Will this work as Hatcher / Brooder???

[birdmanmax]

That is pretty darn impressive and very creative if I might add. Never thought of a heating pad wow.

 

[hailstorm97]

I almost wonder if a heated blanket would work too.

 

[hailstorm97]

Here's a pic of my mealworm breeder setup. I've had it going for months now to supplement the coming chicks' diet. Does anyone else do this? I'm super excited to see the results.

 

[yellowherb]

I didn't spend much on my brooder. I bought the rubermaid tub at a thrift store. The heating pad was $10 at the dollar general, you do not want the more expensive one that shuts off after 30min. The light was $5-8 at walmart, I think.

I sorta have mealworms and other bugs breeding naturally haha. In our aviaries we dump the eaten seed on the ground to feed the button quail (we used to have coturnix too). The seed works it's way down and small beetles use it to feed their young. I'm not sure what all types of bugs we have in the litter down there but I scrap the top back, get a little shovel of bugs and feed it to the chickens and finches who eat bugs. The quail get all they want if they dig for it, and by the amount of eggs they lay, they are eating good daily. My husband hates me experimenting with bugs of any type. He nearly barfs when he digs up the bugs for the chickens and finches..Idk why, to me that's a healthy ecosystem!

I want to go back to coturnix, to me the buttons are useless as anything but cleaners. I'd rather have dual purpose coturnix, cleaners and meat/eggs if I wanted. Husband likes the buttons.

blooie gets credit for the heating pad. There's a huge post on BYC somewhere about "mama heating pad". I had a solitary coturnix chick who cried and cried and I was desperate. I found that post and made the heating pad setup. He loved it! He was happy with that until some turkeys hatched a few days later and kept him company for a bit until more quail hatched. The chicks will run under there if they get spooked. It's mom to them. We have to watch it with button quail, if they get too snug in there and the main bulb goes out, they will starve to death and never leave the heating pad cave. They have to have the light too.

 

[3riverschick]

It's a huge rubbermaid. I've seen people use 20 gal aquariums as hatchers brooders. I guess it would help to mention I'm raising Coturnix Quail so they will be very small. Also only a dozen fertile by day 7. I'm also switching to a red light bulb.

I suspect you will cook this chick with a red light 250 bulb. Incandescents and red heat bulbs don't work the same way. Red 250's are heat bulbs. They are deigned to heat objects in their realm of light. Incandescents simply throw off heat as a result of them being on and things in their realm of light get warm as a result. Use a 65 to 85 watt incandescent for this brooder. Remember it's a rubber tub and the tub itself will get warm and help hold in the heat. Esp. watch them if you decide to cover 1/2 the top with an impenetrable cover thru which heat cannot escape. That can cause the brooder to get hotter than you thought it was. Don't use cloth tho, too much chance of fire.
Best,
Kaen

 

[hailstorm97]

I suspect you will cook this chick with a red light 250 bulb. Incandescents and red heat bulbs don't work the same way. Red 250's are heat bulbs. They are deigned to heat objects in their realm of light. Incandescents simply throw off heat as a result of them being on and things in their realm of light get warm as a result. Use a 65 to 85 watt incandescent for this brooder. Remember it's a rubber tub and the tub itself will get warm and help hold in the heat. Esp. watch them if you decide to cover 1/2 the top with an impenetrable cover thru which heat cannot escape.  That can cause the brooder to get hotter than you thought it was.  Don't use cloth tho, too much chance of fire.
 Best,
 Kaen

Relax. I know the bulb that I'm supposed to get that wont cook them alive(I've measured). And I wasn't talking about just going out and purchasing any red light bulb. I've purchased them before for my other animals that need a basking light- I may have never had chicks but the heat lamp I am using now I have used on a lot smaller of cages in my reptile room. Trust me, if it wont cook a frog,it wont cook a chick. Plus I've read all over the place that chicks do not like white light, and that red is healthier for them. I also can measure the heat source output of the light with a double probed thermometer that will measure the hottest side of the box and the coolest.

 

[hailstorm97]

I didn't spend much on my brooder.  I bought the rubermaid tub at a thrift store.  The heating pad was $10 at the dollar general, you do not want the more expensive one that shuts off after 30min.  The light was $5-8 at walmart, I think. 

I sorta have mealworms and other bugs breeding naturally haha.  In our aviaries we dump the eaten seed on the ground to feed the button quail (we used to have coturnix too).  The seed works it's way down and small beetles use it to feed their young.  I'm not sure what all types of bugs we have in the litter down there but I scrap the top back, get a little shovel of bugs and feed it to the chickens and finches who eat bugs.  The quail get all they want if they dig for it, and by the amount of eggs they lay, they are eating good daily.  My husband hates me experimenting with bugs of any type.  He nearly barfs when he digs up the bugs for the chickens and finches..Idk why, to me that's a healthy ecosystem!

I want to go back to coturnix, to me the buttons are useless as anything but cleaners.  I'd rather have dual purpose coturnix, cleaners and meat/eggs if I wanted.  Husband likes the buttons.

blooie gets credit for the heating pad.  There's a huge post on BYC somewhere about "mama heating pad".  I had a solitary coturnix chick who cried and cried and I was desperate.  I found that post and made the heating pad setup.  He loved it!  He was happy with that until some turkeys hatched a few days later and kept him company for a bit until more quail hatched.  The chicks will run under there if they get spooked.  It's mom to them.  We have to watch it with button quail, if they get too snug in there and the main bulb goes out, they will starve to death and never leave the heating pad cave.  They have to have the light too.

Wow thankyou for this info I definitely want to try to make something that substitutes/passes as momma hen for comfort. I've seen some really cool ideas on those, including yours.

 

[hailstorm97]

So today I installed the heat lamp. Directly under it is about 97°. I think the screen cover should be alright for a moment. 4 days to go until lockdown

Also can anyone else recommend this food for quail? :

 

[yellowherb]

That food will work. I've used similar to it. I prefer purina growth and plumage(aka gamebird starter) but as far as I know it's only in 50lb bags.. My chickens like it.

 

[hailstorm97]

Thanks everyone for the great help! This afternoon marked day 14 and the itty bitty quail eggs have been taken from the egg turner and placed on a towel in the incubator at 45 - 65 % humidity. I swear I've already seen a slight wiggling egg, but then again that's probably just me getting over excited And so, lets see what this week gives us! Fingers crossed hoping my first time pays off guys! A lot of tedious work went into this and I'm praying it was worth it!