Help! We need Recommendations/Thoughts on these items for chicks?

[Little Farm Girl]

When necessary to use a socket for heating birds, I use ceramic heat emitters in either 75 or 150 watt. I abandoned the 250 W glass ones a long time ago.

Where do you buy the ceramic ones? How much do they cost?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Where do you buy the ceramic ones? How much do they cost?

They have them at pet stores (for reptiles) but they are cheaper on Ebay.
You can get a wide array of sizes and wattages.
https://www.ebay.com/bhp/infrared-ceramic-heating

 

[Acre4Me]

My daughter has always used traditional heat lamps, and waterers for her chicks after she takes them out of the incubator and puts them in the brooder...but her past few batches have been terrible, because the heat lamp will die in the middle of the night, the chicks will get cold, and die. She wants to try these for her summer hatches, because she plans to breed and sell chicks in the summer and doesn't want to experience heatlamp issues again. So should she get these 3 things? What reliable heat source do you use for continuous hatches? What do you recommend for chicks? Will heat plates stay on/safe/warm if they are on for weeks at a time? She also just needs your overall thoughts on how to have the healthiest/happiest chicks..?View attachment 1624726

Didn’t read any other previous posts, but we’ve used the nipple waters and the heat plate (same brands in your first post). They worked well. Heat plate was great and easy. About the lowest energy use you can get. We’ve used it 3x already. Constant temps, although hottest in center, and cooler at edges, which is useful for chicks. Brooder is Dark at night bc the heat plate does not light up.

The nipple waters worked great, but one developed a drip towards the end of the 2 batch if chicks. I think there is just a bit of dirt in there, and we’ve tried to remove it, but haven’t taken it apart. Chicks drank well using them.

Good luck.

 

[Little Farm Girl]

Didn’t read any other previous posts, but we’ve used the nipple waters and the heat plate (same brands in your first post). They worked well. Heat plate was great and easy. About the lowest energy use you can get. We’ve used it 3x already. Constant temps, although hottest in center, and cooler at edges, which is useful for chicks. Brooder is Dark at night bc the heat plate does not light up.

The nipple waters worked great, but one developed a drip towards the end of the 2 batch if chicks. I think there is just a bit of dirt in there, and we’ve tried to remove it, but haven’t taken it apart. Chicks drank well using them.

Good luck.

Great, thank you!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Same here..16 chicks under a 12x24...they were spilling out the edges by the time they were fully feathered.

I think my pad is overall a lot smaller, maybe 12x16, plus I had it shaped like an U instead of securing it flat which reduced the amount of space the chicks could use.

Can those that use one, tell me what the wattage of their respective MHPs are?
And what did all the parts cost?

Hmm can't find the wattage on mine (doubt I still have the manual, this is a heat pad from maybe 2003).

Parts cost for me:
- recycled old heat pad - $0
- scrap welded wire and old wire shelving (the type used for stacking dishes), which became the frame - $0
- cardboard and zip ties to cover the top - $0
- 1 roll of Press N Seal - $4?

 

[Aunt Angus]

Mine was free, as I said, because I was able to use what I had. I can't find the voltage on mine, either. The tag with that info on it is long gone.

• Old heating pad
• Welded wire
• Electrical tape
• Pillow case
• Puppy pads
• Zip ties

I shaped the welded wire into a cave. Attached the heating pad to it with zip ties. Covered the whole contraption with a pillow case. Covered that with puppy pads. Changed the puppy pads when needed. Left it plugged in 24/7. Zero problems. My chicks were in the brooder in the coop by about day 3 (I think). I'd have done it sooner, but my coop wasn't done.

I think the pad is around 110 because I use it with a solar panel and a converter. I'm pretty sure the converter can only do up to 150 volts. Love my solar unit! Got that free, too, through work.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

Hmmm..... I got to thinking, can an electric blanket work? Oh damn, I might be on to something here! Don't go stealing my idea and getting it patented now! I shall call it, "The Chicklectric Blanket"! I'm gonna be rich,.... Go SHAMO! Go SHAMO!

 

[Blooie]

Gotta be frank and say that while mine was cobbled together from things I had at home, the one thing I would not use was an old heating pad. Many years ago my dad dragged out the pad they had in the bathroom cabinet and draped it over a pulled muscle in his upper thigh. He used it off and on for a few days, complaining the whole time that one spot felt “hotter” than the rest of the pad so he splurged and bought a replacement one on his way home from work and pitched the old one. Well, as it turns out, he was right. After being stored folded up, and shoved around while other things were dragged in and out of that cabinet, one of the tiny heating element wires in the older pad had developed a small crack or break, and it was causing problems. Had that pad not been on his body where he could feel that something wasn’t right with it, but instead just turned on and left on continuously out of sight, it could easily have shorted totally out and caused a fire.

So anyone who knows me and knows of MHP has heard me say a gabillion times - I won’t recommend using an older pad that’s been stored in the back of a closet somewhere, rolled or folded up, and I always advise folks to store their newer heating pads flat between uses. I tell them that the heating element wires in older pads, not always being made with today’s technology, can become brittle with age, prone to cracking and even breaking when rolled or folded. If the user wants to use what’s at hand, that’s certainly their choice. But I feel strongly that it’s only fair to post that disclaimer.

Oh, and for planning purposes my MHP isn’t a flat setup...it’s a cave, but shaped more like a [ than a (. Um, picture those rotated open side down! In the beginning I had mine too high in the center, so I flattened it out a bit. Still held 11-15 chicks comfortably.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Good advice as always, Blooie. My hp wasn't that old, tbh. If bought it a few months before (maybe a year) for my shattered elbow that gets sore every once in a while. So I guess I lucked out there. If memory serves, I think I spent $10 on it.

 

[aart]

Love my solar unit! Got that free, too, through work.

Got a link to this unit?