Please Help - I have a super paranoid husband afraid of brooder bulb

[mrsgibber]

My husband is going nuts over the 250 Watt Infared bulb we have suspended over our makeshift brooder. It is a good 2 - 3 feet above the pine shavings and NOTHING around the brooder is even hot. It is however giving my almost 4 week old chicks just enough heat (75 degrees). He is totally afraid the thing is going to heat something up so much it catches fire.

Anyway, he is wondering if we could use a Ceramic infrared heat emitter bulb (100 watt) found at PetSmart.com. It doesn't emit any light just heat. I don't know why he thinks this is any better, but has anyone tried one of these before?

Thanks!

 

[agnes_day]

i could be totally wrong in doing this, but at 4 weeks, i always turned the light off..i just kept the room warm and all.

 

[mrsgibber]

Quote:
I would do the same except they are in our basement and we tested the temp without the bulb and it only reached 55 - 60 overnight.

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Assuming your wiring is up to snuff and not to "rigged", your husband's concerns are mostly unfounded.

Worst case scenario #1: Light fixture falls onto pine shavings.

Solution: Make sure it doesn't.

Worst case scenario #2: Bulb shatters and hot glass falls onto pine shavings. It probably would not even come close to starting a fire.

Solution: Whatever...maybe a screen?

 

[digginchicks]

Those 250 watt heat lamps scare me a little bit to. Because during the winter I had one in the coop just to keep the girls a little wormer and it blew up. It sounded like a shotgun going off but luckily nothing got hurt. I just use the red heat lamps now because they aren't supposed to blow up like that.

Sorry I know that this is a little off topic

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Quote:
I would do the same except they are in our basement and we tested the temp without the bulb and it only reached 55 - 60 overnight.

My 4 1/2 week old BC Marans spent the night outside last night with no heat. Dunno how cold it got, but it's 40* right now at 8 AM.

 

[Akane]

The heat emitters work fine but is there really any less risk using them? Most people use them to not have light on all the time. It's still producing heat which is what risks starting the fire and it's still using electricity. I don't see how it's all that much safer. It is lower watts though and if you want a cheaper solution just put in a lower watt bulb and move the light lower. I used 100w standard incandescent bulbs setting right on the mesh top I made over a stock tank in my basement. It stays about 60-65F in the basement and the 4week olds were fine that way. The stock tank is maybe 2' high. 100 and 60w bulbs are frequently used all over people's houses and don't have much risk of starting a fire. I rarely ever use the 250w bulbs.

 

[Judy]

The old fashioned method around here was 100 W bulb in coop from day one.

The bulb socket (what the bulb screws into) needs to be ceramic, not plastic. If it is, and the whole thing is secured with a backup system in case the clamp fails or pops off, I'd think it would be safe, though.

 

[orcasislandchickens]

What she said. I use a lower wattage bulb closer also. You could even place an additional 60 watt lamp if you wanted a larger area. Much safer. We bought one of those heat emitter bulbs and it got very hot- much hotter than a light bulb, and I would think more likely to start a fire.

 

[mrsgibber]

Ok, well maybe I will switch to a regular 100 watt bulb just to make him happy.

I they are feathering in quite nicely and have been fluffing up when they go to sleep in a "cooler" part of the brooder but no one is pig piling on one another like they are too cold.

I wonder if I could just do away with the light all together during the day when we are not home.

Thoughts on that?