F, with a wind chill of -5. Their coop is a bit drafty, no insulation , and their roost is right in front of the old recycled windows. But I've been out all morning wrapping it up with 3 mil plastic ( leaving plenty of ventilation at the top ). I also have 2 banished bantie cochins who sleep in an (open door) large dog crate on the other side of the run, they have metal roofing wrapped around 3 sides and they sleep in a beer box. I put a 60 watt bulb for them, they are frizzled and just hardly have as many feathers. I dunno , I just worry about them being very uncomfortable, I know they will survive the cold just fine- but I don't want them to be miserable either. I can't sleep when I'm cold, I hate it...

 

[bukbugack]

Hmmm. 9 degrees IS pretty cold, and that's a pretty airy-looking coop. I must admit, I'd be feeling a little for my birds, too. Still, be really careful with a heatlamp. I also remember that recent post about the coop fire. What an awful tragedy. Let's hope this cold wave lets up soon and we can all sleep a little more comfortably.

 

[chookchick]

What a cute little setup!
With a smaller coop like that, you could do what I did last winter--I glued insulation board to the underside where they couldn't get to it, then wrapped fiberglass batts around the outside and top and tarped over them to hold the heat in (keeping some ventilation open). Also be sure and put a thermometer in there where you can see it, as a small coop can heat up pretty fast. You might be just fine with the lower wattage and some insulation, which would be safer.