EcoGlow reviews??

[DelcoChix]

Throwing my two cents into the discussion...I bought the EcoGlow20 this spring in advance of my order of 20 chicks arriving near the end of March...had my brooder all set, even switched to sand for the first time. Then Mother Nature had to step in and bring the freeze back into central Ohio and mess the best laid plans up. Ended up totally winging it (ha--funny) at the last minute because my brooder is a 4x4' wooden,ex-whelping box, with 2" of sand in it, all set up in my chicken coop/shed...weighed about 900 pounds, or so! Had to go to the basement, dump household stuff out of a plastic tub, grabbed pine shavings from the horse barn, and relocated everything to my mudroom. Sigh. Temps 20 degrees below the normal end of March temps.
Since I was a good chicken mom (not my first batch of fuzz-butts), from my pre-purchase research I knew enough to know that the EcoGlow didn't work well with temps below 50...but even my house is normally around 65-68 so i thought it would be fine.
Bottom line, my babies arrived all safe and sound and spent their first 2 1/2 weeks in my mudroom--ended up with 22, instead of 20..and sadly lost one the second night (first loss of a baby in my 5 years )
Here's what I've learned this time:
1) If you are in the midwest and want chicks in early spring, the EcoGlow is not a good idea unless your house is your brooder location. I enjoyed having them close by for easy access/entertainment, but the 'real' brooder was a much nicer environment after their first week or so--they grow so quickly!
I ended up moving them to the brooder in the big shed at 2 1/2 weeks with much concern--still cold outdoors, but I caved and hung my heatlamp also so they were quite comfy. I do have a few safeguards for the heatlamp, plus being on sand the fire hazard was almost nil.

2) The guidelines for the recommended heat(95 week one, 90 week two, and so on) are just that-guidelines. Use common sense and watch them--their behavior will tell you what you need to do. They have no idea what the numbers are--only know if they feel cold and need more heat, or need to get away from the heat.

3) The EcoGlow20 is only good the first week or so for 20 chicks...the buggers soon outgrow it and when the temps were that far below the norm the added heat source made all the difference in the world. If I did it over again I'd cough up the extra $$ and buy the larger EcoGlow.

I now have 21 gorgeous 96% feathered babies who have not only outgrown their 4x4' brooder but the 2'x3' addition I created and have now moved out into their newer home in the secure kennel and coop, much to their delight, where they have room to pretend they are eagles. They have been off any heatsource since they were around 4-4 1/2 weeks old. With the larger number and sheltered brooder they kept warm without any trouble at all.

Now....time to figure who who's a "he" so I can begin to sort through who can stay and who must go....Chicken Math....sigh.

 

[Jakoda]

I agree with the above, AND the post by someone who said, it just shows you how day olds, even, do not really need that 95 degree temp.

This is my 2nd batch of chicks, (right out of the bator), and sure they go under the eco glow, but aren't under it constantly, in fact today they are two weeks old , I raised the eco glow up, because they are growing, and they only seem to go under it at nite..Of course my brooder is in the house, in a window that gets some some light in the afternoon, so they 'sun' themselves.

It IS a different kind of heat, if you put your hand on the platform (underneath) you can feel the head radiating off it. Mine seems to warm up within a half hour..

Will never use another product

 

[fiddlebanshee]

Quote:
I am in MD and the same thing happened. Got my chicks and the second night the temps in the outdoor brooder sunk to around freezing. The poor chicks were piling on top of each other so I hung not one but two heatlamps, secured with metal chains, my bedding is SweetPDZ, so like the previous poster almost nil fire hazard. The two lamps brought the temps to the eighties. After the freezing spell was over I took away the heatlamps and they went right back under the ecoglow and are playing, sunning and moving about during the day. They're 2 weeks old on Monday and are doing very well.

I am very happy with the ecoglow, but you do need to monitor the environment in which you use it. Now I have one heatlamp on a timer and if the forecast says that lows will be in the low 50s I'll set the timer to come on at about 4 am - 8 am the coldest part of the night.

 

[sweetie pie]

I have just - this evening - started using this product for 3 newly hatched chicks.  I think I need to buy at least one more of them for future use in the ginormous brooder out in the shed.  (The next time I have a SLEW of chicks to brood at the same time.)


I "installed" the EcoGlow in a dresser drawer currently not in a dresser, outfitted with adhesive shelf liner covered by the "gripper" style of shelf liner (non-adhesive).  Food and water are at the end of the drawer opposite the EcoGlow. 


I took the 3 chicks from the incubator and put them into the dish of feed, the dipped their beaks in the water, and after a minute or so, pushed them gently under the EcoGlow.


They are happily cheeping away beneath the warming plate and then trotting out to investigate their drawer.  Then back under the EcoGlow.  And so on and so forth.  This is a wonderful thing!!!


I am going to be able to finish the dresser brooder tomorrow and place the chick drawer in it, instead of just having the drawer sit on the floor with a grate over the top of it.

My chicks are 3 days old and they love it! So glad I bought it off them

 

[sweetie pie]

My chicks are 3 days old and they love the ecoglow! They come out to eat and then dart back under and sleep. They sleep through the night without a peep

 

[Stussy]

Hello, I've been reading up on this and I've not been able to find any retailers in canada that sell this. Does anyone know of a canadian retailer that I've failed to see online?

 

[dhynes]

Hi Stussy,

Try C. Botkin Enterprises Ltd (http://www.cbotkin.ca/).

Doug

 

[Rosanna]

I have an EcoGlow 20 brooder for my 6 chicks and I absolutely love it! I initially bought a red heat lamp when I set up their brooder in my basement but only used it for about a week. I was so worried that it would fall and catch fire. Plus I had read that the chicks wouldn't get a good night's sleep with the lamp on all the time. I got the EcoGlow when they were two weeks old and I'm so happy that I spent the money to buy it. My chicks love it. They huddle together and sleep under it every night and when I visit them in the morning they come out all happy and ready to eat. It seems like they sleep all night long. They also love standing on top of it. I put some shelf liner on the top so that it can be easily cleaned. They're 6 weeks old now and I have it set to the highlest level. I moved the chicks and the EcoGlow out to their new coop last weekend and they still use it on cold nights. I bought mine on Amazon and I highly recommend it.

 

[ashtree]

I'm cross posting this from another thread but thought I might get more feedback on this one:
So, I am thinking about putting my 5 week old silkies (and 1 legbar) in my small A frame coop outside. Its the perfect size and unoccupied, but obviously its still cold outside. Its not the right set up for a heat lamp but I am thinking about buying a brinsea ecoglow. The house area part of the A frame where it will be (and where they will sleep) is pretty tight with ventilation at the top. My question is will the ecoglow be able to keep them warm enough if the nights get below freezing? If not Ill just be setting them up in a larger brooder inside the goat barn with a heat lamp, but Id really like them closer to the house if possible. Oh and there are 9 chicks all together, in case that makes a difference. Also they have been inside my house (65-75 degrees) without a heat lamp for the last 2 weeks.

 

[mastiffs07]

Ashtree - it says it's doesn't work in temps below 60. Its not make for a coop