Cannot get brooder temp acccurate

[Sbalonick]

I am bringing home 4 ducklings today and am struggling to get my home made plastic tub brooder to 95 degrees. I am using a heat plate. Initially we were planning on putting it on our bottom level of our house which has the most room. It is the coolest level of our home. The 1st day I tested it out I hit 95 degrees but this was prior to the pine shavings being added. Yesterday I could only get it up to 78 degrees. I added a heat lamp and it only rose 88 degrees. I moved the brooder to the laundry room with plate and still couldn’t get 95 degrees but when I added the heat lamp it rose to 133 degrees! Help! Is it usually this much trial and error? Do I have a faulty heating plate?

 

[1muttsfan]

Heat plates are not necessarily calibrated to deliver temps within the rigid range that incubators are capable of.

Where are you measuring the temps? And how are you controlling airflow and humidity?

 

[rosemarythyme]

How exactly are you measuring the temperature? Heat plates don't heat the air, they rely on direct contact, so if you're using a typical thermometer you can't get a reading on it.

Absolutely no reason to use a heat plate and lamp in an inside-the-house brooder, unless you want cooked poultry.

If you put your hand on the plate and it stays warm/hot, then it's working fine.

 

[1muttsfan]

The plate should be adjusted high enough that the ducklings can touch it when standing. I always set mine so that it is a little lower than that on one side, and higher on the other, so that they can pick how warm they want to be. Also, have a few inch gap around all 4 sides, so they don't get crushed together - probable not as big an issue with just 4, but nice to be safe. The air temp will not be that warm, as Rosemary says it is the plate that is warm, not the air around it.

 

[Joyfillednomads]

I am bringing home 4 ducklings today and am struggling to get my home made plastic tub brooder to 95 degrees. I am using a heat plate. Initially we were planning on putting it on our bottom level of our house which has the most room. It is the coolest level of our home. The 1st day I tested it out I hit 95 degrees but this was prior to the pine shavings being added. Yesterday I could only get it up to 78 degrees. I added a heat lamp and it only rose 88 degrees. I moved the brooder to the laundry room with plate and still couldn’t get 95 degrees but when I added the heat lamp it rose to 133 degrees! Help! Is it usually this much trial and error? Do I have a faulty heating plate?

Heat escape, breeze coming thru...
We ended up partially covering our brooder to keep and hold accurate temperatures