A friend gave me a water bed heater, which is a pad that's 18"x30" and has an external probe. In theory it can be set to exact temperatures from 60 to 90+ degrees. I have a cover for it so it wouldn't come into direct contact with the chicks but it still radiates the heat. Is there any reason I shouldn't use this as opposed to the traditional Red Heat lamp? Thanks for your insights.
Welcome to BYC!! Sounds like a good plan to me, as long as you can regulate its temps I don't see why it wouldn't make a very excellent brooding device. Just make sure to check its fire safety. My other concern would be that it is more natural for chicks to receive warmth from above rather than below; the solution to this would be to make some sort of brooder box where the heat is that the chicks can duck into that traps the rising heat inside of it.
My Brooder Box is a cage made of hardware cloth. 3'x3'x2' high, for 3 chicks. So would putting the pad on top be better than making a cover on top of the pad area? Thanks for the earlier reply.
Putting the pad on top of the box 2 feet high won't give the chicks any warmth, I don't imagine. I believe folks have brooded with reptile heaters, from underneath, you might look for those threads. My only concern would be not having it under the entire brooder, chicks need a cool area, to be at whatever ambient temp is.
