Heat lamp brood coop safety
We had a close call today.
The electricity went off, which prompted Anna to make some adjustments to the do
it yourself table top brood box to keep the heat in. Once the juice
came back on I went out to set the light back up, not knowing the new
upgraded light can not be closer than 18 inches from anything
flammable.
Fast forward about 20 minutes
and I'm smelling smoke. Luckily I got there in time to remove the
smoldering wood chips and adjust the lamp accordingly.
The chicks are fine, and I
learned a valuable lesson about heat lamp safety.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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It does seem strange that nothing better has been invented. I'm using a lightbulb at the moment too. Incandescent bulbs are no longer available for sale here in Australia, so we don't have long to find something better!
I have a heat mat for my fermenter - I'm thinking it might work well. It's sealed and looks to be damp-proof. Perhaps it could be used underneath some sheets of newspaper, with some kind of mini-tent over the top, to provide a warm cozy little spot for the chicks to sleep. I'll have to experiment!
They don't sell incandescent lights at all? Wow! Quite a step up from where we're at.
Mark was thinking along the heating mat lines too. He was thinking of folding it into a sort of dome shape, maybe putting aluminum foil or something on the top to reflect heat back in. I could see how we might need a heating mat on top and one on the bottom to get them warm enough. If you try it out and find a solution, please do let us know!