New help with heat lamps

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know how big your biggest bin is but I'd use the biggest. If you brood in your laundry room a very small wattage bulb should work, 60 to 75 watts,, assuming you have climate control and the temperature stays pretty constant in there. Do not use the clamp that comes with the heat lamp, throw it away so you are not tempted to use it. Use wire to hang it so it cannot possibly fall down. Do not use plastic or string that can melt or burn, use wire. If you brood in the car port you will have bigger temperature swings. I'd probably go with a larger wattage bulb, maybe a 125.

Hang the lamp over one end of the bin. You are only trying to heat a small area, not the whole thing. You want the far end to be quite a bit cooler. The check the temperature under the heat lamp at the time it's pretty cool. If it is 90 to 95 degrees at floor level, perfect. You don't want it much warmer than that. You can raise or lower the lamp to adjust the temperature. Then check the temperature in the cool area of the brooder. Hopefully it is several degrees cooler. If not you may need to put up a barrier to give hem something they can hide behind to protect them from the heat lamp.

The only ventilation you'll have is the open top but in a short while they will be able to fly out of that bin, their wing feathers come in that fast. You probably need to fashion a top for that bin out of chicken wire or hardware cloth to keep them from flying out. Don't use plastic netting, the lamp might melt it.

If you haven't bought the heat lamp yet you might consider a heating pad cave, maybe @azygous or @lazy gardener can help you with which one to buy and how to set it up. Certain pads work and certain ones don't. A heat plate like Brinsea has would also work and probably be the easiest to set up, but they may be a bit expensive. I have not priced one.

 

[lazy gardener]

People vastly underestimate the amount of heat that can be put out by a heat lamp with a bulb of any wattage. And a plastic bin can be a lethal heat trap. They also underestimate how quickly chicks grow (they double their size every week), and how quickly they outgrow their brooder, General recommendation is to provide a minimum of 1 s.f. open space/chick during the first 2 weeks. Then, they should have a minimum of 2 s.f./bird from 2 - 4 weeks. I'm a fan of a heating pad cave brooding system. It makes it much less likely that your chicks will be overheated. (the brooder should only have a small foot print of warm space under the heat source, with the remainder of the brooder being what ever the ambient temp is.

Do you have a coop already set up? If so, you could even brood your chicks right in the coop. It will make acclimating them to fall temps go much smoother.

Wishing you the best with your little flock.

If you are interested in doing a heating pad brooding system, this is the pad that most of us have been using.

@Blooie has written an article and has a lengthy thread about the system.

 

[junebuggena]

The problem with using plastic bins as brooders with heat lamps is that the bins aren't usually big enough to allow enough heat to dissipate to provide a cool zone. It is essential that the brooder be big enough to allow chicks to escape the heat if and when they need to. The heating pad/plate methods avoid this problem entirely by only heating a very small area, allowing the rest of the brooder to be room temp. The downside of these methods is that the heating pad/plate takes up space inside the brooder.
One thing that is often overlooked by first-timers is the growth rate of chicks. Space is just as important as a heat source. Chicks double in size every week, and their space needs double with that growth rate. What starts out as being tons of room for week old chicks, is quickly outgrown.
General guidelines for brooder space is as follows -
Week 1 - 1/4 sq ft per chick
Week 2 - 1/2 sq ft per chick
Week 3 - 1 sq ft per chick
Week 4 - 2 sq ft per chick
Week 5 - 4 sq ft per chick
Week 6 - 8 sq ft per chick
After 6 weeks, their growth rate begins to slow and they should be sufficiently feathered to handle life outdoors without heat. The cooler you keep the brooder, the faster they feather in and the sooner you can move them out of the brooder.

 

[Parront]

I like to make the lid for a plastic bin out of hardware cloth. I confess, I do use the clamp!

I use a UV light that is 60 watts for Dylan so she gets enough Vitamin D. It is warm to the touch but could never burn anything.

 

[Parront]

I use the clamp on a stable surface nearby, not the tub or cage where I am housing the birds -- here is a better photo: