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

[aart]

It acts as radiant heat like I said never saw one touch it, I don't believe they were able to even reach it with there backs.

Not really meant as radiant heat, they should be able to touch it.

 

[RoosterML]

Not really meant as radiant heat, they should be able to touch it.

Why would you say that? Radiant heat warms to the bone. There is no need for them to touch it. I call it my easy bake oven. Look at it this way. You put your chicken in the oven in front of a heating element and it cooks your chicken yet your chicken never touches the element. Could it be there is a new way??? It worked really well, lively chicks,none died due to not being warm. What else can you ask for.Look at the two photos I attached you can see that no way would they be able to touch the top.

 

[aart]

Why would you say that?

Well, it's pretty much a known...I guess I'd have to search plate manufacturers to get you proof...maybe tomorrow.

 

[RoosterML]

Well, it's pretty much a known...I guess I'd have to search plate manufacturers to get you proof...maybe tomorrow.

That's fine for plate manufacturers if that is in fact the case. You know your stuff your no dummy. Just think about it, if you are able to achieve and maintain the surface floor temperature at let just go with 90° the chicks don't even need to touch the pad or plate. You are meeting there needs whitout them having to doing so. If with the plates the chicks do in fact need to touch it to warm up I would argue that this way is better and easier for them. At the end of the day all it is is a safe way of being able to meet the needs to keep the chicks body temperature at the appropriate temp. This achieved that very well. I got you thinking now don't I..

 

[aart]

I got you thinking now don't I

You don't really want to know what I'm thinking.

 

[Little Farm Girl]

Not really meant as radiant heat, they should be able to touch it.

If/when their backs do touch the bottom, how should she check the temperature to see what they're feeling on they're backs?

 

[Blooie]

Look at it this way.....they get warm by touching Mom and each other. MHP works by warming the chicks directly, too. I only checked the temp under mine once when I first started the MHP thread, in answer to a question by @azygous. Now bear in mind that by then the chicks had been living and thriving in a 69 degree room using only the pad for over a week. So I checked the temp inside the cave....82.5 degrees!! What? Why weren’t they all dead, like the books said they should be? The answer is simple - they were warming themselves just as Mother Nature intended. A broody hen doesn’t heat the entire space the chicks occupy either. This method is intended to duplicate a broody hen as closely as humanly possible.

That said, for heaven’s sake, if what you are doing is working well for you, keep right on doing it! I have just found that keeping science out of my brooder and letting common sense in has yielded the best results for me.

The OP asked how to regulate the temps. Well after that one time measurement, I just tossed the thermometer out of the supply box and went by their behavior. If they seemed a little too warm, I could turn the heat up a notch (my pads have digital controls from 1-6 instead of hi, med, low) and or pull the cave higher just by pulling up on the center of the frame. If they were huddling back deep inside it and giving out loud chirps, they needed a little more “mom” so I just smooshed the center of the frame flatter. I like things as simple as possible and it takes less than a day to learn what they need. And no, you’re not constantly turning the pad up or down or changing the level of the frame. Indoors I usually start mine on 4 with the pad just at the level of their backs. They don’t come out much at first - it’s a big scary world out there and they’d be behaving the same way under a broody hen. But soon a couple will run out, then a few more, and pretty soon they are running in and out and quite happy. Outdoors I start mine on “5 or 6” but you have to remember that it’s 20 degrees out in the run. Even then, they are quite clear if they are too warm under there...they won’t go in but will pile up to keep warm. Turn the pad down, pull the center up and they’re golden. By the time they’re two weeks old they are spending more time on top and around it anyway, and weaning themselves off heat completely.

It sounds much more complex than it is. It probably took more time to write this than it does to check them and make fine adjustments. Those adjustments are done so seldom that I don’t really think about it. Start the pad(With the x-press heat that I use takes seconds - I am warming them not the space, so no 24 hour in advance stuff here) tuck them in, and leave them to figure it out. They do! Like anything, you can either keep it as simple as the original concept, or tweak it and modify it and fiddle with it and change it until you’re happy. But if the chicks are just as warm and content, who cares? The end game is the same - healthy chicks, right?

 

[aart]

Well, it's pretty much a known...I guess I'd have to search plate manufacturers to get you proof...maybe tomorrow.

From Premier chick heat plate ad:

That doesn't mean it won't work like you are using it,
but not how it was intended to work....ambient temps could have an affect on effectiveness.

 

[Blooie]

My Silkies...see where MHP is? And I did forget to mention that I keep it a little higher in front than in back....they can choose their spot based on their individual heat need at that moment.

 

[Little Farm Girl]

My Silkies...see where MHP is? And I did forget to mention that I keep it a little higher in front than in back....they can choose their spot based on their individual heat need at that moment.

View attachment 1635218

Great! Thank you so much, it doesn't sound so intimidating to her now. She will try both the MHP and a plate from Premier1. She would like to Thank you all so so much for all your info and opinions!