$50 for a thermostat!?

[greeneggsnham]

So I got chicks on Saturday and just assumed I would be able to regulate the temp just by adjusting the light. Well that worked out about as well as trying to fill a collander with water.

If it wasn't dangerously low it was way to high. So as soon as I got up on Sunday I took off to town with my dad to look for a thermostat. I went to Bucheits, Orshlens, TSC and came up with nothing.

So finally I went to petco as a last resort because I know they charge an arm and a leg for everything and there in one corner was a Zilla brand thermostat with no tag or anything.

I assume that it can't be more than the $40 dollars that I had so I go ahead and check out. She tells me its $50

I can't get it so now I'm freaking out wondering if for the next eight weeks if I will have to have them in my room or something. Thankfully my dad just picks it up and says it's ok I'll get it I need my eggs. I am 20 years old and my father just had to buy my chickies a thermostat! So now they are doing great with the thermostat and are all happy chickies. I was just wondering if there was anything I missed or is that just about the only thermostat I could buy? Surely there are cheaper ones somewhere! What did you guys pay for your thermostats? Sorry for the long rant I just could not believe that it cost $50 dollars.

 

[sune42]

Good question, cause when I was at TSC the other day getting brooder stuff, they didn't have any thermometers. I am not sure what to do for them.

 

[Ms.FuzzyButts]

I bought a water heater thermostat for the lower element (single pole). I paid $8.00. Just wired it to the light, set the temp and good to go.

 

[FireTigeris]

Ms.FuzzyButts :

I bought a water heater thermostat for the lower element (single pole). I paid $8.00. Just wired it to the light, set the temp and good to go.

diagram and pictures?​

 

[Ms.FuzzyButts]

Quote:
diagram and pictures?

I'm at work so I can't upload any, but you should be able to do a search here for water heater thermostat or something like that and find it. That's how I did it. Oh and that was for my incubator, this thermostat will only go as low as 90. So that would be too hot for a brooder.

 

[Uzuri]

How big is your brooder? Did you take temps in several spots?

If you only took temps right under the light, you might be in luck. Bring things up again until they're "too hot", then take the temps are the far side of the brooder. If they're cooler than "perfect" you're in good shape. Aim to have what's under the light a little hotter than you want and everything else cooler than you want. If you have a big enough brooder to do that, the chicks will come in to sun themselves, then cruise on out to the cooler areas when they get warm. They're smarter than they look

Or possibly get a dimmer switch to get more control over the actual light.

 

[BridgetC]

I was just thinking of using an aquarium thermometer... that's what I did when I had a snake. They are cheap, like under five dollars. I had one stuck to each side of the snake's aquarium, so that I could regulate the hot side and the cool side.

The only issue is that some only go up to 80 or 90 degrees... so watch out for that.

-Bridget