Button quail brooder heating using ceramic heat emitter and no visible light at night

[walkerstop]

Hey fellow breeders,

I wanted to share an idea for a brooder setup for button quail chicks and get your thoughts. I’ve raised button quail successfully before, but this time I’m refining the system to solve a few challenges—especially around nighttime lighting, behavioral health, and room sharing with a peach-faced lovebird.

The Problem
I really want to keep the brooder in the same room where my lovebird's cage is. This is our "bird room" and there are a lot of practical reasons why we want it there, which I won't get into unless you really want to know.
Most brooder setups use heat lamps that emit visible light 24/7. That’s fine for warmth, but it could disrupt sleep cycles for both chicks and any other birds nearby. My lovebird couldn’t sleep with the glow, and I’ve read that chicks can benefit from a natural day-night rhythm. Plus, I want to avoid toe-pecking issues I’ve seen with blueface chicks whose dark feet contrast against white substrate.

My Goals
- Avoiding using a brooder plate -- I have had bad experiences with them, and I prefer to be able to see the chicks at all times through my nanny camera
- Maintain 100°F floor temp without visible light at night
- Prevent toe-pecking and overstimulation
- Keep the brooder in the same room as my lovebird without disturbing his sleep
- Use a safe, durable heat source that won’t burn out from thermostat cycling
- Preserve visibility for nanny cam monitoring
- Keep the heat source outside of the brooder (above the mesh lid) so that chicks cannot touch it and so that the lid remains secure to keep the lovebird from potentially entering the brooder

The Setup
- Brooder Box: 27-gallon plastic bin with mesh lid and sides for airflow
- Substrate: Black Shop Towels – thick, washable, better traction, heat absorption, and visual contrast for food and feet: https://a.co/d/3ZiMKJd
- Heat Source: 250W Ceramic Heat Emitter – no visible light, 10,000-hour lifespan, safe for thermostat cycling: https://a.co/d/bctj4OJ
- Fixture: 5.5" Deep Dome Ceramic Socket Fixture – polished interior for better IR focus, rated for 250W. I found that a ceramic heat emitter couldn't quite radiate enough heat from 18" away with a standard heat lamp fixture. This deeper, more reflective fixture should increase the effectiveness of the heat emitter by an estimated 20%-40% at 18" from the floor: https://a.co/d/faNeDW3
- Thermostat: BN-LINK Digital Heat Mat Thermostat Controller – sensor placed at floor level, set to 100°F: https://a.co/d/5rJIVZk

The fixture is mounted above the mesh lid, 18" from the floor, so chicks can’t jump up and burn themselves. The ceramic emitter provides warmth without disturbing my lovebird’s sleep, and the deeper dome improves heat focus compared to my old 3.5" reflector.

Why Darkness Matters
I’ve hard of toe-pecking, restlessness, and overstimulation in chicks under constant light. Ceramic heat emitters allow full darkness at night, which supports sleep, behavioral regulation, and circadian rhythm development. I found some great forum posts and articles backing this up—happy to share if anyone’s interested.

Would love feedback from others who’ve tried ceramic heat emitters or alternative brooder setups. Have you noticed better sleep or behavior with darkness at night? Anyone else raising chicks in a shared room with parrots?

Since this is a new setup for me and unproven, I would first do rigorous testing and temperature logging to ensure that proper temperature is maintained. As a backup plan, I will have normal heat lamps available I could switch to, and a blackout cover for the lovebird cage, in case I need to revert back to a traditional heat lamp.

P.S.: I know from experience and others that that button quail chicks can be very healthy and thrive with a heat lamp that is on all night, but I think there is some evidence supporting the idea that it might be even more beneficial to have darkness at night. Here are a few links supporting the idea:

https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2200220

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/light-on-baby-quail-at-night.1494040/

https://www.cambridge.org/core/serv...latonin-biosynthesis-in-chick-embryos-div.pdf

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2025.1586580/full

At the end of the day though, I mainly just want them to be healthy but with the room dark at night so that I don't have to cover my lovebird's cage at night.

Thanks for reading!
Mike

 

[Nabiki]

I use the heat emitters rather than a light. For the size of brooder you're using, you may want to get a 100 watt heat emitter rather than the 250. I use the 100 watt for a 50 gallon plastic tote to give a warm end and a cool end to the brooder.

 

[walkerstop]

Just an update, I received the deep dome heat lamp housing and did some testing with the 250W ceramic heat emitter I have, at about 18" away from the floor, and at this distance it was not able to maintain a surface temperature of 100F. The surface temperature only reached 95F which is not enough. This is even with a room temperature of 83F today. The change to a different reflector / fixture did not make any measurable difference. So this idea I had is not going to work unless the ceramic heat emitter can be closer to the floor, or puts out more heat.

I will probably abandon this entire route and go for a simpler solution:
- Blackout cage cover on the lovebird cage at night
- 75W full-spectrum heat lamp
- No thermostat, just leave it on all the time

Cycling the light on and off (due to the thermostat) would disturb the chicks more than just having the light on constantly.

It also burns out the lights faster.

Another option would be using a PID thermostat instead of the simple on/off relay type.

But I think under the circumstances, I am not able to accomplish all of my goals (no-light heat source, 18" distance) so I might as well go back to the most reliable method, an always-on light.

 

[CliftonQuail]

I use 100W ceramic heaters similar to these
https://www.amazon.com/LUCKY-HERP-100W-Ceramic-Emitter/dp/B096TS3YN3

with lamp holders similar to these
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XD1PK37?th=1

I clamp the holder to the handle of a camera tripod and then zip tie it for safety. Since I don't have any cats or other animals that would bother the chicks, I don't put a cover on my brooder for the first week or two. With the lamp about 2" below the top of the tote, I easily get 95 degrees underneath it which is fine for coturnix. The lamp is at least 10" from the bottom of the tote. Lowering it another couple of inches would probably get it to 100. Since it's on the tripod, I can then slowly raise it as their need for heat gets less. By the end of the second week, I've raised the heater enough that I can cover the brooder with a piece of window screen and use binder clips to hold it to the tote.

I don't use a thermostat at all in my setup. I just put a Govee thermometer under the heater and adjust the height of the heater as necessary. I get the brooder situated a couple of days before hatch date and then watch the birds to figure out when to raise the heater.

Edit to add: I missed that you're trying to keep the lovebird out.

 

[walkerstop]

I just learned about another type of heat source that I want to play with: Deep heat projectors. I think these might actually be able to provide enough heat from the desired distance I want, without producing enough visible light to disturb any of my birds.

 

[Nabiki]

I use 100W ceramic heaters similar to these
https://www.amazon.com/LUCKY-HERP-100W-Ceramic-Emitter/dp/B096TS3YN3

with lamp holders similar to these
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XD1PK37?th=1

I clamp the holder to the handle of a camera tripod and then zip tie it for safety. Since I don't have any cats or other animals that would bother the chicks, I don't put a cover on my brooder for the first week or two. With the lamp about 2" below the top of the tote, I easily get 95 degrees underneath it which is fine for coturnix. The lamp is at least 10" from the bottom of the tote. Lowering it another couple of inches would probably get it to 100. Since it's on the tripod, I can then slowly raise it as their need for heat gets less. By the end of the second week, I've raised the heater enough that I can cover the brooder with a piece of window screen and use binder clips to hold it to the tote.

I don't use a thermostat at all in my setup. I just put a Govee thermometer under the heater and adjust the height of the heater as necessary. I get the brooder situated a couple of days before hatch date and then watch the birds to figure out when to raise the heater.

Edit to add: I missed that you're trying to keep the lovebird out.

This is pretty much the same system I use, except I have to keep the lid on my brooder, because I do have cats.

 

[walkerstop]

This is pretty much the same system I use, except I have to keep the lid on my brooder, because I do have cats.

How do you mount the ceramic heat emitters inside of your brooder and still have room for the lid? Could you share a picture if possible? Thanks!

 

[Nabiki]

I happen to have a batch of chicks right now. I have two heat lamps going because it's only about 65 in my office. I'm using a leftover piece of pvc pipe to hold the lamp in place. There's a joint on it so it holds it fairly well.