Texas

[Ms Jellybean]

Thank you!

Im in a residential area as well...
Luckily its an older neighborhood, no HOA, and people are friendly..but I dont want to push my luck lol.

There are chickens (and even some illegal goats or sheep) all over my part of the Historic District. Someone even had a rooster for a bit. I think he found a new home or made it into the cooking pot, have not heard him in months.

 

[hensfortherapy]

And of course don't get the Teflon coated heat lamp

On the teflon note. I bought a frying pan the other day with this warning.

 

[hensfortherapy]

And of course don't get the Teflon coated heat lamp

On the teflon note. I bought a frying pan the other day with this warning.

It says not to use if you keep inside birds.

 

[Brookshire11]

There are chickens (and even some illegal goats or sheep) all over my part of the Historic District.  Someone even had a rooster for a bit.  I think he found a new home or made it into the cooking pot, have not heard him in months. 

At the risk of sounding creepy, i didnt know there were "sides"..lol. Im close to Virgina and Waddill and havent heard anything :/ But Ive only been here a few months so I guess thats why. I was sure goats would be something you'd notice lol

 

[lovingmyhens]

I read that using the deep litter method for the coop helps to keep the smell down. Have you tried it?

my coop is not the smelly issue...I think it is the rabbit poop and it's not all the time! Just sometimes I walk out and am like WHEW! This is what my coop looks like: it is small!

 

[Ms Jellybean]

At the risk of sounding creepy, i didnt know there were "sides"..lol. Im close to Virgina and Waddill and havent heard anything

But Ive only been here a few months so I guess thats why. I was sure goats would be something you'd notice lol

I hear the goats more than I have seen them. I was walking my dog on College Street near Louisiana and heard some. I don't know that there are sides to the HD, although you could talk about north and south since Virginia and Louisiana kind of split it. I just meant were I live. I am south east of you - not too far from Finch Park. If you have kids and haven't been to that park you must visit. It is a wonderful park. It's nice if you don't have kids too. I haven't been in this part of the city very long either - We down sized in August '12 and ended up here. I've lived in McKinney since 1989 though. Boy has it changed!!

 

[jajeanpierre]

Personally for chick raising, now I only use a heat lamp in a pinch. I've found a radiant heat warmer to be much better. Safer than a heat lamp, it mimics Momma Hen and the chicks can hide under it when they are cold or sleepy, but otherwise they run around like they would normally if they were living with Momma in the barn. It does not heat up everything in the brooder or the room which is a big plus because it is easy to get chicks too hot. Once I started using one, I noticed that the chicks feather out faster and do better overall. I've got chicks right now that are in a room of the house that has been hanging out at 61 degrees. They are running around in the brooder most of the time - the radiant heater really gets them acclimated to lower temps a lot faster than all that baloney of "95 degrees and decrease the temperature every week by 5 degrees". Two companies make these types of warmers that I know of, each in different sizes:

http://www.brinsea.com/prod-EcoGlow_Chick_Brooder-239.aspx

http://sweeterheater.com/bizweb.asp

Have fun!

Thanks for the links.

Like you, I hate heat lamps. I never rely on those flimsy clamps, always suspending them from something solid. When I bred dogs, I built a frame with incandescent lights that the whelping box sat on top of, so the heat radiated up from below. I had two strings of lights--can't remember the wattage--so could regulate the temperature by having one or both sets of lights on. Puppies were kept nice and warm, but there were never any hot spots.

Which heater do you use? I'm leaning towards the Brinsea. Thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[jajeanpierre]

It says not to use if you keep inside birds.

Teflon KILLS birds incredibly quickly. The off gassing, where the product breaks down and is released into the air, can happen at much lower temperatures than the manufacturer claims. It is a horrible, horrible death for birds. Let me correct the "kills quickly" statement--it poisons them quickly, and once poisoned, no vet can save them from a horrible death. They die slowly and horribly. It is toxic to humans, too, it just doesn't kill us quite so easily. Newborns babies are particularly vulnerable to its effects.

The lowest temperature at which nonstick coatings have been reported to kill birds in a peer-reviewed study is 396°F (202°C) [Boucher, M., Ehmler, TJ and Bermudez, AJ. 2000. Polytetrafluoroethylene gas intoxication in broiler chickens. Avian Dis 44(2): 449-53.] There are reports of bird deaths from off gassing at as low as 325F.

Dupont Chemicals have worked very hard to surpress this information.

 

[gameandmore]

Beekissed told me a regular lightbulb would be ok for chicks kept in the house. Here is the info from Beekissed:
I've used both the red heat lamp bulbs and regular bulbs and they have the same results, but the plain bulb is easier to regulate on heat than is the heat lamp...not to mention a safer item to work with. With only 4 chicks, a simple light bulb will be all they will need...that way you won't have to buy special equipment. The chicks will sleep just fine with the light on and it won't keep them awake or make them agitated enough to peck one another. Chicks have been brooded for many a long time with just a plain light bulb and inside the house is the perfect place to use them. Now, if your brooder was outside and very large, the red heat lamp type of brooder light would be more needful and useful to keeping them warm.

I've brooded chicks outside in an open air coop in March with 30 degree weather with a heat lamp in a very large brooder but I'd never use one inside the house, no matter how chilly it got there. The ambient temps in a house usually don't dip below 50-60* and the brooder holds the heat of the light/lamp in very well. You can drape a towel over part of the brooder to keep the heat in but be careful of getting them too hot and without good ventilation.

I have used the regular 40w bulbs inside the house many times, I even did no bulb once, they were perfectly fine, all grew up to become beautiful birds.

 

[bnjrob]

Thanks for the links.

Like you, I hate heat lamps. I never rely on those flimsy clamps, always suspending them from something solid. When I bred dogs, I built a frame with incandescent lights that the whelping box sat on top of, so the heat radiated up from below. I had two strings of lights--can't remember the wattage--so could regulate the temperature by having one or both sets of lights on. Puppies were kept nice and warm, but there were never any hot spots.

Which heater do you use? I'm leaning towards the Brinsea. Thoughts?

Thanks.

Have both. For setting up in a brooder and not having a way to hang one or mount to the side of something, then the Brinsea is the better option since it has legs to be freestanding.