Latest and greatest heat plates - what are you currently using

[concrete_boots]

Happily using the premier 1, Chicks love it...i looked at the tractor supply one but it had bad reviews...not worth saving $20 to have a poetential issue..

 

[Mimi13]

I actually purchased two of those a while back (on clearance for a whopping $11 each). I got them for my coop, since they can also be mounted on a wall to use as a radiant heater, to offset the lowest temps we have periodically. I have never used them as my brooder heat source. I use a Premier One/50 heat plate for the chicks. However, back to the TSC heat plates. I am very pleased with how they perform. They have two settings, Heater and Brooder.

 

[trynix]

Heat plates are great! We've only used indoors for quail, and in the garage for chicks. We have the one for 50 chicks. Plenty of room for the chicks to dart in and out, and pick their preferred temp. Our does vary in temp a bit - hottest in the middle and less hot around the edges.

Pick a size more on size of your brooder. You should be able to put your heat plate in the brooder with enough room for the chicks to NOT be under the heat plate, but running around, eating and drinking. Also, I prefer to have space to either side of the heat plate, so all chicks can enter and leave easily (I don't put it in the corner), and not get trapped behind other chicks. As another poster indicated, you can buy two smaller heat plates, to give you more flexibility - particularly if your brooder will change; for example, if you use a large cardboard box this time, but something else next time. We built a 6'x3' (x2' tall) brooder, so the large heat plate fits in it well and it will always be in the same brooder.

The top - those are nice, but depends on your goals. It will keep chicks off the top. I did not buy the top - I use the Glad "Press n Seal" plastic wrap on the top. This is great until they get to be about 4 or 5 weeks old and start to pick at it - at that point I am more diligent about cutting the raw edges straight and not giving them something to peck or pull at. The wrap "sticks" to the top of the heat plate pretty well and then I put new on when I change out the shavings.

Awesome insights, thank you for sharing!
Are there any particular features that you wish were part of the heating plates??

 

[Acre4Me]

Awesome insights, thank you for sharing!
Are there any particular features that you wish were part of the heating plates??

If they were clear -see through, then you can see what they are doing under there! That’s not going to happen, of course! We do check under our heat plate a couple of times a day though, bc if you have a lethargic chick or one that looks iffy, they usually will die where the heat is at.