Setting up a Heat Lamp?

[hokankai]

So I'm setting up a brooder for my 7 chicks we're getting on Friday, but I'm having trouble with the lamp. It's a standard 250 watt heat lamp and I have no idea how far I'm supposed to put it and how I'm supposed to keep it that way. Our cardboard box is 4x2.5 and we are making a cool area and a warm area so we don't have to raise the lamp every week. I have nothing in the garage to hang it from...and I can't figure out how to put the clip on, LOL. Help!

 

[gamechickens]

can you use a back of a chair? does the lamp have a clip. OH cardbaord theat easy just make a slip in one of the flaps and the cord in between the cut and it hold is to make sure if you parinoid it will drop you can put some tape on it. it just hangs there.

 

[roosterdog]

Since I am in Texas....250 watt bulb seem very hot! I used a 75 watt on mine at night and did just fine. I had them in the house away form the A/C vents.

 

[roosterdog]

 

[abanjaf]

Here is a link to a topic previously posted that had pix and suggestions for hanging your heat lamps. Personally, I don't hang mine at all. I use a heat lamp with a dimmer switch on it that I adjust with a thermometer directly below it on the floor of the brooder. Makes life a whole heck of a lot easier than trying to move your lamp back and adjust the temp by the recommended minus 5 degrees per week. I just simply turn the dial down Anyway, here's the link and hope it helps!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=332333

 

[roosterdog]

Quote:
Great way!

 

[lakeontariochicks]

I had the same problem!
Because I use large cardboard boxes for my brooders I didn't trust the strength of the cardboard to hold a pole across the top with the lamp clamped to that.
So what I did with my first batch of chicks was go get an old floor lamp out our attic and put that in the box with the lamp attached to the top part that swings out. This was back in April and I couldn't get it warm enough in the box with the lamp on the outside, so I covered the base of the lamp with plastic and stuck it right in the box in a corner. The chicks all thought it was a toy too, they would stand on it and hide behind it. Even though I was afraid they'd eat the plastic they never did.
For my newest chicks, I am using a tall plant stand. It stands about 5 feet tall, and the arms for hanging plants are perfect for hanging the lamp from. I used wire to attach the clip on the lamp to the arm of the stand, and also have the cord wrapped around it in such a way that the lamp can't fall into the box. Because it is summer now, I have the plant stand outside the box. I just have it in one corner, so they have plenty of room to move away from the heat if they need to.
You could take 2 chairs, one on either side of the box and tie a pole or a broom or something to the tops of the chairs then hang the lamp from that.
In another post I wrote that with the heat here, even though my babies are only 7 days old, I've been having to turn the lamp off during the day, it is just too warm for them.