You may be shocked / Test results on 250 watt red infrared bulbs from TSC -Producers Pride brand

[donrae]

I was not understanding how your brooder was constructed. Of course it's not going to get warm, it's made entirely of wire. There's nothing to hold the heat in, it's going to dissipate into the room. You're heating the entire space the birds are in, not just the brooder. Try getting a floor and some walls and see what happens. I brood in a large galvanized metal livestock trough and one big red bulb at the height of the edge of the tank is plenty of heat. You need to contain the heat you have, and lessen the amount you're putting out.

 

[bevis]

The brooder is 2 wide x 2 feet high x 4 feet long. I was not trying to heat the entire coop. The brooder is constructed from 2x3 pine. the top / sides / and ends are covered in 1/2" hardware cloth. The brooder sits on the coop floor with 4 inches of pine shavings on the floor. The sides and ends of the brooder are covered with heavy moving blankets screwed to the pine frame over top of the hardware cloth. So the only open area was the top, not unlike any container you would keep chicks in. Like a metal watering container for farm animals or a tote ( sides,ends and bottom covered and top open ) . With an ambient temp of 55, the 2 - 250 watt bulbs will not bring the temp inside that 2x2x4 space to an acceptable temp range for chicks. Like i said, ANY glass incandescent bulb could cause a fire and burn down your coop and kill all the livestock. So with the bulbs not able to heat the 2x2x4 space and the risk of fire, its a no brainer to just not do it.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I use the same brand bulbs (1 of them) in my brooder. I have no idea what the actual temperature is in there, as I've never checked it with a thermometer, but the chicks are moving back and forth between the heat and cool spots and they're chirping softly, so I assume they're happy. My brooder is about the same size as yours, maybe a little bigger, and its outside. I think the major difference is that mine has a tin roof. The ends are also solid wood, except for a thin strip of hardware clothe at the top for ventilation. They have a hardware clothe "window" on half of the front. The other half is a wooden door.
I've been using this set up for years, and my temps here have been in the 30s and 40s mostly (though we are supposed to get up to 51 today ).
In my opinion, if you're chicks aren't piling and showing signs of distress, then temps a little on the cool side are fine.
But, at least you've temporarily fixed the issue and put your mind at ease.

Good luck

 

[Liberator]

I am one that "sets it and forgets it"! I use galvanized watering troughs as brooders, 250 watt infrared heat lamps and ceramic fixtures. The chicks self regulate. Depending on the temperature they can be found huddled underneath the lamp, huddled around the outside edge of the heating area in a crescent shape or sleeping away from the lamp. As long as my pine shavings don't catch fire I know the chicks will take care of themselves as far as temperature.

However, I don't like the Producers Pride bulbs that I bought from Tractor Supply. The light is a yellow / orange rather than red. They are supposed to be red. After work I am picking up some good quality red bulbs from the local feed store.

 

[CliffB]

I am one that "sets it and forgets it"! I use galvanized watering troughs as brooders, 250 watt infrared heat lamps and ceramic fixtures. The chicks self regulate. Depending on the temperature they can be found huddled underneath the lamp, huddled around the outside edge of the heating area in a crescent shape or sleeping away from the lamp. As long as my pine shavings don't catch fire I know the chicks will take care of themselves as far as temperature.

However, I don't like the Producers Pride bulbs that I bought from Tractor Supply. The light is a yellow / orange rather than red. They are supposed to be red. After work I am picking up some good quality red bulbs from the local feed store.

My Producer's Pride bulb makes the entire coop glow red...

 

[bevis]

Our chicks are sleeping , all sprawled out, not huddled together and at the perfect temp with no light in their eyes to mess up their normal sleep pattern

Screw the light bulbs forever.....
Sweeter Heater

 

[nab58]

I just bought a brinsea eco glow to replace my heat lamp. The combination of my neighbors coop burning down due to a heat lamp, the thought I was leaving a lamp unattended in my house and the difference in the electricity used convinced me the $80 spent was worthwhile.
I haven't used it yet....chicks due next week. I love how they fall asleep when they're little! One second they're awake and then they just drop like a rock. The first time I saw it I thought they were dying! The funniest is when they all do it at the same time!

 

[johanssonmel]

I have the Brinsea EcoGlow and it's awesome. The chicks are 3 weeks old, and I just adjusted it up to the medium height level. They come and go out from under it at will, and seem quite happy. Plus, it doesn't get hot, so no worries about fire.

 

[HighlandRogue]

Ok, i wondered why my 1 week old chicks in the hen house brooder were not as comfortable as
i thought they should be so i did some investigation on the temp in their environment. They showed no signs of distress
but didn't seem to chipper.

The brooder is 2 feet high X 4 feet long X 2 feet wide
1/2 inch hardware cloth on all sides and top.
Open bottom to coop floor and pine shavings.

Hanging over the center of the top was 2 - ceramic socket fixtures with 250 watt TSC red infrared bulbs in them.

I was using a digital wireless thermometer to monitor temps and all was not looking good.

It was suggested that 2- 250 watt fixtures was too much and i might cook the chicks but the test results will disprove that in a BIG way.

Ambient temp outside the coop was 55 degrees and the temp inside the brooder, under the lights was 78.7 degrees with 2 - 250 watt bulbs going.

The distance from the floor of the coop to the fixture guards was 26 inches.

I used a non contact laser thermometer to find out what was going on. The chicks did not exhibit distress in any way but i felt that something was wrong.

By using the non contact laser temp gun, that rules out the wireless sending unit as being misleading.

Here are the shocking temp results that explain why they are absolutely not a good choice, FIRE HAZARD not withstanding.

Temp at the ceramic socket - 160 degrees
Temp on the face of the bulb - 340 degrees
Temp on the reflector from the inside where the bulb resides - 111 degrees
Temp 8 inches from the face of the bulb - 126 degrees
Temp 26 inches to the coop floor where chicks are residing - 85 degrees. Not enough for 1 week old chicks.
Chick external body temp ranging from 81 to 83 NOT GOOD

THATS A 41 DEGREE DROP IN 2 FEET !!!!!!!!!

Now this is 500 WATTS OF LIGHTING ONLY A LITTLE MORE THAN 2 FEET FROM THE CHICKS.
You would think " Chicken Roast for dinner " NO WAY

The loss across distance of these type of bulb and reflector setups are truly amazing and sad at the same time.

Im sure most people think that a single 250 watt setup will do but from these temp results, its not the case.

Take it for what its worth.

I ordered a 11x16 Sweeter Heater and my chicks are now in the house until it gets here tomorrow and i set it up and test it.

I will post the Sweeter Heater test results if anyone wants to know.


As a side note , i now have them in a 2x3 tote in the house with 1- 250 bulb and reflector with the bulb guard within 16 inches of the pine shavings on the tote floor.

Pine shaving temp is 100 and the chicks are self regulating from one end of the tote to the other.
Their exterior body temp is 90 degrees

So once again proving the loss versus distance on these bulbs , the face of the bulb is 340 degrees
and , lets say approximately 20 inches to the pine shavings, its 100 degrees .

These things SUCK and they are responsible for many burnt down coops, broken hearts and cooked birds.
If you are like me, they are like our other pets. Its just not worth loosing the entire flock over the $100 cost of a Sweeter Heater.

.

I'm using a tote, as you may have seen on a few websites, that has the lid modified with poultry screen on a frame. They are on a porch and have 1 of the TSC 250w lamps at one end so they run back and forth and self regulate. This is of course no different than what they would do under mama's wing (dart out to cool off and pop back in) First time chicken owner here and glad I found this post. I have 8 pullets and 1 rooster of the Brown Leghorn variety and I'm excited about learning all I can.

 

[Iluveggers]

Ok, i wondered why my 1 week old chicks in the hen house brooder were not as comfortable as
i thought they should be so i did some investigation on the temp in their environment. They showed no signs of distress
but didn't seem to chipper.

The brooder is 2 feet high X 4 feet long X 2 feet wide
1/2 inch hardware cloth on all sides and top.
Open bottom to coop floor and pine shavings.

Hanging over the center of the top was 2 - ceramic socket fixtures with 250 watt TSC red infrared bulbs in them.

I was using a digital wireless thermometer to monitor temps and all was not looking good.

It was suggested that 2- 250 watt fixtures was too much and i might cook the chicks but the test results will disprove that in a BIG way.

Ambient temp outside the coop was 55 degrees and the temp inside the brooder, under the lights was 78.7 degrees with 2 - 250 watt bulbs going.

The distance from the floor of the coop to the fixture guards was 26 inches.

I used a non contact laser thermometer to find out what was going on. The chicks did not exhibit distress in any way but i felt that something was wrong.

By using the non contact laser temp gun, that rules out the wireless sending unit as being misleading.

Here are the shocking temp results that explain why they are absolutely not a good choice, FIRE HAZARD not withstanding.

Temp at the ceramic socket - 160 degrees
Temp on the face of the bulb - 340 degrees
Temp on the reflector from the inside where the bulb resides - 111 degrees
Temp 8 inches from the face of the bulb - 126 degrees
Temp 26 inches to the coop floor where chicks are residing - 85 degrees. Not enough for 1 week old chicks.
Chick external body temp ranging from 81 to 83 NOT GOOD

THATS A 41 DEGREE DROP IN 2 FEET !!!!!!!!!

Now this is 500 WATTS OF LIGHTING ONLY A LITTLE MORE THAN 2 FEET FROM THE CHICKS.
You would think " Chicken Roast for dinner " NO WAY

The loss across distance of these type of bulb and reflector setups are truly amazing and sad at the same time.

Im sure most people think that a single 250 watt setup will do but from these temp results, its not the case.

Take it for what its worth.

I ordered a 11x16 Sweeter Heater and my chicks are now in the house until it gets here tomorrow and i set it up and test it.

I will post the Sweeter Heater test results if anyone wants to know.


As a side note , i now have them in a 2x3 tote in the house with 1- 250 bulb and reflector with the bulb guard within 16 inches of the pine shavings on the tote floor.

Pine shaving temp is 100 and the chicks are self regulating from one end of the tote to the other.
Their exterior body temp is 90 degrees

So once again proving the loss versus distance on these bulbs , the face of the bulb is 340 degrees
and , lets say approximately 20 inches to the pine shavings, its 100 degrees .

These things SUCK and they are responsible for many burnt down coops, broken hearts and cooked birds.
If you are like me, they are like our other pets. Its just not worth loosing the entire flock over the $100 cost of a Sweeter Heater.

.

I got a Rent A Coop Heat Plate & I LOOOOOVE it! Temps in my mud room have dipped into low 60s & my girls are feathering, happy & healthy! Also love the pyramid top to keep them off so I’m not constantly cleaning poop off of it!

Edited: I wanted the brinsea eco glow 1200 but couldn’t find one in stock for delivery before my chicks. But again, super happy with the rent a coop!