Pseudo Brooder Heater 'Plate'

aart said:

The latest with larger pad
([COLOR=111111]Sunbeam 2013-912 Xpress Heat Microplush Heating Pad for Quick Pain Relief, Extra Large 12" x 24")[/COLOR] 
should work for 16
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/862691/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate/60#post_14954247

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Thanks aart. Now I don't need to worry about buying two pads. I'm trying to keep cost low where I can so I can put more money towards the run. I've learned from BYC to go as big as you can (coops & runs) so my chickens can be happier & healthy.

so I'm wondering if anyone has used ones of these OUTDOORS in cold temps from day 1. @aart since you're also a michigander, maybe you could puzzle through this with me. I'm really wanting to get some EARLY chicks this year....probably 20+ but I do NOT want to brood them in the house...it's just stinks everything up, and they make a huge mess of the basement. I have a smaller area in my big coop (outside wall is insulated) that's probably around 3ftx8ft that I could brood chicks in. Just not wanting to risk the cost of 20+ chicks being outside in our lovely michigan winters.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/yes-you-certainly-can-brood-chicks-outdoors

@aart 's brooder plate would work very well for this. I prefer to use the cave, because the sides are covered all the way to the ground, but as long as they don't have any drafts they should be okay. I'm in Northern Wyoming and brood all of my chicks outdoors.

I had read your article! Today it's 9 degrees and windy. If we get a big batch of chicks I'd like to get them by the end of this month I think, and i'm just a bit nervous about the cold. This is our coldest month of the year typically. March temps are usually pretty crazy.....single digits up to 50s or 60s.

gladahmae said:

so I'm wondering if anyone has used ones of these OUTDOORS in cold temps from day 1. @aart since you're also a michigander, maybe you could puzzle through this with me. I'm really wanting to get some EARLY chicks this year....probably 20+ but I do NOT want to brood them in the house...it's just stinks everything up, and they make a huge mess of the basement. I have a smaller area in my big coop (outside wall is insulated) that's probably around 3ftx8ft that I could brood chicks in. Just not wanting to risk the cost of 20+ chicks being outside in our lovely michigan winters.

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I haven't used mine outside yet, just in 60F lower level of house.
But may this year....and may drape some 'softsides' over the back and sides.

ETA:Just had another thought...I use a huddle box when going from brooder to coop.
Could use the heating pad rack as roof of huddle box.

'Huddle box'.....Cardboard box with a bottom a little bigger than what they need to cuddle next to each other without piling and tall enough for them to stand in.
Cut an opening on one side a couple inches from bottom and big enough for 2-3 of them to go thru at once.
Fill the bottom with some pine shavings an inch or so deep.
This will give them a cozy place to sleep/rest, block any drafts and help hold their body heat in.

Does anyone know what temperature this is set on?

SuseyQ said:

Does anyone know what temperature this is set on?

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Depends on what heating pad you use.

It's not like measuring the temperature on the brooder floor under a heat lamp.

Best bet is to make sure the height of pad allows the chicks backs touch the pad, then go by their behavior to adjust the setting on the heat pad.


The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
If they are huddled/piled up right under the pad and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the pad as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
If they sleep under or on top of the pad calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

gladahmae said:

so I'm wondering if anyone has used ones of these OUTDOORS in cold temps from day 1. @aart since you're also a michigander, maybe you could puzzle through this with me. I'm really wanting to get some EARLY chicks this year....probably 20+ but I do NOT want to brood them in the house...it's just stinks everything up, and they make a huge mess of the basement. I have a smaller area in my big coop (outside wall is insulated) that's probably around 3ftx8ft that I could brood chicks in. Just not wanting to risk the cost of 20+ chicks being outside in our lovely michigan winters.

Click to expand...

I have, in temps 20-30s at night, 30s-40s in the day...works just fine. And that's in a hoop coop, so just a clear tarp between the chicks and the great outdoors.

So glad I found this. Most of you know, that I am a broody hen girl, but this year I have a student that is intensely interested in raising his own food, he wants to start a garden and some chickens. He does not have much for resources. I have some pallets that I am giving him so he can build some garden beds, and make a chicken yards. I am giving him eggs that we will try and hatch out at school. (This is the first thing I have ever truly interested this kid in, I am thrilled, life is not all about exponents and literary papers!)

This brooder heater is perfect. I will make sure it gets set up at school, and let him take it home. At the school there is a styrofoam incubator that the kindergarten teacher in the past had amazing success with, so here is hoping! One of these posts mentions using a heating pad for the incubation too? Any thoughts? The incubator uses a light bulb.

mk

I've just used a 17W seedling pad in a styrofoam incubator. It wasn't enough to keep the heat up by itself, so I added another heating element (about 15W, some high power resistors connected to a laptop power supply. Or another seedling mat would work). I positioned the pad so that the fan would blow air on both sides, this brought the temp up faster.

I'm now reusing the seedling pad in the brooder. I made a smaller insulated box with the mat strapped inside under the top of the box. One side is partially open, the others closed. Kind of like the huddle box mentioned above. This box sits inside the brooder. Air temp inside the box is low 80s, but there is some heat radiation going on as well, which I don't know how to measure. The ducklings seem happy.