Urgent: Brooder Problems!

[only4cake]

I'm having trouble with my brooder, it's a small brooder, not big at all, i tried using a red colored flood light (85 watts), but it ran to hot, so I changed it to a 40 watt plain white bulb, it ran to cold, also i heard that white colored bulbs are bad for the ducklings,

i thought about using a blue bulb (like the kind for reptiles) i don't know what wattage would work for that, and whether it would work...

HELP!

 

[Wifezilla]

I used a white 60w bulb. I did have a feather duster in the brooder so they could go under it if they wanted to get out of the light.

 

[xfilesnumber1fan]

I always use red bulbs..I was told they were better for the ducklings..I know someone who was using clear and the ducks were fighting alot and they were told to switch to red and it calmed them down..Dont know if that was the reason or if it was true but it seemed to work...My babies always seem hot in my brooder no matter what the watt was they seemed to light the light but always slept away from it...

 

[Dances with Ducks]

How is the light attached? Can you back it up by clamping it on a chair or something that is further away so it doesn't get too hot?

 

[CityChicker]

I always use red too. I used to almost always use the 250 watt., but have largely gone to using 150 watts like are made for reptiles. The drawback is that they are more expensive, but the 250's just seem to get too hot.

Do you have a place like Petsmart near you? They have a ton of different bulbs that I would think have got to be better options than a floodlight. If not, the suggestion of raising the light up is about the only thing I can think of working (other than a different bulb obviously). Usually, 85 watts is not *that* much heat.

 

[GrannySue]

I used a plain 60 watt bulb in an architect's clamp-on lamp. That way I was able to watch their behaviour and adjust the distance as needed.It was my first time brooding but I guess it worked. All 3 ducklings are fine and have graduated to no heat at all.