Keep chickens warm - put a light bulb in a bucket!
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- Опубликовано: 22 июн 2022
- Put a light bulb in a bucket to keep your chicks warm!
In my recent video I showed how I moved my chicks outside to the main chicken run when they were only 4 weeks old, and I mentioned briefly that I provided a heat source for them using a light bulb in a bucket. Pete asked for further details, so here are all the details about how to use an incandescent light bulb as a heat source for keeping chickens warm, showing how to make it.
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It’s 2am here in Louisiana US and I just couldn’t sleep. Clicked on my RUclips subscriptions and How Lucky Am I, I Found this video right away. Just made my night😁 There’s just nothing cuter than your videos and baby chicks. Thank You 😊
Thank you. I thought it was an odd time to publish but I was slow finishing this one so I just finished it.
Sleep well, with sweet dreams of chickens 🐥🐥🐥
This is a great idea. I know that there are heat mats for chicks that are encased in a hard plastic so that it's easy to clean, but they can't peck holes in it or rip the covering.
Excellent as always.
Great detail. I love your extra information.
Thank you. I sometimes wonder if other people find it fascinating, but I do so I put it in 🙂
And of course you know - this was all because YOU asked for it !
Sorry it took so long 🙂
In the southern united states'it's so hot right now that you can fry a egg on the walkway. Not the best time for hens to be broody, but I have one that I haven't been able to break. I do have a really good fan on them 24/7 in the coop, and outside they have shade in their very large run. I have monkey rigged quite a few ways to warm chicks and baby quail. I've also got them to hot but that was when I was very young and didn't have the experience needed.
You have a great imagination and very inventive.
Thank you. Best of luck with your broody. Of course it's winter here - we have just passed the mid-winter solstice which we celebrate as Matariki - the rising of the star cluster you probably know as the Seven Sisters - but it's not really cold - no temperatures below freezing.
Plastic is the best heat transfer material, or so I learned in my food handling class when I needed a license to run a soup kitchen. The best way to cool down food in your kitchen and cool it as fast as possible is to place it in something made out of plastic. Also the benefit of using a plastic bucket, although you have to take measures to keep it from melting, is that it won't be so hot to the touch like a metal bucket. The chicks could get burned.
That's interesting. I had never heard that about plastic being a good heat conductor. It certainly would be less likely to burn you than touching a metal bucket
Always nice to see one of your videos. Good ideas
Thank you 🙂
Here in Canada you can buy special brooder light fixtures with a special guard, all metal construction, and special heat bulbs. They are designed for safety when installed properly.
Safety is very important.
@@chickensinmygarden Love your channel!
Thank you 🙂
I used a propergation heat mat that has a variable control under a piece of cardboard with the shavings over that. Cheap to run and easy to clean if by any chance they "did" get dirty and safe around water. I have never lost a chick yet and I have hatched well over 100 using this method.
Great idea! I used a light bulb because they are cheap and available here, but in some places they are unobtainable or even prohibited. A heat mat is a great option 🙂
Wouldn't a heat mat burn the chicks feet since they can never get away from the heat. The chickens need to be able to get away from the source of heat if the get too hot. A red heat lamp should be put in one end of the brood box so they can go to the other end of the box to get away from the heat when they get overheated.
@@andreahughes6288apparently not since he said he's raised over 100 chicks using that mat.
Enjoying you since. On free range
Hi, thanks for that nice Video 👍 but the problem in Germany and all the EU is that this bulbs are not allowed and not sold any more since some years...because of the high energy they waste for producing (only) light. The only possibility is to buy a special warming bulb for reptils, but they are very extensive. So it's better to buy an 'electric hen' ,what I did.... But the idea is great.
Have a good time. And regards from Germany
Peter 🐓
Yes, even here incandescent light bulbs are becoming hard to find 🥺
Just found the channel, fantastic content and really well presented. We are about to start keeping chickens so will be working through the back catalog. Thanks a lot for filming, Andy - oh, and greetings from Scotland.
Greetings Andy, or as we say here Kia ora!
Thank you for watching and for your kind words.
Good luck with those chickens, I'm sure you'll find them lots of fun 🙂
You exceptional indeed
Thank you 🙂
I would think that a plastic bucket could melt or catch on fire if it gets too hot? I'd think a metal bucket would be more suitable and a metal bucket would absorb heat from the light bulb and therefore give off more heat as the metal of the bucket heated up from the light bulb. Also a metal bucket would also reduce the bright light that can be seen through the blue bucket. Id think a metal bucket would be much safer all the way around if your worried about chicken coop fires and warmth for your chickens and keeping the light from disturbing your chickens sleep habits and laying habits.
You're quite right a metal bucket would be better for both of those reasons. I haven't seen one for decades but your comment made me look and I found one, although much more expensive than the plastic ones.
Of course the amount of heat coming off the light bulbs should be way lower than would melt plastic or it would be way too hot and burn the chicks when they got close to a metal bucket.
love the way you say bucket 😁 thanks for the videos! i see them here from denmark because i´m in the start of hatching my first ever chicks who is the polish ones and your videos are nice informative! i want to have my chicks inside in a very large rabbitcage.. do i NEED closed sides all around them in the cage? like those plasticboxes i see people use? or can i just turn the heat a little more up in the room they are in with the lightbulb in the cage?? 🤔🐣🐤🐥
I Hope You See And Can Answer My Question 🙏😇
Sincerely Pernille
Hi Pernille. Greetings to you in Denmark from New Zealand.
How exciting to have your very first batch of chicks!
To answer your question -
When they are first hatched, baby chicks can't control their body temperature. They need the temperature close to 38 degrees C for the first day, decreasing over time, and without drafts. Have a look at this video I made about how I converted a cardboard box into a brooder box. I'm still using this box for newly hatched chicks 6 years later!
ruclips.net/video/e5yKnAM__44/видео.html
As the chicks grow, I open the door and give them room to move away from the heat
ruclips.net/video/JBwG97VknYg/видео.html
So, you don't need a plastic container but you do need to avoid drafts. This can be as simple as a basket covered with a towel for the first day or so.
A baby chick would normally spend his first day just sleeping under his mother's feathers, where it's very warm and draft-free. They soon come out and spend less time dependant on mother's (or your heat lamp) warmth.
Just a caution - of course be very careful not to risk fire!
Best wishes 🐥🐥🐥
@@chickensinmygarden thank you SO MUCH for your answer! sorry you had it all in the videos i see - i just have too watch more of them 🤦♀😅found out much more in the video 7 top tips for brooder boxes 🙈, this you send me here and some of the others - i will continue watch some more videos of yours then so i get it all ready and up to date before chicks come! 🐣🐤🐥 i allso figured i have Paduan(in danish) / Padovana (in english) and not polish - some brown, black, white doddet ones with the wild "hair" going on 😅😂
🤩Thank you again!!!
And keep making these videos! Very usefull! 👍
Sincerely Pernilleruclips.net/user/sgaming/emoji/7ff574f2/emoji_u1f605.png
You're very welcome - I always enjoy chatting about chickens 🙂
You are doing absolutely the best thing by planning and getting ready before those chicks arrive.
I'm sure you and your chicks will be fine. Spend plenty of time just watching them and you will soon understand what they need - which changes very quickly as they grow up so fast.
I probably would just leave them but be wary. At least every 2 days inspect each of those eggs for any sign of fluid weeping through the shell or a bad smell. If that happens, take that egg out immediately. If they stay smelling ok and looking ok, then just leave them in.
There's a long way to go yet 🤞
@@chickensinmygarden
Yes there are 🤩
I will continue watching videos 👀so that i´m all ready to they hatch in about 21 days or so 👍
Thanks so much for the help! 🐣🐤🐥
Sincerely Pernille 🥰
Not really sold anymore.
Sorry...expensive