Is anyone using the Premier "heat plate" brooder for chicks?

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Update: Have some chicks under Brinsea EcoGlow and some under a Premier plate - both seem to get equally hot to the touch and both are well-loved by their chicks! However, I prefer the Premier because you can easily adjust the height and see under it from all 4 side
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Most of my bantam chicks have migrated through the bars onto the heat lamp side of the nursery brooder. They're like little monkeys! I'm going to be putting all of the remaining chicks under the brooder and turning the lamp off. They love the heat plate as long as they stay on that side.

Here are pictures from yesterday.....



 
Thanks for the updates!

I have cobbled together a device with a heating pad on an oven rack attached to some lumber with adjustable furniture feet, we'll see if it works.
 
Branch Chickens said:
I like this! Have you temped it with a thermometer to see where the temperature is hovering?
Click to expand...
When I first tried it a week ago, the temp 1" underneath only got to about 75, so kind of gave up......but I had it on the other day in anticipation of having to help out a hatching egg, and put the thermometer on the surface of it and it was about 100- 120degrees, lo to hi settings.... someone posted that the plates were ~107 on the surface so thought I'd give in another try.

So I rigged it up this morning and put it in the brooder and turned off the lamp. There was some distress cheeping from one of the chicks and it took some convincing for them to get under there, but eventually they did and seem to be OK. Time will tell if it's a good option. You need a heating pad that doesn't have an auto off feature.

Sorry for hijacking the Premiere plate thread....wanted to start a new thread with pics, but my camera just died...will finish testing the device, if it's successful and I can get the camera working I will start a new thread. Common Courtesy dictates that I credit this idea to @Beekissed as she was the first one I saw posting about trying it.
 
I have been having some troubles with Premier lately (the company not their plate, as I still don't have it-but I should)

Around two weeks ago, I got a phone call from a very nice lady that worked at premier. I had just got my 2 waterers and heat plate cover a few hours before. She called to confirm my card number. I asked why they needed my card number again. She said that once they ship out part of the shipment, their system got rid of the card number. So I gave it to her and she said that my leg bands and heating plate would be shipped out March 1st. Which would of worked out great as I am expecting chicks from a breeder, but do not know the exact date (March or April). I posted awhile back that I was not happy with my heating cover, as it wasn't what I was expecting. Well it was not worth it to ship it back, so here it is sitting in its box in my bedroom. Not too long ago I had decided to email premier to see what the hold up was with my shipment. I was going to last weekend, but was helping some family move. Today I sat down and decided I would get to work on that email. Ironically I just got a call from premier. They said they had my leg bands in, but their was a problem with them. Apparently the numbers rub off. So now I would just 25 blue leg bands, 25 green leg bands, and so on without any numbering. She asked if I still wanted them or if I would want to wait for the back order. I asked how long the back order would be. She said she didn't know, it would be until the resolved the problem with the numbers. So it could be a week it could be months. I can live without the numbers so I agreed to accept them. I just wanted to use the colors to mark generations. She asked me for my card number again. I asked why. She said there system whipped it out again. Odd because they haven't shipped me anything else since I last gave them my card number. She said they declined my card. I have never had any problems with my card. She retyped it and for some reason it worked (good because I was about to flip). I asked if she knew when my heat plate was going to come. She said it would ship out April 1st. I explained to her how I placed my order in Feb. when it was only back ordered to March 1st, how I had been told that it was going to be shipped out March 1st, and how I purposely ordered over $100 of merchandise, because I didn't want to pay shipping. She said that I still won't have to pay shipping. And that my heating plate would be shipped out April 1st! Next it is going to be June first and I will already have chicks. I don't want to have to use a heating lamp and I am already in the time frame of when my chicks should be here and am heat plateless.
 
Here's a few pics of my brooder heating plans....this may or may not be subject to change according to how well this slip pillow performs or if it is just too dirty after a bit, at which time I'll just cover the contraption with a pillow case and be done with it. If I abandon the pillow, I'll likely use the pillow case to protect the heating pad from soiling and then pile bedding on top of the structure like the lady did in the video, except will keep both ends open for coming and going.

This is the bendable frame I'm using that will conform to just about any shape or height I want to adjust it to simply by bending it. It's just a piece of 2x2 welded wire fencing with some Gorilla tape on the edges to protect from the sharp ends. The heating pad is strapped to the underside with a couple of bungee toggles.



I can adjust this lower or higher, as I see fit for the comfort of the chicks and this frame is quite sturdy...even if the chicks climb on top it's not going to collapse.


This is my original "broody" pillow that I had started out using in the nest but was too big and occlusive to the nest so it may be used for the brooder heater...there is a pocket especially for the wire frame and heating pad that velcroes shut.









I can either hump it up to allow for standing up under it or huddling next to the sides while sleeping....





Or square it off to make for even heat all the way across...I can also make one end higher and one end lower if need be, just by bending the wire in that manner.





 

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