Heat Lamp - Update!

With my new WiFi camera monitoring capability, I discovered that my heat lamp wakes my hens up when it turns on. I have it set to turn on if the temperature reaches 31 degrees or less. I was once told that the red heat lamp allows them to sleep. But, I now have proof to the contrary! Just a couple of videos here that were captured within minutes of the heat lamp turning on. Within an hour they were all out and about in the dark run area, from around 1 am and on. Not good. So I ordered a ceramic heat lamp bulb, which doesn’t emit light. It won’t arrive until next Monday, 4 days from now, so I will be turning off my heat lamp for now. Fortunately it’s not that cold out. Dropped to 26 degrees last night but we’re headed for a slight wam up the next few days. Glad I discovered this before we reach temperatures below 20! Can’t wait to get the new ceramic bulb! 

BOEESPAT Ceramic Heat Emitter 60W/100W/150W 2pack Reptile Heat Lamp Bulb Chicken Heater Light for Pet Brooder Coop Lizard Turtle Aquarium Snake, No Harm No Light, Black

Ceramic Heat Lamp

I bought the 150W bulbs. Also less watts than the regular heat lamp bulb! Might be a good thing, but hopefully it throws sufficient heat! 

Video proof that heat lamps, whether white OR red, wake chickens up and don’t allow them to sleep! AND to think that if I had not had my new WiFi cams in place, I never would have known about this! These are videos from about 30-60 seconds after the heat lamp turned on! They were sound asleep in the dark, the heat lamp turned on because the temperature dropped below 31, and seconds later they were wide awake, and then, not long after this, they went out into the run as if it was daytime! I know they didn’t leave because it was too warm or too hot in there either, as the temperature in the hen condo was still cold when they woke up! And the temperature only reached a maximum of 33.8 degrees that night! The outside temperature was 26 degrees. I have my WiFi thermometer sensor out there and I can see in the phone app what the temperatures are over time  I have my heat lamp set to turn off when it reaches 38 degrees. And just in case of emergency, such as failure of the heat lamp to turn off at 38 degrees, I have an alarm set to tell me if it gets up to 50 degrees inside the hen condo. So, it was definitely the light of the heat lamp that woke them up, and not being too warm or too hot that woke them up! The light from the heat lamp also lights up the run areas somewhat, through the windows of the hen condo. I guess it was enough light for them to be able to see out there! Barely enough! LOL! 

Screen shot of all but one hen out of the hen condo in the middle of the night! Nobody is sleeping! 

UPDATE: I got the 150 watt ceramic bulb and replaced the regular heat lamp bulb. Hoping this works well! It has been too warm outside to test it yet. I also ordered the 250 watt ceramic bulb. I can’t decide whether I want to try the 150 watt ceramic bulb first, or replace it with the 250 watt bulb when it arrives. I’m leaning more toward replacing it with the 250 watt ceramic bulb when it comes in. I think I’d rather change it out now while it’s warm out. I’d hate to find out when it’s -10 degrees outside that the 150 watt ceramic bulb isn’t enough! The regular heat lamp bulb is 250 watts. So I will likely proceed with using the 250 watt ceramic bulb when it arrives, instead of the 150 watt ceramic bulb that is out there now, 

250W Ceramic Heat Emitter, Ceramic Heat Lamp Bulb, Infrared Reptile Heat Emitter Heater Lamp Bulb for Turtle Snake Chicken (5.3-4.3 Inches): 250W Ceramic Bulb

UPDATE! The weather had been very warm the last few days. But tonight the temperature outside has dropped below freezing. The heat lamp came on once the temperature inside the hen condo dropped to 31 degrees. I also closed 3 of the 4 windows to help retain some of the heat from the heat lamp bulb, my system is working beautifully and my gals appear comfortable and appear to be sleeping quite well! Success! 

Outside temperature right now:

Temperature per my WiFi thermometer in the center of the hen condo right below the heat lamp: 

I have it set to turn off the heat lamp if the temperature reaches 38 degrees. 

Temperature according to my wall thermometer. Since it’s off to the side, near one of those the windows and not directly in line with the heat lamp, I know the temperature will be a bit lower here. Since the hand is red, it barely shows up in the WiFi camera in night vision mode. But if you zoom in and look real close, you can faintly see it pointing to just under 30 degrees. Although my goal is to try to keep the hen condo at or above freezing, I think that between the WiFi thermometer and this thermometer, I'm overall accomplishing this goal. Again, I would expect the wall thermometer to register a bit lower being near the window, on the cold wall too, and not directly under the heat lamp. 

And, most importantly, my gals! They appear to be comfortable and sleeping well under the non-lighted ceramic heat lamp bulb!