Heat lamp or brooder heating plate??

[Flying Penguin Ranch]

For baby quail, which is safer: heat lamp or brooder heating plate with cover. The other half is concerned about a fire and of course no hurt babies.

 

[sawilliams]

I use a great lamp, but boorder plates or mamma heating pad set ups are generally safer

 

[RosieR]

I wanted to do a heat pad or plate because of safety and I figured the birds would find it more natural to come and go from the heat source. But heat bulbs were the cheaper solution and it’s working out fine.
I got a red bulb so it’s not a bright white light shining on them 24h a day.

 

[Birdinhand]

either will work, but the MHP/heat plate approach gives them better sleep at night, forcing them all to have the same sleep schedule and there are studies showing it can have a marked effect on health.

 

[DK newbie]

There have been some posts on here where people have lost chicks due to the heat plates not becoming warm enough, so I'd go for the heat lamp. Though others have great success with the heat plates, so it might be certain models that don't work for quail, or it might be only if the room they are kept in is under a certain temp.

 

[junebuggena]

Heat plates don't go low enough for quail. Heating pads are cheaper and work just as well. Plus you can customize the height.

 

[HenniesInMyHeart]

I only raise chicken chicks, but I have to say, plates or heating pads over heat lamps! No question! I can't get over the difference in the chicks' happiness and it's great that they get on a day/night schedule, which is impossible with the heat lamps. Mine sleep the whole night through...amazing right? 24/7 Lamps will stress them to some degree, even those with red bulbs. The fire risk is no joke either. Brooder Plates are more expensive, but well worth it in the long run if you're going to do this more than once. I am so so glad I bought one. Some can be adjusted temperature-wise, too.

 

[JaeG]

If you go with a brooder plate or similar I'd keep them in a very small area initially until they learn where they need to go to warm up and make sure the temperature of the room is warm enough as with brooder plates there is no way to monitor the temperature under the plate. There has been more than one person lose their quail chicks due to chilling when using a brooder plate so I'd go the heat pad route if you don't want to use a light. And protect them from drafts.

Quail chicks lose heat very quickly because they are so tiny making them unable to return to the heat source (in a natural setting the male will retrieve straying chicks while the hen stays with the majority). They will die quickly if they can't get warmed up. A heat lamp provides more of a gradient which means they are able to find the heat more easily.

Heat plates and pads are ridiculously expensive in my country so mine grow up under lights. I don't even leave mine in the incubator to dry off as it takes so much longer than under a toasty, warm light (in an appropriately sized brooder with a cuddly, fluffy cloth to snuggle up to). I've never had any problems with lights.

 

[paneubert]

Quail chicks lose heat very quickly because they are so tiny making them unable to return to the heat source .....They will die quickly if they can't get warmed up.

Agree 100%

I posted on Easter morning about how I came downstairs to find a good number of my babies virtually dead and well away from the ceramic IR bulbs that I had running. The only change I had made the night before was removing their "night light" that they had previously meant to give some soft/indirect lighting when it got dark. My theory is that since the IR bulbs do not put out any light, and since they suddenly spent the night in complete darkness, some wandered away from the heat and could not find their way back. This is one reason I don't think I will ever use a heat plate in my brooder. Unless I also give them some soft light at night and trust them to know how to get back to the heat plate.

Most/all recovered from their night in the cold. I had so many in the brooder that I could not track them specifically, but I suspect a few of the deaths I experienced over the next few days might have been the delayed effect of that cold experience on some of them. Other than that one bad night, I have never found chicks away from the heat unless they wanted to be away from the heat.