With the brooder plate, if it's hot to the touch but not so hot that you can't hold your hand against it, then it's working fine. As long as the room stays above roughly 50F you can then have the plate as the sole heat source, as long as the chicks know to use it (sounds like they do). Best to have the plate set at an angle so 2 legs are higher than the other 2, so the higher end is high enough that chicks can stand and touch it, and lower end is low enough that chicks sitting under it can touch it. That way they can better regulate how warm they want to be.
I’ve checked it multiple times, I have it set up correctly. Surface beneath the brooder plate reads 91 and the chicks themselves read 95-97. The cool end outside of the brooder is 70.
