Indoor versus Outdoor Brooder

[sealskin]

As I get ready for chicks in the spring, I keep reading that chicks are very dirty/dusty and will ruin a room in your house if you brood them indoors. My mind immediately began considering an attached, but unheated garage which stays around freezing or above in cold weather.

I bought an ecoglow heat plate for them for safety reasons, however, it states that it won't work below 50 degrees. That means the garage won't work.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom on what worked well for them? I'm hoping to move them outside around 6 weeks of age when they're fully feathered.

 

[Pullet Press]

As I get ready for chicks in the spring, I keep reading that chicks are very dirty/dusty and will ruin a room in your house if you brood them indoors. My mind immediately began considering an attached, but unheated garage which stays around freezing or above in cold weather.

I bought an ecoglow heat plate for them for safety reasons, however, it states that it won't work below 50 degrees. That means the garage won't work.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom on what worked well for them? I'm hoping to move them outside around 6 weeks of age when they're fully feathered.

I say brood them in the garage using a heat lamp (up high) to heat the brooder up to 60 degrees, then let the ecoglow do the rest, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Willow2253]

You’ll probably need a secondary heat source if you’re brooding in your garage in cold weather. Insulating the brooder and having a good thick layer of bedding will help retain heat, but probably not enough if your garage is around freezing at the time of brooding. I brood outside in my coop with a heat lamp, but I avoid having young chicks when there’s freezing temperatures.

 

[Sammi_0411]

Il be honest i hada brooder for 4 chicks and a brooder for 33 hatched quail took ages to clean and get smell outta house so i put them in the shed with a heat lamp xx

 

[DragonGirls]

This would work for you if you choose not to use the Ecoglow because of the working temp issue, very easy and the chicks love it!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/

Yes, it is a very long thread but the basic important information is at the start. (and yes chicks create a lot of dust!)
Mama heat pads and heat plates work by creating a "mother hen" effect and do not need to heat the entire space, the chicks just press their backs up to he heat when needed and for sleeping under.
If you still want to use a ready made heat plate I have a feeling there is one that works in lower temps but offhand I can not think of the brand right now.