Heat Plates vs Heat Lamps

[coop410silkies]

I bought and am using for the first time, a Premier 62 watt heating Plate. Let me say right off that I am enamored of this Brooding plate. I purchased it for economical reasons, and, more importantly, for safety reasons: it cannot get hot enough to ignite most things. This plate is sturdily made and I am comfortable leaving it in the coop unattended. My chicks, though in very good condition upon arrival, are THRIVING with this plate. Not one pasty butt out of 15, they are growing and maturing fast and are remarkably energetic. They love their brooder plate.

One thing not touched on is the way plates allow chicks to benefit from cooler ambient air: cooler air holds more oxygen than warm air, and their little chickie brains will thank you for giving them the opportunity to be smarter and more alert. (If your brooder is on the small side, chicks will benefit even more from the brooder plate.) The chicks will also feather out sooner if the ambient air is very cool. (Next thing you know, I'll be telling you they'll LAY sooner, too, lol.) When I got my chicks home, I stuck their beaks in the waterer and then the chicks under the plate. Instant silence, then a racket as they popped back out: plate not high enough, and I got the point. Within an hour they were calling the plate home and were searching for food. These chicks started FAST with the plate.

A thing about light: mine don't have one, but they get ambient light from a nearby room and no direct sunlight whatever. With just a tiny bit of light after sundown, they stay up well into dark hours getting the last little bit of food they can scrounge. They don't come out very early in the morning, though, possibly because of the cool morning temps in their unheated room. Who knows?

I am a fresh air addict, and I brood my chicks indoors in a large circle of cardboard draft guard: no cover, no high walls, no ammonia, no awful odor, no pine shavings, nothing sterile, seeded with litter from the main coop. The Brooder Plate is a natural choice for these conditions and allows a lazy brooder like myself to take it easy. The chicks will be moved to their outside Brooder when they are two weeks old, and their Brooder Plate will go with them. Easy-Do for me and excellent for the chicks.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@coop410silkies
I love my heat plate too. I brooded last year's chicks right outside in the barn in their own area protected from the adults. Regular cold spring temperatures and no heat in the barn.

They were out running around in the cold air more than they stayed under the plate.

I do use a lamp dimmer with mine as my plate was running way too hot - too hot to touch. And they are designed to be used with a temperature controller but they don't make it for US electric yet so I've used my lamp dimmer for the last 2 seasons. Works like a charm to make it so that it won't burn the chicks and comfortable to touch.

As long as I have a predator-proof area for the chicks out in the barn or coop, I'll never have them inside again! You're right - the do thrive when they aren't under light all night long and too hot.

LOVE the heat plates and/or the heating pad brooding. So much healthier!

 

[coop410silkies]

@coop410silkies

I love my heat plate too.  I brooded last year's chicks right outside in the barn in their own area protected from the adults.  Regular cold spring temperatures and no heat in the barn.

They were out running around in the cold air more than they stayed under the plate.

I do use a lamp dimmer with mine as my plate was running way too hot - too hot to touch.  And they are designed to be used with a temperature controller but they don't make it for US electric yet so I've used my lamp dimmer for the last 2 seasons.  Works like a charm to make it so that it won't burn the chicks and comfortable to touch.

As long as I have a predator-proof area for the chicks out in the barn or coop, I'll never have them inside again!  You're right - the do thrive when they aren't under light all night long and too hot.

LOVE the heat plates and/or the heating pad brooding.  So much healthier!

Last year a couple of Broodies hatched some chicks outdoors when the temps were cold, and I watched them a lot. One morning I looked out the window, and OMG, there was frost and mist and cold everywhere, and they weren't even 10 days old, and the Mama had them out foraging. That is the day I gave up most of my ideas about cold temps and chick fragility. The heat plates work as advertised, and lamp dimmers are very cool.

 

[goulaischicks]

no pine shavings, nothing sterile, seeded with litter from the main coop.

What do you use for litter in the brooder??

 

[Hplayer13]

Question... I’m sold on the heating plate for inside the brooder (I’m raising 6-8 poults), but once they are put outside in this Michigan weather, even once the turkeys are older how will I give them heat on the colder spring and fall nights? Is heat lamp only option?

 

[aart]

Question... I’m sold on the heating plate for inside the brooder (I’m raising 6-8 poults), but once they are put outside in this Michigan weather, even once the turkeys are older how will I give them heat on the colder spring and fall nights? Is heat lamp only option?

Disclaimer: Never had turkeys.
Make sure you get a big plate, the number of chicks(assumed chicken) the plates describe are as bad as the prefab coop numbers......far underestimated. I think the plate numbers refer to day old chicks, they grow fast and turkeys are even bigger.
Fully feathered birds do not need heat, even in Michigan winters....unless maybe if you are way Up North.

You really should start a thread in the turkey forum asking about "poults under heat plates".

Oh, and..... Welcome to BYC! @Hplayer13
Climate, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[Maze]

When my chicken raised chicks she kept them in for 3 days for them to heal up. Idk what your on about but I think the mum hen knows best