Chickens need a moderate environment, which means that it is cold in the summer and warm in the frost. Therefore, a lot of work is being done on this.
As for warming chickens, there are many methods to warm the chickens in the winter especially if they are chicks. Chicks need to be warm enough until they develop real feathers that protect their bodies and control their temperature.
There are many methods of heating chicken coops, but heating lamps is the most common method and many people use them. It is the cheapest method and is easily accessible as it is sold in most chicken supply stores.
However, it can result in many dangers, the most famous of which is falling into a brooder and setting fire to the coop and the chickens! What a horrible situation for these weak beings who are exposed to death by burning!
Therefore, it must be used correctly, secured to the maximum degree, and maintained properly in order to benefit from it and avoid its risks. In this article, we’ve gathered for you the most important and safest tips on how to install the heat lamp.
How To Hang A Heat Lamp In A Chicken Coop?
There are 6 main steps that will help you get the lamp easily hanged in your chicken coop:
- Secure The Extension Cord Well
- Hang The Bulb At An Appropriate Distance
- Securing The Lamp
- Using Two Heat Lamp
- Choose The Correct Installer
- Keep Away From Any Flammable Materials
1. Secure The Extension Cord Well
Use a double-wire system for added security so that if one wire fails it does not fall immediately as the other wire will prevent it from falling out. The wire must also be examined well and made sure that it is free of any cuts or abrasions.
Definitely do not use damaged wire, it will be a source of great danger. Better to buy a thicker gauge cable spring, 3/12 gauge wire will do just fine. It is not recommended to purchase 3/16 gauge wire, as although it is cheap, it is more prone to damage.
2. Hang The Bulb At An Appropriate Distance
The 250-watt heat lamp will work well when hung from the ceiling at a convenient distance from the coop. When the lamp is too close to the birds, it heats the air around them to an unbearable degree causing the chickens to move away from the warming area and have to endure the cold in the farther areas.
You also must take into account the range of movement and jumping of birds, and leave enough space for that so that they cannot reach the lamp. The heat lamp should be 18 to 20 inches away from the birds in cooler climates, while it should be hung 24 to 27 inches above the birds in warmer areas.
3. Securing The Lamp
The lamp must be hung tightly. You should not rely on the clip only, but you must use zip ties and a chain to secure the lamp well.
It is also preferable to place a flat screen on top of the nursery as an additional security measure to avoid the lamp falling in the barn and the occurrence of any fire or injuries. Also, make sure the heat lamp has a porcelain socket as it is safe and not prone to melting like plastic handles.
4. Using Two Heat Lamp
It is also preferable to put two lamps in the barn instead of just one so that if one of them burns out at night, the other will warm them up until the morning.
When the bulb burns, the chickens pile on top of each other in solution to reach warmth. Which causes the chickens below to suffocate. If you find that two 250-watt bulbs will overheat the coop, you can use two fewer-watt lamps.
5. Choose The Correct Installer
Proper fixtures must be used as fixtures are not created equal for all lamps. Some people may make a mistake and use lamps that are not suitable for installing chicken bulbs.
There are lamps called painter’s lamps that look like chicken heating lamps, but in fact, they are not. Since there is a difference in installation. Painter lights are designed with a maximum capacity of 100 watts and are constructed with plastic housing.
On the other hand, chicken lamps use ceramic fixtures that can withstand and not melt under the heat of a 250-watt bulb. When a 250-watt light bulb is used in a fixture rated at 100-watt, this will be an incentive for the fixture to melt and fires to occur.
6. Keep Away From Any Flammable Materials
The chicken lamp should be kept as far as possible from anything that could melt or be flammable.
Unfortunately, most of the things in the barn are combustible. The first is chicken bedding, which is highly flammable when dry, with a self-ignition point of only 212 degrees Fahrenheit!
Plywood is also flammable and will burn if heated to 400 degrees Fahrenheit knowing that the temperature of a heat lamp bulb can reach over 480 degrees Fahrenheit! So there must be a minimum distance of 24 inches between the lamp and the bedding and the walls and ceilings.
7. For The Chicks
Warmth is very important for chicks, especially at the beginning of their age. With age, their need for heat decreases at a rate of 5 degrees per week. They continue to do so until they reach about 10 weeks of age, at which time they need the usual heat that large chickens need.
Their need for heat can be broken down simply as follows:
- 90-95 degrees Fahrenheit in the first week.
- 85-90°F in the second week.
- 80-85°F in the third week.
- 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit in the fourth week.
- 770-75°F in the fifth and sixth weeks.
- 65-70 degrees Celsius in the eighth week.
- 65°F at week 9.
- 250-watt bulbs should not be used for chicks, but two 60-watt bulbs will be enough for them.
