Question on heat lamps?

[Amethyste]

I am worried that this year will be a cookie cutter event from last year which means COLD!!!!!!!!!! We had almost 2 feet of snow here, and we never get that by Puget Sound. I have never seen it snow like that before...and with the funky summer etc I can only imagine that this winter will be intersting as well.

So, we have the brooder lamp, with the red bulb, to keep the babies warm when they are in the brooder. We used it last year for our two adult hens to keep warm cos it was sooooooo unseasonably cold!! It hit in the low teens and with only the two of them, we were scared that they would not be able to keep warm. (we lost most of our flock over the last 16 months due to heart issues etc )

Now, that type of brooder light... does it keep them awake? Its a red light so it shouldnt bother them at night right?

We were wanting to aim it at the waterer <galvanized> to keep it from freezing this winter, and not on the birds since we have the new babies ...they huddle together so not worried about keeping them warm.

But if it is going to disrupt their sleeping we might need to find a diff idea...I really dont want to be adding light etc and messing them up.

Thanks!

 

[meriruka]

They'll sleep just fine w/ the red lamp. Be careful with only pointing the lamp at the water, if the chicks are cold, they will gravitate to the heat & you don't want them wet or possibly drowning.

 

[Imp]

Amethyste,

Renton here.
Yes last year winter was an adventure. Hope you are wrong with your prediction.

I have a CF white light in my coop and it doesn't disturb their sleep at all. No pecking issues either. I use a portable heater for supplement heat.

Imp

 

[Amethyste]

Quote:
They are all 6 weeks old at this time lol So by the time we will need to start trying to keep the waterer ice-free they wil be all grown up, so it shouldnt be an issue. They have been outside with Mom their whole life, so are used to the temps. The brooder light we have left over from a few years back...we used it last year when it was so awful...we were actually snowbound on our street for almost 2 weeks! Thank goodness we had extra feed for the birds and for us lol We only had the two hens left at that time, so we were worried about keeping them warm.

Now tho, with the babies in teh flock, they should have enough body heat so we wont worry. It's just keeping that waterer thawed thats the issue /sigh

I was mainly concerned that the light would be keeping them awake...or messing with the laying, cos I dont want to do that if possible. If they lay they lay.