Think about it: heating pads are designed to be in contact with human skin for several hours at a time. Can you lay your hand on the heat lamp reflector and leave it there for even 2 minutes? Every single year there are reports of houses and coops burning down, people being killed by heat lamps. Just last spring, when I was at the feed store, the employees were telling me about a lady who died in a house fire b/c she was brooding chicks in the house with a heat lamp. How often do we hear about a fire being started by a heating pad? Even from an economical sense, a heating pad makes sense. They run intermittently. When they are in the "on" phase, the biggest pad draws 150W at it's highest setting. (But the pad used for a MHP system must have the bypass switch that allows it to be on 24/7 instead of shutting it'self off after 2 hours of continuous use.) I doubt that they are drawing full power even 25% of the time. And they are usually running at medium or low settings. So, while there is an initial cash output to buy the heating pad, the decreased power consumption quickly offsets that. Add to that the increased safety, for both the home and coop, and the safety and better environment for the chicks, and the heating pad system wins every single argument.
You might want to show your mom this post.
You might want to show your mom this post.
