Word of Caution about EcoGlow 20 Brooder Light!!! CAREFUL!!!!!

[DelcoChix]

I have read so many wonderful reviews about this brooder light so took the plunge and bought it prior to my chicks arrival this week...have raised quite a few batches in the last five years using the heatlamp so was pretty eager to receive this and no longer have the concern of fire, etc...
First--please let me be really clear...I REALLY LOVE this product and do not regret purchasing it.

Second--This is just a warning...suggestion...flag..use whatever word you prefer but here's the problem I found:

I picked up my long awaited order of chicks from the P.O. yesterday and it did not take them long to discover the joy of the EcoGlow 20...I went away last night, returned about 2 hours later and of course the first thing I did was go check on them...it didn't register at first when I heard the peeping. Then, I saw a fluffy butt on the side of the EcoGlow, immediately realized the chick had stuck it's head in the open area where the legs attach. I was horrified--picked up the chick with one hand and the EcoGlow with the other and figured out how to lift the chick and gently pull her head back thru the slot. She seemed to be a little dazed but was ok, slowly walked over the water and then the feeder and is perfectly fine today. I know without a doubt, if I had just gone to bed instead of the mudroom to check on the fluffy-butts she would be dead.....I took some simple Christmas packing tape and covered the slots on both sides so a very easy fix.

Maybe my little ones are not quite Einsteins and no one else had had this happen, but I thought folks might want to at the very least be aware of the potential. Due to the unusually cold weather I have my girls in the house (first time ever!) in a long, plastic storage tub rather than my awesome brooder that I have all set up in the big coop (the EcoGlow doesn't work well in temps under 50--that is today's high...been in the 20's and 30's this week) Anyways, I just wanted to share with others just in case--hopefully no one else has ever run into this--it wouldn't have occurred to me until it happened. An easy fix...and my girls are all doing well







The slot below the cord is where she got her head stuck. I also covered the other side, just in case.
Note: The white is where I stuck an envelope to try to show the open area...sort of worked....

 

[gryeyes]

I have used the EcoGlow brooders for a couple of years now and never had <I>that</I> happen, BUT have also learned to check all around the unit for trapped chicks, after finding one had managed to get between one side and the brooder wall. I now set up the unit(s) so only one end, never the long sides, against any brooder wall or the feeders or anything else.

Chicks get themselves into the darnedest places and situations! They don't know how to back up, they have to turn around to get out of "dead end" corridors or other spots. So if there is a chick-wide space - and obviously such a distance needs to be increased as the chicks grow - they will be stuck there.

I am guessing your chick was trying to go forward though any hole it found, because it doesn't know how to back up. Great catch! Glad it's okay now, and that's a super fix for any user!

 

[DelcoChix]

I think you're right in that the little crittur didn't know how to back out, and her head was in and down--to remove her I had to lift her up a little and then out, but all's good! So glad I happened to check on them--supposed to be outside in our 'super-brooder' that's been ready for a couple of weeks, not supposed to be in the 20's at the end of March in Ohio! Thankfully, they were in the house
And I did what you'd mentioned--turned the lamp around to allow more clearance all around. Sad to say I did lose one of my Wheaten Marans...no idea why, either genetic malfunction or smothered in under the lamp with the rest of the chicks all around, where I'd found her....first loss of a chick ever. Still makes me sad.