Is anyone using the Premier "heat plate" brooder for chicks?

[Chickens R Us]

Loved the video

 

[Leahs Mom]

I was about to make a thread along similar lines... Heatlamp is $10, but dangerous. Ecoglow is safe, but $75-80 is MUCH to steep for me. The premier heat plate is closer to my comfort level of price, but seems fairly new.

In my search for alternative heat, I did find some other options and I would love to hear y'alls input!

A plug-in heat pad for pets. It says it can keep your pet at 102F.. with appropriate covering or distance, it seems to me this could be ideal. 102F is close to chicken mom's body heat.

http://www.amazon.com/Pet-Warmer-Wa...?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1392329683&sr=1-5

Also, there is the Snuggle Safe. A microwaveable heatpad that boasts that it keeps warm for 10 hours. Seems like one could easily heat it twice a day and be fine.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3487

I like the safety of the latter.. No electricity!

I don't think the first one would work (pet warmer mats). They are designed to heat when the weight of the animal steps onto it. Chicks are too light-weight to make that happen I'm afraid.

With the microwave heated thing, I don't know someone would have to test it I guess. But it would surely take a lot of monitoring and some folks work all day and can't do that. Lots of folks brood in their hen sheds/barns and not in a heated house and need something very consistent in heat so I'm guessing that would only work for folks who are at home all day and have the chicks in the house.

 

[Tomtommom]

I'm home most of the time, but do leave for doctor's appointments on a regular basis... I keep the chicks in my bedroom (65F-75F) so I don't need anything TOO hot. I'm always afraid the house will burn down in the few hours I'm not home

I suppose using a heatlamp when home and a Snuggle safe when gone would be an idea (usually 5 hours at the longest).

Last October I had 3 week old chicks outdoors with a heat lamp, most of the time they didn't even bother with the lamp. They're really very hardy. They just need a warm place they can warm up when needed.

I think the ecoglow/premier is excellent for those that work (and likely have more income than I have..) or those that have chicks more than once a year. The savings would totally pay for itself.

 

[Tomtommom]

My old broody hen is like this...she's a WR. She knows I'm not going to hurt her and she protests when she's sitting at first but the rest of the time I can put eggs or chicks under her with no problem and even take eggs out and put chicks in.

Some breeds are just more docile, I'm thinking.

WR as in white rock?

My first and only broody was a white rock. I NEVER expected a white rock to go broody. She was pretty docile too. Would protest some, but went along for the ride. I tried breaking her for two weeks. No luck. I eventually gave up and found some eggs for her. She had enough on day 19.

Gotta say she had lost a lot of weight by then, since she wasn't getting up to eat and drink much at all.

I managed to hatch two under a heat lamp. The others didn't make it.

Never wanted a thing to do with the babies though.

Both of my rocks are super easy going. They dont mind me getting eggs from under their butts at all. My production reds... OW. They'll get you if you try!

 

[Beekissed]

Yep..that's right. She was the only one of mine that went broody and to tell you the truth she wasn't the best broody hen in the world but she made an excellent mother and I've used her to foster chicks quite a bit.

 

[SIMZ]

Loved the video

X2!! Adorable!

 

[SIMZ]

Yep..that's right. She was the only one of mine that went broody and to tell you the truth she wasn't the best broody hen in the world but she made an excellent mother and I've used her to foster chicks quite a bit.

I'm curious -- does she have to be acting broody to foster chicks, or will she accept them anytime?

 

[Beekissed]

I'm curious -- does she have to be acting broody to foster chicks, or will she accept them anytime?

Yep...broody time only. Some people have chickens that will go into a broody state if they are around chicks but I've never had one of those. She sat a clutch unsuccessfully this summer(rooster was shooting blanks from being too old) and was not done being broody...she had never finished a sit without having a chick to mother so she was devastated. She started chasing around some 4 mo. old birds I had, trying to mother them....she just kept following them and chasing them until they finally let her join their gang and they even started to follow her at times, come to her when she clucked to them with food, etc.

It was pretty pathetic to watch...she would sleep in a nest box and call them in to sleep with her. You want to see something funny...one huge WR, 2 other huge WRs, and 2 huge Delaware chickens all stuffed into one large nest box...standing room only...in the summer time. Had the hardest time breaking the Delawares of that behavior after that.

Here's a pic of her giving one of them some food.....

And just this last month...showing them more food....that's her in the back, keeping watch as they eat the food she "found" for them. They are 9 mo. old in this pic.

 

[Tomtommom]

My white rock spent the first two weeks trying to hatch a plastic golfball, a rock and a carved crystal egg....

She's not much of a mother. The day the babies hatched I took them out to show them to her, hoping she'd accept them. She tried to peck them instead.

I would LOVE to have a good broody. I would love to not mess with heat lamps/ecoglows, incubators and whatnot. Nature is so much better at it than I am.


Sweetest darn thing is my other white rock though. She survived a pretty vicious hawk attack... then months later when I had another bird attacked, she became super protective of the other bird. The rest of the flock picked on her a bunch, but my white rock would scoot real close to her on the roost, covering her wounded side. So sweet.

They're really caring birds.

 

[melroseladi]

I am really liking my Premier heat plate so far. I have 7 chicks under it right now (still have 2 in the hatcher) and am finding it to be so much better then heating with a lamp. I found when using heat bulbs, even red ones, the chicks would be up and down all night and would peck and pick on younger hatchlings being added to the brooder. I have not found this with the heat plate.

The brooder is in my room and the chicks are following the natural light/dark cycle. At dark they are all under the heat plate and stay there until they get up in the morning. I get a few soft peeps as they readjust themselves but that is it. Younger/smaller hatchlings run under the plate if they are getting pecked at and the pecking stops immediately. With heat lamps I would see poor little guys running all over the brooder trying to escape the pecks of a bigger chick.

These chicks also seem to be much less stressed then chicks I have brooded under heat lamps. They are in a large wired kennel (big enough for me to get inside of) and as soon as they see me open the door or sit down on the floor to watch them, they come running right up to me. In the past my chicks would run around in a frenzy the minute they would even see my hand trying to feed and water them.

I would recommend anybody that raises baby chicks, even once a year, put this on their birthday/Christmas wish list. It is well worth it, IMO.

Penny