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

[ChocolateMouse]

I've also heat-pad raised chicks and it works extremely well. I use a viagrow heat mat of the sort you would use for seedlings, and (like the others) make a sort of cave out of it on wire with a towel wrapped around it. This works extremely well, the chicks feather out fast and seem to grow well. I may try a side-by-side sometime. But I find that the heat mats are bigger and likely to be more adjustable than the plates which I often hear are just too dang small.

 

[aart]

I've also heat-pad raised chicks and it works extremely well. I use a viagrow heat mat of the sort you would use for seedlings,

Curious what exact model you used (link?)......seedling heat mat I tried was not warm enough.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

This one, 4'x20"
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007I6OXJ8/ref=twister_B0757713QR?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

This one is pretty warm. I only had a towel over the top, not the underside, so the heat didn't have to travel through the towel.

 

[aart]

This one, 4'x20"
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007I6OXJ8/ref=twister_B0757713QR?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

This one is pretty warm. I only had a towel over the top, not the underside, so the heat didn't have to travel through the towel.

Did you use a thermostat?
Ever measure the surface temp with an infrared?

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Did you use a thermostat?
Ever measure the surface temp with an infrared?

Nope. Instead I just watched them like a hawk to see how much time they were spending under it. I figured if they were cold they'd be huddled up in a bundle under it. Instead they tended to sleep on the edges except on the coldest nights and spent most of their time out from under it.

I should do that sometime, though....

 

[Aunt Angus]

Got a link to this unit?

I got it through a project at work. My students built these to send to the Philippines for rural schools and health clinics. I got to keep this one and a solar panel because it was a demonstration model and waft able to be sent abroad.

Here's a link to the project site: https://us.sunpower.com/blog/2015/1...e-solar-train-teachers-and-bring-electricity/

My colleagues are in the group picture. I wasn't there that day because it was homecoming. I'm class advisor, and I had to prepare for the parade - LOL! I think I was interviewed for the promo video, though.

 

[aart]

I should do that sometime, though....

Please do.
One more(really) question......what was the ambient temp?

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Please do.
One more(really) question......what was the ambient temp?

Ask as many questions as you like! I think the coldest I've used this heat pad was in my garage and I am having some trouble remembering what temperature that was but it was spring. Usually I use this indoors in my basement which is about 60*-64*F year round.

 

[rosemarythyme]

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.

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.

While my heat pad was certainly old my husband had been using it frequently just before I converted it for the chicks, so I felt confident that it was functioning correctly. But you certainly have a good point that it's not worth saving a few bucks recycling a heating pad that may or may no longer be safe, if you can't verify that it is.

 

[Kfults]

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

I used the heat plate and was very pleased!