Brooder heat source

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MiChickMagnet

MiChickMagnet

In the Brooder
6 Years
Jan 6, 2014
21
2
26
Traverse City, MI
I have looked through several pages in this forum now but have yet to find the definitive heat source thread, so hopefully some of you experienced brooders will voice your opinion.

I will be brooding chicks this spring and wanted to know, real world, if some of these heat sources are better than another. I would feel confident in saying that a 100w white light bulb is out. What about the red heat lamp bulb? Could it mess up sleep cycle fort he little gals? Then I thought about ceramic heat emitting bulbs normally used for reptiles. No light at all, but that would mean that supplemental light would have to be added during the day if being brooded in the basement or garage, right? So then I move onto a heating pad under the bedding or brooder. Any thoughts on that? And finally there is the ecoglow. A little cost prohibitive since I don't plan on brooding more than once every 2-3 years. Is it worth the money for an ecoglow long term?

Are there any heat sources that I may have missed?
 
I love my Ecoglow. Definitely worth the money. However, this year Premier 1 came out with their version (comparable to Ecoglow) at about half the cost. So, I'm going to compare the two! These types of brooders are worth it because they are much safer than a light bulb, require a lot less electricity, and mimic a mother hen. The chicks love them!
 
Ecoglow is what I use. No light all night long to keep them awake, No risk of getting a Teflon coated heat bulb and gassing the flock to death and minimal risk of burning the coop down.

Costs a bit more upfront but will $ave allot on electrical cost. 18 watts compared to 100 watts!
 
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For you ecoglow users, do you (during the day) provide a separate light source, or should you if brooding in a darker area like a garage or basement? I would imagine that the same would go for using a ceramic heating element in a brooding lamp, right?

What about using a heating pad under the bedding? Similar to using an ecoglow?
 
If you are not looking to raise a lot of birds here, Just get a 250W heatlamp with a good ceramic fixture to put it in. Secure it properly over one end of your brooder, so the chicks can get under it or away from it as they want. I use bailing wire to hold my light. As the chicks get older, just raise the light. I use a white light, on 24hrs a day. Don't worry about them not sleeping, cause they will sleep plenty. Some people like a red light, they say it helps prevent the chicks from picking at each other. But, if you supply a big enough brooder, you won't have any problems. DO NOT pack them into one of those plastic totes. A big cardboard box, or just slap something together with plywood. I have raised several groups like this with no problems.
 
MiChickMagnet said:
For you ecoglow users, do you (during the day) provide a separate light source, or should you if brooding in a darker area like a garage or basement? I would imagine that the same would go for using a ceramic heating element in a brooding lamp, right?

What about using a heating pad under the bedding? Similar to using an ecoglow?
Click to expand...

Yes, I bought a red CFL (the curly bulbs that are energy efficient) to hang in the brooder because I used an ecoGlow. I put it on a timer that I bought for $10 from home depot so it would give them 12 hrs of light and 12 hrs of night time.

The ecoglow is interesting because they can get underneath of it and they feel comforted, like they would under a mother hen.
 

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