Red or Clear Heat Lamp

[MaggieRae]

Quote:
Yeah, you probably need one of those if you don't want to hang it from the top of a ladder like I did. Those things are powerful!

 

[teach1rusl]

Vera...I'm sure you have one by now. But they are very reasonable at Tractor Supply Company, if you have one in your area... I think about $4.00...for future reference at least. I'd payed about $8.00 for one at Home Depot!!

 

[Jarhead]

I have a dimmer on a 250w infrared and the bulb hums like crazy the lower the dimmer gets. Will that cause the bulb to burn out quicker or is it just the noise factor? I also have mine hooked to a pulley from the ceiling in the garage so I can move it up and down to vary the heat.

 

[Jennings Gamefowl]

i use a 250 watt red bulb.. it does cut down on pecking... and i have found out here that it is cheaper at TSC than walmart... TSC has theres for about 5 and walmart have the same thing at 8

 

[mulia24]

wew, any color bulb is same in price with clear one in here.

even, many electronic shop sell the colored cheaper since less people want to use it and electronic shop never draw a line on colored lamp with people need to use it on hatch/brood. so colored cheaper here.

but i use clear one since they don't protest or fight.

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

Quote:
The humming is due to a cheap or defective dimmer switch. When you dim a circuit you are chopping up the magnet field pulsations causing the filament of the bulb to expand and contract to the point they rub in the filament support posts. This is the noise you are hearing, and yes, it does shorten bulb life significantly.

It cost more, but get a better quality dimmer switch. They have inducer chokes and interference capacitors to smooth out the pulsations going to the bulb.

It's kinda hard to put this into words, but I hope you understand the gist of it.

Marty

 

[Jarhead]

It was actually not very cheap of a dimmer switch it's the lutron brand from Home depot and was about $20, like the kind you install into the wall with a sliding dimmer on it. They had much cheaper ones. The humming I hear is coming from the bulb itself not the dimmer switch. I will take it back and swap it for a new one and see if it was just defective.

 

[mulia24]

i'm not too expert in english of course.

but i do re read again marty's post, i think he said that the thing that make it sounding was the bulb not the dimmer.

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

Quote:
Yes, that is what I was saying. Thanks

 

[Akane]

The color of the bulb should not have anything to do with heat output. A 250w bulb puts out the same amount of that 250watts in heat and light irregardless of the color of the glass.

I generally just use clear bulbs because I brood inside and 250watts is waaaaaaaay too hot for inside. 100w is pushing it. I only use my 100w bulb for a day or 2 while they are drying and fluffing or this past week when my furnace died and it was only 50-60F in here. I just went to see what the screaming was about and they were all complaining it was too hot now that the furnace has the house at 68F. They are back to a 60w bulb and I just leave them with that for several weeks. Don't adjust the height or anything. They pick where they need to sleep in the brooder. Eventually I put in a colored 40w bulb (sold as party bulbs) until they go out to the coop. That way they get used to having hardly any light and heat. I have only had one batch of chicks (quail or chicken) start to peck and it was all boredom. I tossed a stick in their brooder and they stopped pecking for days. Then I started giving them edible flowers and herbs from the garden and never had anymore pecking.