Heat lamps

[Jamie Hazel]

Hey! Im new to chicks! I was just wondering if a 50 watt infrared bulb would be enough heat for two chicks??
Thanks in advance

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It's hard to say what wattage will give sufficient heat - a lot depends on where you are planning on brooding your chicks.

I believe when I used a heat lamp, I used 250W, but I brooded in the coop - I would raise or lower the lamp to adjust the temp. Chicks only need 1 warm spot and the rest of their area be cool.

Heat lamps are dangerous, so care must be taken. You will also want to make sure the bulb is not teflon coated.

All that said - I've found that I personally prefer using a heating pad to brood my chicks. This is something you may want to look into. It's easy to use, safer (imho), my chicks feather faster and have a natural sleep and eating cycle compared to having light 24/7. No having to "wean" them from having light all the time.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/

Do you have your coop ready? If so, then also consider brooding them outside in their coop, this makes transitions and acclimation to their environment easy as well.

 

[Jessica Thompson]

It should be ok

 

[aart]

Not sure how an infrared works,
use a thermometer on brooder floor to check temps.

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:

They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.

If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.

Or you could go with a heat plate, commercially made or DIY: http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate

 

[Molpet]

I use the heating pad cave mentioned above

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

All you can do is set up your lamp and put a thermometer on the floor of the brooder under the light and see what it reads. As long as it's at least 85-90 directly under the lamp and the lamp is high enough so the chicks can't reach it, than it should be fine. I usually use a 125 watt white light bulb. Others have used smaller ones.

 

[debid]

Infrared heats objects, not air. It's difficult to get a reliable indication of the heat by thermometer (which measures air temp). You'll need to adjust the height of the bulb to concentrate or diffuse the light circle until they are sleeping comfortably underneath it.

I switched to the heating pad cave for my last batch and am glad that I did. Much easier to get enough heat without it being too much, particularly in a small space!

 

[debid]

And as mentioned in another post about this, read the package. If it says "shatter resistant", don't use it! Lots of bathroom bulbs have a PTFE coating on them to protect against water splashes and those coatings release toxins that can be deadly for birds in a confined area.