Heater setup for 1.5-week chicks ok?

[56Chicks]

Hello all,

I am so grateful for your patience with my newbie questions, and have hopefully just one more!
I have the Producer’s Pride brooder plate and was not satisfied with the way it was working when placed horizontally. Do you think the chicks look comfortable in this picture? (And is that a rooster stare from the little Wyandotte standing off to the side? :-D)

 

[ChickenCanoe]

As a brooder plate they are supposed to be horizontal. Was it too high?
Placed vertically most of the heat passes above the chicks. Heat plates for brooding should be horizontal so the chicks can get under them like they do with a mother hen. A hen doesn't warm them by standing next to them.
It looks like they are too cold. I would temporarily add a droplight with an incandescent, halogen or ceramic emitter.
All chicks can give the stink eye regardless of sex.
Even chicks that chest bump doesn't mean they are males. Pullets do it too.

 

[56Chicks]

Someone I know who used it with multiple batches of chicks recommended the vertical setting. I set it back up table style and will see. I have kept a 125-watt heat lamp unplugged in place and can switch back easily if need be.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Perhaps their chicks were brooded in warmer ambient temperatures. I still think they are looking cold.
I've been using Premier 1 heat plates. They warm the chick's backs which warms their bodies. That can't happen when the plate is vertical and they stand next to it. It may work sufficiently for 2 or 3 week old chicks but not such young ones.

 

[56Chicks]

They have been ducking in and out from under the plate since I moved things around to get the temperature underneath around 90 (I put it at an angle so there are warmer and cooler areas). Three are napping under it, one is going in and out, and two are asleep in different parts of the brooder. Is that ok with this kind of set-up, or should I try to direct the sleeping ones toward the heat plate?

 

[Punkybrewster]

Chicks will nap where they are comfortable. As long as the chick has been introduced to the heat, they will go to it when needed.

 

[rosemarythyme]

They have been ducking in and out from under the plate since I moved things around to get the temperature underneath around 90 (I put it at an angle so there are warmer and cooler areas). Three are napping under it, one is going in and out, and two are asleep in different parts of the brooder. Is that ok with this kind of set-up, or should I try to direct the sleeping ones toward the heat plate?

This sounds ideal - they shouldn't spend all day under it. They should go under it when they need to warm out, and leave when they don't.

 

[56Chicks]

Thank you! I did quite a bit of research before even ordering my chicks a number of months ago, but now that they are here I fret so much that it is like knowing nothing at all! :-D