what watt

[young budgie]

now im not counting my chickens before they hatch,but im in the process of constructing a brooder, i have all the equipment and i also bought a lamp with red light, now i dont know if there is a difference between the wattage here in ireland and anywhere else,but the dude behind the counter gave me a 175w red lamp,will this be too hot for me if i have any chicks under it in the brooder

 

[Judy]

Ours are usually 250 watts. I wish the 175 watt were available locally.

You really won't know what you need unless yo put a thermometer in there with them, or go by their behavior. You might want to turn it on and see what temp you get before the chick arrive.

Good luck!

 

[patandchickens]

It totally depends how far above the floor the lamp is and what the room's air temperature is. It is good to have several bulbs available at different wattages so you have the flexibility to do whatcha need to do.

As far as how far above the floor the lamp is hung -- you want to keep a high-wattage heat lamp at least 18" above the bedding; lower wattage things like 100w floodlamp bulbs can go a bit closer if necessary. Also the more chicks you have, either you need the lamp higher so the circle of warmth is larger or you need multiple lamps -- basically you have to make sure there is sufficient warm area for all the chicks.

FWIW, in a 52-55 F basement I start with a 250w bulb about 18" above the floor for up to 20+ chicks, and fairly soon can reduce it to a 175 hung a little lower. (After 1.5-2 wks I put them into the chicken bldg under a lamp-heated plywood hover, so bulb wattages become less comparable at that point)

It is a good idea to get it ballpark correct before the chicks will be going in -- either put a thermometer on the bedding under the lamp, or at least aim for having some area (but not the whole brooder!!) warm enough that if you put your hand there at 'chick level' it gets uncomfortably warm after 30-60 seconds. Then once the chicks go in, you can observe their behavior and adjust accordingly.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Stephen in SoKY]

DDAWN, check TSC or Farm & Fleet, whatever farm store you have. Our TSC carries 125's routinely. I generally only use the 250's in really cold weather. 125's cut the electic usage & that's always a good thing!