Welp...chicks are here :ya and I put them out in their prepared and preheated brooder after I brought them home from the post office, but it was quickly apparent that they were not warm enough. :hmm It was about 32 outside this morning and the pets’ water bowl on the deck had frozen over...
I don't use that brand, but I have Sav-A-Chick electrolyte and probiotics for the first few days. I'll have that in one waterer and plain water in the other.
Guys, my chicks are on their way! They flew the coop in Ohio yesterday morning! :celebrate
The brooder is ready and waiting for them (minus a few last things like plugging in a reading light and filling up the waterers):
Night-time temperatures for the next few days will be in the 30s to 40s...
Here are the pics!
View of my brooder from the front. I can't remember the exact specs but I think it's approximately 44" by 38" when the partition is removed. The hinged screen door side is covered in what I think is 1/4" hardware cloth (we made it a very long time ago--it originally was the...
I completely understand this! I appreciate you for bringing this up. I decided to close in the three sides on the recommendation of the manufacturer for temps in the 20s and 30s. I'll be sure to monitor their behavior and make sure they're comfortable. If they're too warm, I can raise one or...
Heater Update!
Yesterday, my brother and I spent several hours remodeling my existing brooder to incorporate the new heater. We built a shelf into the wall and used screw-in cup hooks to hang the heater from two chains so one long side hangs flush against the wall. We then built a new sliding...
I’m sorry to hear about your plates going out! I’m glad they worked well for you while you had them but that’s definitely a bummer about them failing after a number of years. How big were your plates? You said you brooded fifty under each?
Okay, new attempt at checking temperatures!
I hung the Sweeter Heater in an old wire dog crate I have, about six inches from the ground. I placed a large apple in the crate under the hover and left it overnight. Using a grill thermometer stuck into the top of the apple this morning, the highest...
My temperature-measuring endeavors so far have been unsuccessful (see photo for my hilarious testing setup--and this is the second model). With the hover hung 6 inches from the floor, air temp climbed about 10 degrees and water in a ramekin about 5-10 degrees. I turned the Sweeter Heater on last...
I'll experiment with temperature measuring and see if I can get anything to work. In Damerow's article linked above, she did use a temperature probe in her brooders so she must have been measuring something, though I don't know if she was using a different scale and not looking for...
Oh! Well, that would be easy enough. I have an existing wooden arm over my brooder for my heat lamp fixture; I could probably convert it to a regular lamp fixture.
I just discovered these! They’re a cool heat lamp alternative, seems like the lower light would provide a more natural brooding environment.
I will look at rigging up a light in my brooder. Do you have your light over the food/water or over the heat?
Thanks so much, @aart!
I haven’t actually used any of the non-bulb heaters myself yet, but it’s my (limited) understanding that while heating plates such as the Premier1 do, as you point out, heat via near contact with the animal, the Sweeter Heater radiates heat downward and does not require...
An update on my outside research:
I messaged Premier yesterday to ask them about whether I could use their heating plate in ambient temperatures in the 20s and 30s and the representative said that they recommend a warmer room temperature, and if it's too cool, the chicks won't spend enough time...