New Member here!

[007Sean]

Howdy, Hunter and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

My brooder is a large, wooden box with a medium-sized square hole in the top for ventilation and/or chords.

This will not be large enough for 16 chicks. And it should have more ventilation.

Do you still have your original coop? If so, I highly recommend brooding directly in the coop using a brooder plate with a large old bath towel folded up and draped over the plate to form a cave with just an opening in the front.

The benefits of the plate over a lamp are multiple:

• They use less energy
• They simulate a broody hen much better than a lamp
• The chicks will have a normal circadian rhythm without interference from a red light.
• Using the fold towel ensures that the heat is trapped under the plate and the chicks can move around the perimeter to regulate their body temperature.

I brooded 16 chicks this way in the build in brooder in my coop in a NY spring when night time temps dropped into the low 20s and the chicks thrived.

I also recommend hanging a baby bottle made from an old sports bottle with a flip top and built in handle. The flip top needs to be left open so the bottle doesn't form a vacuum as the chicks drink from it. As they grow, you just move it up on the chain to the right height so they can get under it and reach up to drink. They keep the bedding dry and there is no risk of chicks drowning in an open waterer and the water stays clean.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

Congrats on your soon to be new chicks! You might stop by this BYC article for more tips on Heating and raising your babies... https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/brooding-chicks-the-first-6-weeks.74640/

Welcome to our community!

 

[janiedoe]

Welcome to BYC. I prefer the heat plate. Two of them would be best. And like @DobieLover I prefer raising chicks in the coop. Once you raise the first batch, you will hopefully have a broody or two to raise further chicks.

 

[swampfox440]

Welcome to BYC! good luck with your flock! nice to meet you.

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC, and good luck in establishing your flock.

 

[chrissynemetz]

Welcome to BYC! We're glad you joined us!

 

[triciayoung]

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. If you are using heat plate synonymously with a radiant panel heater - than this is best.

 

[triciayoung]

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!!

To add to Debbie's post....be careful not to use any teflon bulbs. Teflon poisoning kills chickens.

 

[triciayoung]

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!

I am sorry you lost her.