How do you guys hang your heat lamps?

[Morgan7782]

The lamp comes out from the wall about 2 feet, and since I have had it on nonstop from the beginning, I feel the wall pretty constantly. It seems to me the heat light will only usually catch something on fire if it is touching the object. My wall isn't warm at all, haven't had any issues

the picture must be contorted but I assure you it is a good distance from the wall.

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

I have a plastic storage bin brooder on my kitchen table. I run a leather belt through the clamp handle-ends then i buckle the belt (so it is a big loop) then slide the loop over the one of the paddles of the ceiling fan (which is over the kitchen table). It definitely won't fall! And as the chicks get older and need less heat I simply tighten the belt to make the loop smaller.

 

[abanjaf]

Wow! The hanging lamp stuff looks like a pain. I don't bother hanging mine at all. Lay the heat lamp (reptile lamp style) directly on the wire mesh that covers the brooder. The lamp has a round dimmer knob on it that I gradually turn down each week. No muss, no fuss

 

[cluckcluck42]

We screw a J hook ( i think thats what its called) into wood and then use these circle clamp things so we can remove the links and it will be further away for when the babies get bigger. I have no real idea what these things are called and the S.O. isn't here to clarify lol. When we have the newborns in the porch, we have this upside down L shaped wood thing screwed to the wall and then the J hook is screwed onto that. In the brooder in the coop its also set up the same way, screwed into the wood at the top. I should take a pic, I think it's a good set up.

 

[Tala]

I do similar to the pictures, in that I use the wire clip thing instead of the clamp. Never EVER could get the clamp to hold firmly enough to even think about trusting it for a nan-second. I take the clamp completely off of the lamps.

I don't do all that wiring though. I hang a chain from wherever, and use a double-ended bolt/snap hook to hook the lamp onto the chain. The hook can be put on any link to raise or lower it. Never had any issues with this setup.

When I brood in the house with young chicks, I just set the lamp on the wire brooder cover. I put it at one end, and they just move further away if they are overwarmed.

 

[ADozenGirlz]

The temperature in the brooder is what controlls how high you hang the heat lamp. For the first week, it should be 90-95 degrees (either to one side of a rectangle shaped brooder or in the center of a large, circular shaped one so the chicks can get away to a cooler spot if necessary). The temps are decreased 5 degrees each week by adjusting the height of the lamp upwards.
The most important thing to think about is safety. You can burn down your home if you're not very careful with these things. It happens all the time.

Here's a thread about Heat Lamp set ups and safety with photos:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=327298

 

[MissJenny]

I have a "lamp post" stuck right into my coop with a 250 watt lamp clipped to it -- secured in two ways with twine. Mine is about 40" from the brooder floor and directly over a thermometer so I can easily track the temperature. It looks like this:

To give you a reference, this brooder is 4' long and 2'high.

Jenny

 

[sgtmom52]

I have 15 three weeks olds in a plastic lined 3' x 7' cardboard treadmill box. I built a hinged screened top from furring strips and 1/4" hardware cloth. I added a small 2x4 to the edge to clamp the heat lamp to. I added 1/4" hardware cloth around the front of the heat lamp as added protection against the bulb contacting combustible items. The babies can lay right under the light or move further away if they are too warm.

 

[Qi Chicken]

I put an s hook in the ceiling directly above where I wanted it to hang. I then bought about 8 feet of a small ring metal chain and a small hook. I can raise the light by hooking up more of the short end of the chain up. Sadly, it actually took me quite awhile to figure this out. I am NOT an engineer. I had a 250 watt red light. Started off at about 24 inches and have been moving it up gradually.

 

[River Rats]

I hang mine by a chain, Then every week I move it up a few links. Doing this will drop the temp until they don't need it anymore.