Weak Chicks—is heat plate the problem, brooder wire, or something else

[Tunie B]

It's your third lot so I'm sure you've got it all right, but to check: you have the right food? They can access it okay? Young chicks are sometimes not the most intelligent!

I like putting the food just on the puppy pads for first week and then in a container after. For water I like to mix some nutri-drench into it for the first two times I refill it but also offer a spare plain water too.

With the heat plates, put two legs at the height of them standing up with a little space, and the back legs lower. This way they can choose where they want to sit and rest. I've successfully brooded over 400 quail chicks with my heat plates, never had any issues and they certainly are not as posh as that brinsea one. I use Titan Plates.

I'm sure you know all this just not sure what else it could be, sometimes hatches go like this

Thank you--it's been a much tougher time this go-round. I know that Silkie crosses and Salmon Favorelles are a bit more delicate, at least according to the Meyer Hatchery reviews.
I will go back to the heat plate and adjust the way you suggested--I worry so much about an accidental fire, and we are out a bit too far in the country to feel comfortable waiting for fire trucks in our county.

 

[Srosegriff]

I just replaced the heat plate with the heat lamp—the stronger chicks seemed to get energized by it. Now I’m thinking the heat plate wasn’t warm enough.

Hi, I think, despite the blaring light at night, the heat lamp helps to temperature regulate the chicks better than a heating plate. They have the options to move themselves closer or further away from the heat lamp and you as the chicken keeper can raise and lower the lamp as the temperature changes during the day and night. I would keep a thermometer near(place where the chicks are) to see what temperature you are at that way you can adjust the height of the lamp. I am a first time chicken owner and decided to go with a heat lamp to start so I can manipulate the temp and watch what my chicks do as they grew. With a heat lamp you can keep a better eye on them too. So far so good for me. I have a science background so the data I can measure helps me understand chick comfort and growth.

 

[Cindy in PA]

Hi, I think, despite the blaring light at night, the heat lamp helps to temperature regulate the chicks better than a heating plate. They have the options to move themselves closer or further away from the heat lamp and you as the chicken keeper can raise and lower the lamp as the temperature changes during the day and night. I would keep a thermometer near(place where the chicks are) to see what temperature you are at that way you can adjust the height of the lamp. I am a first time chicken owner and decided to go with a heat lamp to start so I can manipulate the temp and watch what my chicks do as they grew. With a heat lamp you can keep a better eye on them too. So far so good for me. I have a science background so the data I can measure helps me understand chick comfort and growth.

I totally disagree. I have used a heat plate for the last 3 batches. The chicks can regulate by going under, sitting on top or just staying close. I struggled for 20+ years getting the heat lamp right. It is fairly simple in the beginning to tell if the plate is working OK, they are under it & there are no alarm calls etc. I feel many people fry their chicks by using a heat lamp in a plastic tote. I have no idea how a heat plate could injure chicks, why would they stay under it if it was too hot. JMHO

 

[3KillerBs]

I just replaced the heat plate with the heat lamp—the stronger chicks seemed to get energized by it. Now I’m thinking the heat plate wasn’t warm enough.

I can't find the reference, but I remember reading that some hatcheries are asking people to agree to use a heat lamp because some brooder plates aren't good enough at warming chicks that have gotten chilled in shipping.

The difference being that the heat lamp warms the entire area under it while the brooder plate only *really* warms the chicks in contact with it.

I've got a thermometer probe under my brooder plate and it's only about 80F down on the bedding -- not as warm as if I had a heat lamp there, where I aimed for about 90F at bedding level (95F on top of a brick that I used as a proxy for chick height).

But my heat plate is on a slant and the bedding is thick under it so they can get as warm as they want to be.

The heat lamp is as safe as anything electrical in a chicken space can be WHEN USED CORRECTLY. That is,

• With the clip removed and the hanging loop fasted to a chain or wire (not a flammable string or rope),
• In a large enough space that it cannot contact anything flammable AND so that the chicks can find a cool area if they're too warm,
• With a bulb of appropriate type and wattage (the big, red, 250 is WAY TOO MUCH HEAT for a small brooder or an indoor setup at normal room temperatures of 65-75F),
• Proper maintenance is done, including cleaning off any dust/debris from the bulb and housing at regular intervals.

I love my brooder plate because it saves me a lot of fussing around adjusting the lamp and changing bulbs with the changing weather and the chicks naturally wean off heat themselves as their feathers grow. But the lamps also have their advantages and we shouldn't be closed-minded about them.