Switching from heat lamp to plate

[Macke]

Hi everyone!

This is my first time owning chickens or raising chicks, and they seem to be doing alright with the heat lamp right now, but the only place away from the cats was my bedroom and the heat lamp is baking me alive, so I want to switch to a heat plate for less ambient heat generation. I'm just super concerned that something will go wrong with the plate and want to make sure it's ok. The plate feels very uncomfortably warm to the touch, but everything I read says to put it low enough that they can touch it - ouch!

Is that right or is it going to be too much for them?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC!

How old are your chicks?
Is the heat plate made/marketed for brooding chicken chicks?

Plates are designed where if chicks need heat they will stand and press their backs against it. You may find that they don't spend a lot of time under it except at night.

 

[Macke]

They're 8-9 days old. It's marketed for brooding, it's a rent a coop version. Threw it in to see how they would react to it and they don't seem to mind being underneath it. The pine shavings right under it are reading 85, so I think with their bodies being taller that they'll be ok. They don't seem like they have to be under it but I get super anxious about animal safety