red bulbs-bad or good?

[wings]

I live in Massachusetts, where it can get fairly cold during the night. I have a red bulb for heat when it gets chilly in the coop. Will a red bulb mess up the girls' internal clock to think it's daytime 24/7? We just had a prolapsed hen, so I'm trying to avoid premature laying for my 5-month-old hens.

 

[JennsPeeps]

We recently used a red heat lamp in the coop, which has a clear roof and can be seen from inside the house. We noticed that the girls were active - preening, moving around, etc. - at night, but we don't know if they were already doing that or not.

I do think that the red lamp is less obnoxious for them than is the white light, and less disruptive to their sleep patterns.

 

[CityChook]

When I had a red light in my coop, the chickens stayed up all night partying. I finally had to go out and turn the light off so they'd go to bed. Grrrr. I use a ceramic heat emitter (in the reptile section of your pet store) which puts out the same heat without the light. I live where it's pretty cold and found that the 100 watt isn't strong enough. However, I am very happy with the 250 watt. If you have the luxury of time, you can get them about 50% retail on Ebay.

ETA - Today it was -21F when I got up. And 0 in the coop. I freaked. Now I have both the ceramic bulb AND a red heat bulb going in there and it's around 20F. I'm sure the girls think they've been transported to the Bahamas and are currently working on their tans under that light. And I'm sure that the party will continue well into the night, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. We're really trying to avoid frostbite problems. It's 3 in the pm and still -7 outside right now with the sun starting to set.

 

[ams3651]

ive used a red heat lamp in the brooder and now I moved it into the coop to keep the water from freezing. Ive heard them moving around and stuff at night, I dont think it bothers them I just dont think they sleep from 4:30pm to 7am.

 

[greyfields]

They are equivelant. The advantage of the red is that it casts fewer shadows, which alleges to reduce trampling in brooders due to startled birds. Also, I think it can deter vent pickers.

 

[Anny]

I just put a red lamp in my coop, since we are supposed to get in the negative temps this week.

But I noticed my girls where always wide awake when I when to the coop too. I'm al ittle worried it's going to mess with their little chicken heads. Should I take the light out>

 

[SoccerMomof7]

I leave my red light on 24-7 and have all winter long without any problems. They also have a chicken wire "window" which is now covered with plastic.

 

[cmom]

This is a wonderful web site. I keep an 11 watt red sign light bulb on 24/7 in both of my coops. I have a 25 watt regular light that goes on around 5am in the big girls coop and off at about 9 am. I pretty much get an egg a day from all of them. When I do use a heat lamp I use a red 250 watt in a brooder lamp that is rated for 250 watts. I only use it when the forecast is for freezing weather.

 

[wings]

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Our favorite RIR pullet, "Little Red" just died from prolapse and I was trying to see if maybe the fact that we had the red light on all the time was a reason, or just a fluke.

 

[RW19290]

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