Author Topic: Brooding lamps (Read 1890 times)

Stereo · « **on:** April 03, 2017, 12:15:07 pm »

Hatching on a larger scale this year. I usually use 4'x4' pallet boxes as brooders with electric hen type brooders. However as I'm hatching in batches of 50 this year, I think this is not going to work much past 2-3 weeks. So I've got a load of 8' long poultry panels with a view to making larger brooders indoors. So probably need lamps rather than electric hens. Any recommendations? Don't want anything exploding and the cheaper to run the better.

Charlie1234 · « **Reply #1 on:** April 03, 2017, 12:42:51 pm »

Hi Stereo

Our Family Business was poultry+eggs and I remember the old man using paraffin heaters,gas,electric 250w bulbs.

None of these compare in my personal opinion to the Electric hens,they are light weight+ very Low energy around 60w + more natural as they allow chicks to experience day/night as they would with their mums.

http://www.theincubatorshop.co.uk/products/details/chicktec-comfort-std-60-brooder.html

I have seen Comfort 60 electric hens in use and they will take around 50 - 60 chicks,even if you had to buy 2 it would be more cost effective than running a 250w bulb for 5 weeks or buying gas bottles and a lot safer.

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #2 on:** April 03, 2017, 01:10:09 pm »

I prefer to use a dull emitter in a standard infra red lamp holder. It allows a natural sleep pattern but also permits me to easily see how well the chicks are doing without having to lift up an electric brooder.

Stereo · « **Reply #3 on:** April 13, 2017, 09:24:38 am »

Thanks for the replies. I do use the electric hens but I'm moving to larger batches (50 hatched at a time) so even the largest is only good for about 2-3 weeks at best. My current brooders are pallet boxes so about 1m x 1.2m so again, not big enough past 3 weeks, or maybe before. Idea is to move them at that age to larger indoor pens with a lamp. I generally hatch at this time of year so it's getting warmer but can still have cold nights.

The dull emitters look good. Are they considerably safer than the standard red lamps? We used to raise pheasants when I was a kid and lost loads to exploding or failed lamps. Also don't want to burn down my barn if I can avoid it!

chrismahon · « **Reply #4 on:** April 13, 2017, 09:36:53 am »

We use dull emitters after the first week- up to then they are on red light. We've never had a dull emitter fail, but they can overheat the holder to the extent that the connection solder melts. Your holder needs to be designed specifically for dull emitters and we soon discovered ours wasn't. Our first buy was a simple ceramic 'bulb' shape of 250W which sent little heat downwards where it was needed. We then changed to the 'mushroom' type of 80W which sends most heat downwards- they are the ones to buy as they won't need a special holder.