Don't Make my mistake. Please read

[britguy33]

I lost 28 quail 1 week olds because my brooder light burnt out . Please use a back up light on a relay system or just put a 60 watt bulb near the bottom to get them by until you can replace the bulb. I checked my quail at 12 midnight went to bed , It got down to 40 and the bulb burnt out. Lost them all by 7 AM.  It sucked but now I have 2 bulbs and am working on wiring up a failsafe if 1 burns out the other comes on. This will be for 2 250 watt red bulbs when I get it done. Right now I am just using 1 250 watt red bulb above and 1 60 watt bulb near the bottom. :idea:

[Redhorse]

Thanks for sharing that tough lesson with the rest of us. :idea:  I'm in the process of building my brooder as we speak (type) and will incorporate a backup unit on a relay switch. Really sorry to hear about your birds. My Bobs haven't started laying yet. I'm beginning to think I should have just bought eggs to begin with. It's going to be the middle of summer before I've got birds for my J-house. :roll:

[CharlieHorse]

I also built my own brooder, and I used a 2 foot baseboard heater for that very reason......don't have to worry about it burning out! Plus, I can also regulate the amount of light with a dimmer since I'm not relying on a bulb for heat.

[duck nutt]

I almost lost my quail to similar reason...i had a brooder set up, but it's small for just a few birds at a time.....it's bout 2ft x 3ft by 18 " deep.....i got tired of having to adjust the height of the lightbulb to regulate the temp so i took a heatlamp, cut the cord, and installed a dimmer switch on it....then cut a whole in top of brooder and placed heatlamp over it..thought i had hit a home run with this thing!   had a 250 watt heat lamp 18 inches above my quail and had the temp at 95 on the dot....well, after we got home from church wed night the light was off and the quail were huddles in the corner...temp read 80 degrees!....when i hit the light dimmer the bulb came back on...so it wasn't a blown bulb so what was the reason it went off?...well shortly afterwards i figured it out.....to keep the temp at 95, the bulb is barely on.doesn't take much from that 250 watt to get temp of 95....anyway, while we were sitting in front of brooder for family entertainment, the light went out again, but i noticed something...it went off when the central a/c came on!   we have 5 ton unit that takes some elec to run...when ot comes on the lights, for a split second dim...well, onviously it's enuff to turn the dimmer off, and that's what was happening.....the heat lamp is barely on, and a dip in the elec is just enuff to shut it off at that low of a setting.....next brooder i build will be bigger so i can move the lamp farther away ,,this will let mu turn it on 'more' so it won't go off during a power dip......BUT, other than that, the dimmer switch works like a champ!  i can set the temp to any degree i like...

[cowboy joe]

Duck nutt...you might want to try a different dimmer type.  Some of the newer, solid state units get flakey during brownouts.  I'm using a similiar setup with an older, rheostat type and don't have this issue.  The light may dim when a brownout occurs (i.e. AC kicks in) but at least there will be heat until the power line returns to normal.  The other option is to put a battery backup between the lamp and the electrical system...effective but pricey.

[duck nutt]

thanks joe...i'm gonna try another dimmer switch....I made this thing at a moments notice and only had 1 switch to choose from...leftover from when we built house....when I find one that works, i'll post back

[power]

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[Country Quail Boy FL]

Why dont you just try a wafer thermostat? Thats what my battery brooder uses from GQF. i Love it! :!:

[britguy33]

Country Quail Boy FL Why dont you just try a wafer thermostat? Thats what my battery brooder uses from GQF. i Love it!  


If anyone is like me. We are tight wad Rednecks who like to do it your self. Sometimes it bites us in the rear but in large numbers we can "GITTER  DONE!!!!!"

[Country Quail Boy FL]

lol yall say "Gitter dun" too! Some friends of mine and me made that sayin popular at school.


How much is just a wafer thermostat.

[britguy33]

they are actually cheap . Like 12 bucks from GQF. Much cheaper ythan a new line voltage t-stat. I will probably just use a 2 relay 2 light system.
As soon as I get the circuit figured out. I am an electronics/robotics technician but have not taken the time to wire it up.

[MaDHaTTer]

they are actually cheap . Like 12 bucks from GQF. Much cheaper ythan a new line voltage t-stat. I will probably just use a 2 relay 2 light system.
As soon as I get the circuit figured out. I am an electronics/robotics technician but have not taken the time to wire it up.

When you figure it out let me know how to wire mine too !!
I have the same set up heat bulb and it is on a dimmer switch.
That would be nice to have a back up in case the first blow's or just go's out for one reason or the other

[power]

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[MaDHaTTer]

I found some line voltage T-Stats but the temp would only go to 85deg !!
No good for the bird business !

As far as wiring switches I have no problem but when it comes to relay switches it has been several years.
So when we got a bontified Juicetriction I thought he might help an old Pipefitter/welder out !!!!

[power]

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