Will these make good Brooder Lights

I got these at the chicken sale and when i saw them i thought WOW Brooder lights and so i bought them.

Now my question for all here is do you think it's a good idea?
I was going to get the lighting fixtures at lowes and get one of those chains used for hanging lamps and hang them. They already have a whole in the center of the top and vent holes there to (should have got a pic of the top) But I'm going to put a standard light fixture light the brooder lamp kind and fashion it to a ring on the top then use a lamp chain to suspend it. Or i had thought of maybe a low watt bulb and it itself being a brooder with a bottom.

Give me your imput on this??.............Can you guess what they are??

No can't guess! TELL ME! TELL ME! What material are they. Two of them Look like glass or is that reflection.
When I know what material they are I could be more helpfull. I have only used the ceramic and metal ones but I could have an opinion.

tops of a terrirum (sp?)

Fereal They are heavy plastic and crystal clear the top has a small hole with square holes arond that small hole >>>>>>>>>I'll Take a pic.

Yes indeed Luvs that is a Terrarium got it for $1 and after i bought it had alot of folks ask me what i was going to do with it. "I Said make 3 brooder lights and they said man your right wish i had of thought of that. ( I have a mind full of junk and i know how to use it:>

Eating now will have pic of top here shortly.

I was just googling them the other day, I want to build me a couple. :)

Great find Harmony!!!

I am in search of something like that for my near future.. LOL

I have a question about the lights.. I really don't think I want or need a 250 watt heat bulb.. Does everyone just use regular bulbs? Doesn't that mess up their days and nights?

Sorry to hijack...

Well I think it is for the egg laying, gotta mock sunlight in the winter to get them to lay good. I could be wrong. I know I will need heat for my birds come January.

Heres the top fereal.

ZZ If your speaking of chicks i use 100 watt bulbs and one of the 90 quart storage containers i have one of the clap lights and i clamp it to a tomato stack taped to one end of the container. this allows me to lower or raise it to get the correct temp and it being on one end the chicks can move to or away from the light.

if they're plastic won't the heat from the bulbs melt them? I used 85 watt red spotlights and the metal shade got really hot to the touch.

zz you need red bulbs. Gives them heat without messing up their day/night cycle. An 85 watt spotlight from Walmart should be fine. Cost under $4.00

MollyD

Here's a picture ZZ you can see the stake taped to the container and that is the clamp on light with 100 watt bulb and i use paper towels because i don't like shaveing mine always ate them on they stuck to their feet. The towels just fold up for cleaning not like the shaveing you have to dump them.

Now if you are refering to older birds my chicks are removed from their light when they are fully feathered and about 8 weeks old or longer depends on the weather and are never under a light from that point on i don't use lights on my adult birds.

I might add they are only in the container 2 weeks and then are moved to one of those wire bottom rabbit cages its i believe 36"x 36" and it's in my shed on a stand i built it i temporarly put down a piece of plywood for their little feet until their feet don't go threw the wire it has wind break cloth on 3 sides with a stake zip tied to one side like the other one and a 100 watt bulb. You can cover it as much as you want i use wind break cloth and cover it or uncover it according to the weather.

I don't use the red bulbs they are just too HOT!

I only use 100 watt mostly and 125 infared when i think they need the extra heat.

This message was edited Sep 25, 2008 12:48 PM

Ahh very interesting. I see, yes I think they would provide some heat. Make sure your bulb is low in the unit. As the sides are vented they should keep the plastic from getting to hot. Run the lights in a place outdoors where you can keep an eye on them for about 4 hours. Just to check for glich's.
If the plastic felt HOT to the touch (not warm) I personaly wouldn't use them (My opinion).

Also Sweets is after me to clear things up. Sweets was the one that first came on DG. Im Seth, Sweets (sorry pet name) is the no garlic girl anyway she's still a little ruffled. I don,t know what Im clearing up what I do get is that I must make it clear Im Seth not Fereal. Do I need to change the screen name? I like Mean@Green Watda ya think.

I was going to suspend the light a little down inside so it wouldn't be in contact with the plastic and use a 100 watt bulb.

Sorry I'm new here and i go by screen names Hello Seth i will try to remember that.
You might need to change it so us newbie's won't be callin you fereal.

Well Harmony, there you go. Good Thinking.

I saw one of these and it was made out of a huge plastic street light cover.

Seth what would be apropriate as a heat shield to protect the plastic.

Feel free to bounce off any ideas about this!



This message was edited Sep 25, 2008 10:25 AM

No, No, dont worry about it. Just trying to keep talkin and keep sweets happy. Anyway Im a newbie Too so was fereal till she got all sensitive over sumthing.???
She insisted I change my name couse she had quit chatting but I enjoy talking to everyone and if I changed my name knowone would ...Blah bla blah blah

Now I'm talkin too you and i know the others will so be who you want to be.
I feel like i've been excepted into a big family here we all have the same thing in common and thats what binds us to each other chickens or goats or horses how about a cow or two we even got a few cats and dogs here thought i seen a lizard here once and if i left anyting out i'm sure they will remind me. Hey Everybody lets welcome Seth!

I believe if you hang the bulbs low enough, with those large vents on the side you shouldn't have a problem. Think about a lamp shade, what are they made of, fabric or somthing with a plastic linnig. Just be sure you test it and use all new parts. I suppose you could try putting it near a heat source. See if the platic warps in high heat then you would know if a little old light bulb would be OK.

Where did enerybody go???????????

do woman stuff, talking on the phone, doing dishes and that kind of thing. Now gotta go check the black eyed peas see if they are ready to pick.................mmmmmmmmmm a fresh mess of them with a juicy pot roast for dinner tonight.

I am currently using the metal lid to my roaster oven.. I put it 1/2 way on top of the lamp and the brooder.. it reflects warmth real good.. AND doesn't light up the whole room so people don't think I'm up all night.. LOL (as if it's okay to knock on the door)

I really don't like the idea of a regular bulb for the new babiez.. I want to switch to a red warm one, but NOT 250 watts!

ZZ if you don't like the 100 watt then there is a 125 infared at lowes it's not red though and i use it when i think they need a little more heat.

To each his own thats what makes the world go round ;0)

I actually use a little string of christmas lights for the winter light in the hen house. I only use regular lights on really cold nights. Just the christmas lights on a timer give them enough light to keep laying. Someone once did a study and found that even the light from one candle was enough to make them think it was still light out and lay.

Make sure the plastic doesn't give off any odor when it's warm. SOmetimes heat and plastic can give off harmful fumes. I have a couple of big lights and reflectors from a restaurant for heat and brooder lamps. They were remodling and just tossing them out. They are a couple of feet across and I lined the inside with tinfoil to reflect more heat from the 100 watt bulb.

I like the red bulbs. they seem to cut down on the babys picking each other.
Like you said to each his own.

Good Thank you then i have a chance i was thinking maybe not with the heat issue but MY DREAM STILL LIVES!

So you use 100 watt bulbs?

My chicks don't start picking until they are no longer under the light so thats no an issue with me.

I stop the picking with pine tar a little smear of that and the pickie never gets picked again by the picker.

Did someone say lizard? ; P

Uh--don't mention lizards around Patchouli--she has issues.......

Sorry about the reference to the slimmy scaly thing that can run fast depends on what kind of slimmy scaly thing you talkin about i mean the L word

I have 100 babies right now and am currently running both a 250 and a 75 watt red bulb.. the chicks are using both, they are 2 weeks old now and have moved out from under the 250 but do not stray to far from it at night. They do still sleep pretty near to the 75 watt.
When the time comes to replace, I will probably replace with a second 75 watt.

I use the red because they do stay settled all the time. When you add a white light you can see a definite personality difference in the chicks, yes I have played around with this phenomenon.. I found it quite interesting. The chicks are very unsettled and disturbed, moving about in an agitated manor, and yes including the shine of the light in the eyeballs attracting the chicks to each others eyes, and less patience, if you want to call it that, more pecking and chest bumping.. . I think it is much more worth the little extra for the 75 watt red bulbs. We even have one in the chicken coop for light in the middle of the night if I have to go out for a bed check or something.. I can turn it on and off and not disturb anyone.. with a white light they would go nuts!

IMHO ;-)

Edited to add, I learned about red lights before I ever thought of having chickens. The amish processing plant goes to the farms at night to pick up the chickens to be processed, the start work at midnight, wearing headlamps with red bulbs so as not to disturb the chickens, they are loaded and basically processed and never know what hit them.. all done quiet and peacfully because of a red light.

This message was edited Sep 25, 2008 5:51 PM

Very interesting

Been useing white 100 watt bulbs and the white infared 125 watt for 4 years never had a problem ;)



Edited to add 125 bulb.

This message was edited Sep 25, 2008 5:48 PM

jylgaskin Like the idea of the christmas lights. I may try the tin foil and i will make sure to check for the odor hadn't thought of that one.

ZZ if your looking for smaller watt red lamps you could check the pet store in the reptile section.
They have all watts and sizes in that section. That roaster lid was a good idea i will have to remember that one.

Thank You for your help Seth and glad to meet you hope to see you on some other threads.

Thanks for the story and the quote fran.

Great info! I agree.. It bothered ME to have the regular light.. I feel for my chickens.. LOL

ZZ you are so funny Your chicks will be fine no matter what color light you use they just want two things to be warm and have a full crop. It's just amazeing how much they can pack in there my DH says look at how far it's stickin out LOL

LOL I know..... I told you I care too much! LOL

I think some of my babiez have stretch marks.. I'm feeding them tooo many goodiez..
I started a riot with a fresh eggplant!!

We were on the subject of colored lights i had forgot that i know somebody that uses blue lights he said it helped them to rest better at night. I guess when it got dark it made the brooder darker and they go to sleep.
Mine stay up some sleep some and eat alot it's cute when they are asleep under the light it looks like little sleeping fuzz balls.

UH OH now you got me wantin chicks.