Heat plate too big for brooder box... Gah!

[OfWolvesAndHen]

WELL... this was not a calculated mistake!

Setting up my brooder box and discovered that my heating plate---Producer's Pride brooder & coop heater from TSC---is way bigger than I had expected and doesn't leave much open space in the box. There is some, enough to squeeze in a feeder and waterer, but it's very minimal aside from that. Let's just say this monster takes up more than 3/4 of the brooder box, if I had to guess. Which, I'll only have 5 chicks even with a 100% hatch rate; I wasn't going to splurge on a gargantuan tub for 5 chicks. This one is already pretty spacious.

So aside from the problem of receiving it secondhand with only two of the legs, now I'm really scratching my head at whether I can make this thing work. Should I just cut my losses and buy a new bin? I really don't want to but I would prefer that to buying a new heating plate, if I absolutely can't make this one work. I don't want to use a heating lamp. This brooder can be stood upright, but I haven't seen any photos of that particular setup being used outside of a coop so I'm not sure if that's an option.

Day 20 officially begins in like 5 minutes, so this is a time-sensitive issue. I feel pretty silly. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail...

 

[Hannahnic14]

I had the same problem a few weeks ago! I stood the heat plate on its side but the chicks seemed to huddle more. I put it back down and just left it taking up all that space but we did move them this week as they were getting pretty big. Not sure if moving them in a few weeks is an option for you.

 

[OfWolvesAndHen]

I had the same problem a few weeks ago! I stood the heat plate on its side but the chicks seemed to huddle more. I put it back down and just left it taking up all that space but we did move them this week as they were getting pretty big. Not sure if moving them in a few weeks is an option for you.

I do plan on selling them, so I'll see if they're even still with me in a few weeks!