How to keep chicks warm without lamp or brooding plates?? Please help

[Queenhen25]

Okay so I have two chicks (3 weeks old) and two (1 week old) ducklings. We got them Thursday, set up a temp brooder in the garage with a heat lamp, and woke up to the smell of burning rug when the lamp fell off and tried to start a fire after God knows how long it sat there. When I came in, the chicks and ducklings were TERRIFIED and will now not go near any sort of heat which of course is bad.
I tried getting a brooder plate from TSC but they legit scream as if they're dying when I try to encourage them to use it, even at the lowest settings. I've taken to some amish methods like piling extra hay on top of their pine bedding, they hated (wrapped) heated water bottles, not even the little temporary hand warmers wrapped in a towel! It got to the point I tried using my space warmer and that somehow worked but I don't want another house fire in the middle of the night because my space heater is pretty cheap and keeping it on that long is NOT a good idea. They're currently okay with the extra hay and I'm planning to use an old blanket to build a nest of sorts to help with that but I just don't know what to do. If anyone has any advice, I desperately need it. I don't want them to die from being chilled, but I don't want all of us to die from a house fire.

I should mention I live in Colorado where our current night temps are around 70F, but our bathroom is so well insulated it holds a solid 70-75f regularly if we turn the space heater on for thirty minutes every three hours during the day. I covered any air vents and I block the doorway partially to prevent our cold fan air from getting inside in the mean time.

 

[CascadiaRiver]

Take a deep breath it'll be okay! If they're scared of the heat plate I'd remove it. If they aren't screaming terrified of a hanging heat lamp leave it there and make sure there's plenty of space to be away from it, and leave them. If they get cold, they should at least inch closer to the heat. What temperature is the part of the home they're in?

 

[Queenhen25]

Take a deep breath it'll be okay! If they're scared of the heat plate I'd remove it. If they aren't screaming terrified of a hanging heat lamp leave it there and make sure there's plenty of space to be away from it, and leave them. If they get cold, they should at least inch closer to the heat. What temperature is the part of the home they're in?

My current thermometer read is about 74F in the bathroom, and I tried the hanging method (cried to my husband until he installed hooks around 2 pm today and everything pretty just to appease me lol) and they stillll hated it. The only thing they *barely* tolerate is the space heater going which is okay but not okay for long time use as I don't want another risk of fires occurring. I'm trying everything I can with them and they just hate all of it lol

Edit: if I disappear my phone has died and I will message back as soon as possible in the morning, it's 2 am and exhaustion is starting to win over the stress lol

 

[rosemarythyme]

Don't know about the ducklings so you'd need someone to give you temps for those but assuming you have standard chicks they don't need any added heat with how warm your ambient temperature is, which is why they're avoiding it.

Put in the plate, make sure it's properly angled so they can comfortably fit under it both standing and sitting, tuck them under it so they can tell that's where the heat is, then let them be. They can decide whether they need it or not.

 

[Queenhen25]

Don't know about the ducklings so you'd need someone to give you temps for those but assuming you have standard chicks they don't need any added heat with how warm your ambient temperature is, which is why they're avoiding it.

Put in the plate, make sure it's properly angled so they can comfortably fit under it both standing and sitting, tuck them under it so they can tell that's where the heat is, then let them be. They can decide whether they need it or not.

According to professor Google, they are pretty cold hardy, especially their specific breed which I'm happy to learn! So the ducklings should be alright.
As for chicks, I'm trying my best with that, I've tried showing them where it is, making it enticing by adding food over to it, and ensuring they kind of understand it's not the same as the lamp that made them bat poop terrified of heat sources the chicks have been pretty hot to the touch whenever I go check on them, which I hope is a good sign lol.

 

[rosemarythyme]

At 3 weeks old for the chicks, especially in the confines of a brooder, they should remember where the heat plate is without too much issue, once you've shown it to them. Otherwise since they're upset right now I'd expect they'll all huddle up together somewhere in a corner for the night and that should be fine.

One caveat, since this is obviously an abrupt change for them, if they're not tucking in under the heat plate then I'd have a light source (just regular light, not heat bulb) on just so they can see to navigate if they want the plate. After tonight you can use a window if available to provide natural light and a day/night cycle to trigger them to seek the plate (or to snuggle together in the bedding for warmth), but without a trigger such as slowly dimming light they can get caught out without being able to see to navigate back.

 

[Queenhen25]

At 3 weeks old for the chicks, especially in the confines of a brooder, they should remember where the heat plate is without too much issue, once you've shown it to them. Otherwise since they're upset right now I'd expect they'll all huddle up together somewhere in a corner for the night and that should be fine.

One caveat, since this is obviously an abrupt change for them, if they're not tucking in under the heat plate then I'd have a light source (just regular light, not heat bulb) on just so they can see to navigate if they want the plate. After tonight you can use a window if available to provide natural light and a day/night cycle to trigger them to seek the plate (or to snuggle together in the bedding for warmth), but without a trigger such as slowly dimming light they can get caught out without being able to see to navigate back

So they absolutely adored the dimming light! They didn't panic with it but stayed in the corner near where I had an old night light set up for them. They still refuse to touch the brooder plate but here's where it gets interesting! There's a big hole where they all started nesting together near the light, and they essentially made a big (and I mean BIG) nest with it. I still have an old COVID thermometer, so when I scanned them this morning around 5 am they were all bundled up at a cozy 87 degrees! I think the amish were on to something after all lol they're all super happy minus one lil Sneezy guy but I'm 99% sure it's due to the new bedding I laid out for them (it's a bit dusty now lol) thank y'all so much for the help!