Heat Lamps in brooders/pens, best place and way to mount?

[Thunder Bay Chicken]

I am going to purchase my lights real soon (next week), so I am asking based on my brooders...

what you experienced chicken people think is the best way to mount a heat lamp?, and what would be the best location?

Also looking for advice interms of makes and models. What type of thing should I be looking for in a heat source product?

For the grow out pen I was thinking of just mounting it from the roof and control temp by moving lamp up and down on a chain and or changing the watts of the bulb. however with regards to the brooder should I just rest the lamp on the hardwire cloth?

Do you think I should mount to the wood itself from the top or side?

Looking for advice and opinions... And yes I do understand I should use two methods to secure them. For the safety of my home and the birds.





EDIT:THX IN ADVANCE TO ANY AND ALL WHO REPLY!

 

[True Grit]

Premier 1 Poultry Supplies heat lamp. You suspend it . Much safer than the cheaper aluminum kind.

 

[CARS]

I have my lamps mounted to the side, but I have a metal brooder. If you mount your lamps, which I think you should (I don't trust the clamps that come with lamps), be sure to keep it a couple inches away from the wood.


Quote:
Please elaborate on this

 

[PepsNick]

I hang mine on one side of the coop. That way the chicks have room on that side to get warm and the whole environment is warm, but they also have a lot of room to cool off. This is what I have...

http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Cable-05961-Brooder-Clamp/dp/B000690K3W

and it works great. Having those wires over the bulb is very important for protection. As CARS said, you won't want to burn the wood. My brooder is a large dog crate with wood attached to the sides. My old one was a big cardboard box.

 

[True Grit]

Quote:
Please elaborate on this

Here is the link explaining the safety features. I attended a class on backyard chicken keeping prior to getting my chicks and the farm mamager recommended this. I have one in my coop and used prior to that for the brooder. The bulb is well protected and the plastic casing does not get hot.
http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=18266&cat_id=144

 

[al6517]

I don't hang the light by the cord nor do I use just the clamp that comes with them. I always rig up a seperate rope to hang them with and if I want to direct the lighting I screw the clamp system in for added security. I also wrap very fine heavy duty wire screen mesh to the lighting dome wire bracket and secure them with small zip ties. This way the lights are always secure can never fall or get knocked around, and if the bulb should ever break for any unforseen reason all of the small glass shards stay in the wire mesh so the birds can't get to them. It just takes a few minutes to rig these up but the piece of mind is great.

Another tip for those of you who use the long florecent bulbs to light your pen's. I slide on a long clear protector over the bulb before I change it, if the bulb breaks for any reason the glass stay's in the plastic tube, cooool huh.

AL

 

[Judy]

Be sure the socket for the light bulb is ceramic and not plastic. I don't see anything wrong with those standard dome shaped metal lamps with ceramic sockets, though you have to work on them to mount them securely, as has been discussed.

I would mount it at one end so they can get away from the heat better if they choose, having found that my chicks always wanted to be cooler than the charts suggest.

An adjustable chain would be very convenient for adjusting the temp, and you will need to. I wound up using an adjustable floor lamp -- not a good solution.

 

[Thunder Bay Chicken]

I thought of another question regarding the lamp...

If I mount a 250 infared bulb at one end of the brooder ( which is 2'wide x 2'high x 8'long ) would it provide enough heat for the whole box? or would I need one for each end?



EDIT:I don't think I want five or six dozen chicks to pile up to one end, to either get away from heat or to try to get warm.

Here is a picture of brooder with both lids open, there is a board (2x4) that runs across the center to support lids, I could mount light to this?

What you think? I could mount two and face them in opposite directions?

At this point I'm thinking of mounting when I get them and taking different temp readings to use as reference.

I won't know for sure until I get birds, just trying to be ready for them! I don't want to try and figure all this out when I got birds and they are depending on me for their lives.

THX again to all who have replied!

 

[SassyKat6181]

I hung a 250W red lamp above my brooder and for 95 degrees, it was about 3 feet from the floor. I'm not sure you'd be able to put your lamp inside unless you used a much lower wattage. I've seen some brooders where they mount to the side.