New Member here!

[hunterozzy]

Hello! I have been looking for a website like this for a while now (honestly have NO idea how I missed the top website ). I have 18 baby chicks from Meyer Hatchery arriving in late April and I'm just looking for some more advice on handling and care. I have owned chickens before but not for the past few years and have become a bit rusty on my chicken knowledge. I know it's still a bit of a way away, but when the chicks come, should I use a heat LAMP or a heat PLATE... I have heard equally good things about both and would like to know your opinions. Does the form of heat change for different types and materials of brooders? My brooder is a large, wooden box with a medium-sized square hole in the top for ventilation and/or chords.

Thanks, Hunter

 

[Nomadicus]

Hello and Welcome to BYC. Glad you have joined this Poultry Loving Community.

 

[homesteading101]

Heat plate and with that many birds you should cut multiple boxes with holes in them so they can zoom around it'll get tight very quickly

 

[Farmgirl283420]

Hello! I have been looking for a website like this for a while now (honestly have NO idea how I missed the top website ). I have 18 baby chicks from Meyer Hatchery arriving in late April and I'm just looking for some more advice on handling and care. I have owned chickens before but not for the past few years and have become a bit rusty on my chicken knowledge. I know it's still a bit of a way away, but when the chicks come, should I use a heat LAMP or a heat PLATE... I have heard equally good things about both and would like to know your opinions. Does the form of heat change for different types and materials of brooders? My brooder is a large, wooden box with a medium-sized square hole in the top for ventilation and/or chords.

Thanks, Hunter

Welcome! I would love to see pictures of your chicks when they come!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens. Pull up roost stay awhile.
Heat plate is the best room enough they a can come out too.

 

[EEforMe]

Welcome to BYC!!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hiya, and welcome to BYC!!

We use a 150-watt black ceramic heat bulb, much like used for lizards and such. I've heard a lot of good things about heat plates too. I think if you ran a vote, it would probably be pretty split between the two.

Be sure to peruse some articles in our Learning Center that may help you.

Good luck with your new chicks!!

 

[Kenneth Zweerink]

Welcome to BackYard Chickens. And a Big Hello from Eastern Nebraska!

 

[Callender Girl]

Congrats on your soon-to-arrive babies and on joining this community where you can "polish up" those rusty skills in no time!

I've used both heat lamps and prefer the heat plate, which won't burn chicks or me if either gets too close. I like the way the top of my heat plate can be set at an angle so it accommodates both larger and smaller chicks at the same time, and it takes the pressure off me having to constantly adjust the height of the light bulb.

One word of caution: I found one of last year's chicks dead on top of the heat plate. It looked as if she had flown on top of it and gotten her leg caught between the heat plate and the brooder wall. I don't know that that's why she died, but I made sure to keep the heat plate pulled away from the brooder wall after that.

Welcome to BYC, and let us know when the flock arrives, please!

 

[N F C]

Congrats on your upcoming chicks! In addition to a heat lamp and a heat plate, you may want to check out a 3rd option: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/

Best wishes and thanks for joining us!