Is my brooder plate enough?

[CMH Ohio]

I just felt bad picturing 3 newborn chicks in a wire cage in the middle of a garage. Maybe if he posted a picture it wouldn't seem so cold. I'm in Wisconsin vs. Florida, so big difference there too!

If your broader is wire then a draft guard around would help. I use in my basement and they seem comfortable. I have only 3 bantam chicks with heat plate.

 

[MamaWolf4]

Some years ago (decades by now), heat lamps were the default.
Brooder plates, and heating pads shaped into a cave-like space, are much more recent inventions.

My impression is that brooder plates are mostly used by people new to chickens (so no previous experience) and by people who did use heat lamps but then had a bad experience so they switched.

I think the people most likely to use heat lamps now are the ones who already have some experience with heat lamps, and who have not had problems.

Where you raise the chicks, and how many chicks, also make a big difference.
Heat lamps are good at providing large amounts of heat to a large area. This is good when raising large numbers of chicks, or raising chicks in cold conditions, or both. Brooder plates are good at providing smaller amounts of heat to a small area.

If a few chicks are in a plastic tub inside a human house, a heat lamp will easily overheat the chicks and kill them (or if it doesn't kill them, minor levels of overheating makes them more prone to some kinds of problems.) A brooder plate is a much better choice in that situation (or move the chicks to a bigger brooder, or use a smaller light bulb in the heat lamp.) That is a common situation with people new to chickens.

Obvious exceptions to all of that:
--chicks raised with a broody hen do not need any of those other heat sources.
--other heating methods may be good choices for any situation with very large numbers of chicks (over about 200). Those other methods can be ignored by most people with backyard flocks.

No offense but I think brooder plates are a much BETTER invention than heat lamps (and are newer) - that is why newer chicken owners have them. They use much less energy, they have a very low fire risk, there is no shatter risk, no artificial light so it teaches the chicks days vs. nights

I have seen SO many posts with heat lamps that have fallen and have burned chicks, burned the brooder pen, keeping the pen so hot that they are cooking their chicks, etc. Water splashed can shatter the bulb. We used a brooder plate with feathers attached around the entire outside so the chicks felt enclosed and safe. And to me, it feels much more like a mother hen. Chicks born naturally to a hen stay warm due to contact heat - the heat of the mother's stomach in contact with their back/body. This is the same way that a brooder plate works.

I can see if someone is raising hundreds of chicks or if they start outside. MAYBE. I would still never use a heat lamp. They make large brooder plates to accommodate more chicks and you can use more than one.

I am a newer chicken owner and haven't raised a lot of chicks but a brooder plate may be a hill that I may die on.

 

[NatJ]

No offense but I think brooder plates are a much BETTER invention than heat lamps

Brooder plates are better than heat lamps for SOME purposes. Brooder plates are not better for ALL purposes.

In my post that you quoted, I pointed out some situations when one is better, and some where the other is better.

I am a newer chicken owner and haven't raised a lot of chicks but a brooder plate may be a hill that I may die on.

Don't waste your time dying on any hills. Just use the right tool for the job-- which has been a brooder plate for the situations you have encountered so far.