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Where did OP say anything about a glass brooder? Paper towels are standard for the first couple of days to keep the chicks from eating shavings. After they know what to eat and can find it, you can take them away. I brood my chicks on a wooden floor which I cover with newspaper--have been told that will cause spraddle leg too but in 25 years haven't had a single case. Your heat source shouldn't fry your birds as long as it is high enough to keep the temperature directly under it at 95 for the first week or so--then you can gradually raise it to lower the temperature by 5 degrees or so a week. The chicks will tell you by their actions and voice whether they are warm enough--if they huddle under the heat and peeping really loud, they're too cold, if the are bunched up at the edges away from the source too warm, if they are just wandering all around and peeping softly, they are just right. They don't need a constant 95 degrees every place 24/7 after all when they are raise by a hen they run all over the place and just go under her when they get chilly. Good luck, it is a scary thing but mostly works out okay--there are a lot more successes than failures--you just hear about the failures.
