When you have newly hatched chicks, it is important that they are kept nice and warm. A lot of the time, you can’t really rely on their mother to do this. Instead, you are going to need a chick brooder heater or baby chick heat lamp.
How to Select the Best Chick Brooder Heaters
Providing supplemental heat is crucial when raising chicks, especially during the first few weeks when they lack the ability to regulate their own body temperature. Choosing an appropriate brooder heater ensures your peeping fuzzballs stay warm, safe, and comfortable as they grow. It’s part of the cost of raising chickens and so worth it! Here’s how to pick the perfect heat source tailored to your situation.
Determine Heat Output Needs
The most important factor is selecting a heater with adequate heating capacity for the size of your brooder space and number of chicks housed. As a general rule of thumb:
- Chicks require a temperature around 95F for the first week, dropping 5 degrees each week after.
- Plan for approximately 1 square foot of space per chick within the brooder ring.
- Each chick requires about 10 watts of heat for proper temperature maintenance the first week.
Do the math based on your setup. For example, 20 chicks in a 2’x4’ brooder needs an 80 watt heater the first week. Scale up accordingly allowing for future growth.
Research Safety Features
Chick safety should be the top priority. Look for key safety features:
- Tip-over auto shutoff switch
- Overheat protection
- Outer surface stays cool to the touch
- High quality insulated wiring
- Meet testing standards like UL or ETL
Avoid cheap imported heaters lacking adequate safety testing. Spending a bit more upfront prevents fires or electrocution hazards down the line.
Consider Ease of Use
Pick a heater that’s convenient for your space:
- Compact size appropriate for your brooder dimensions
- Portability to move between brooders as chicks age
- Easy to adjust/angle the heat output direction
- Simple dual temperature/power controls
- Good cord length or extension cord compatibility
You’ll be operating the heater multiple times daily, so user-friendly designs make routines simpler.
Assess Extra Features
Special addition features to look for include:
- Auto temperature regulation to prevent overheating
- Timer functions to set intermittent heat
- Dual heat settings for adjustment as chicks age
- Nighttime red light option to allow observation without disruption
- Durable metal construction instead of plastic
While not strictly necessary, bonus features enhance safety, convenience and adjustability.
Research Reliable Brands and Models
Rather than buying blindly online, research which specific heater models experienced farmers repeatedly recommend. Look for brands like:
- Brinsea
- GQF
- Brower
- Hova-Bator
- Little Giant
Known reliable names ensure you’re getting a quality brooder heater that will last through years of chick seasons.
Prioritizing safety, sufficient power for your needs, ease of use, and trusted brands makes finding the perfect brooder heater straightforward. Investing in the right heat setup gets each chick season off to a healthy start! You’ll be set all the way up to sex Let me know if you need any specific brooder heater recommendations.
Thankfully, there are plenty of options on the market. Not so thankfully, it can be difficult to track down a chick brooder heating plate can be difficult to find. Luckily, you have us.
We are going to walk you through five of the best chick brooder heaters, heating plates and lamps on the market.
Brinsea EcoGlow Brooder
The Brinsea EcoGlow Brooder is the perfect chick brooder heater to last your chicks until they are fully grown.
This is because there are three different customizable height settings on it.
As your chicks get older, you can flip the level up. This is highly convenient.
Up to 35 chickens can fit under this brooder. This means that it is the only piece of kit that you need if you are a small to medium chicken breeder.
The design is meant to consume the minimum amount of power, which is great if you are looking to cut back on those electric bills (running a brooder constantly can be expensive!).
RentACoop Heating Plate Kit
Next up, we have the RentACoop Heating Plate Kit.
This nifty set has a fantastic 25 different height settings.
You can adjust the height from 1″ to 7″ which, of course, means that it is going to be more than capable of accommodating chicks of all sizes.
You could even put some ducklings here if you really want. If you are sticking to just the chick side of things, then you will be able to fit 30 of them in here.
This means that this kit is going to be more than fine for the vast majority of chicken breeders out there.
Well, at least those that run a homesteading operation, which we are certain is the vast majority of people that are going to be reading this page.
One of the most amazing things about this chick heating plate kit is that it doesn’t really require that much in the way of power. It works at 42-watts, which is going to be barely anything when it comes to your electricity bill.
In fact, it is going to be a fraction of what a heating lamp would use, so that is awesome.
At all times, you can be sure that the chickens inside of this are going to be warm enough to thrive, which is just what you want.
Titan Incubators Chick Heater Brooder
If you really are concerned about power consumption, then the Titan Incubators option may be good for you. Not only does it have a beautiful design, but it only consumes 20-watts of power, which is barely anything.
As with the other 2 options, you have full control over the height of this brooder, which means that it can grow up with your chicks. Up to 25 chicks can nestle underneath this brooder.
The heat that this emits is completely safe for your chickens. It works incredibly hard to ensure that it does not overheat. So, don’t worry.
While it may be uncomfortable for you to put your hand under this brooder, we can assure you that it is going to be 100% safe for your chicks. In fact, they are going to absolutely love being under it!
As we said, this is a beautiful unit. While it is made out of plastic, it is stylized, which makes it great for those people that really do care about the look of the brooder. Don’t worry.
It is completely stable too. You don’t have to worry about your chicks knocking it over or anything like that!
Premier Chick Brooder Heating Plate
Next up, we have the Premier Chick Brooder Heating Plate.
This is the perfect option if you are starting to venture into those larger-scale breeding operations.
This is because this heating plate is going to be capable of playing host to up to 50 chicks at a time! It accomplishes this using nothing more than 66-watts per hour.
This means that when it comes to 50 chick heating plates, this is probably one of the more fuel-efficient options out there!
This heating plate is able to extend from 1″ to 6″, which, once again, means that you are going to end up with a chick brooder that is capable of dealing with chicks of all heights.
The bottom of the heating plate is able to maintain a nice 125F, which is perfect for your chicks. Although, of course, you will also have to consider other environmental factors to ensure that your chicks are not getting too cold from the side.
However, to be honest, the chances of that happening if you are raising your chicks indoors is going to be so low that it is probably not worth thinking about.
Little Giant – Baby Chick Heat Lamp
While purchasing a brooder heating plate tends to be the best route for the vast majority of people.
However, there are some that want to do things the more traditional way.
This means using a brooding lamp. We had a look at the huge number of them on the market. However, this option form Little Giant was easily our favorite one available. It is almost perfect.
You will need to buy a bulb to go with this baby chick heat lamp, but it takes up to 300-watt bulbs. They aren’t expensive in the slightest, which is nice.
The 6-foot cord that comes with the Little Giant Brooder Reflector is perfect for those that need to set up a brooding area a little bit away from the electrical socket.
There are tons of safety features built-in too. This means that you can be sure that once your chicks are under this, they are going to be nice and comfortable at all times.
Conclusion
You have five different options available on this page. We can assure you that no matter which route you end up going down, you are going to be ending up with a chicken brooder that is going to be absolutely perfect for you.
Whether you have new born chicks or older ones, it is important that they stay warm and cozy. For chicks during their first few weeks in the world and for chickens during the winter months. That is why it is so important to have a good chicken coop heater.
What do you think? Have we helped make things easier for those looking to get started with this process? Let us know if we missed anything! We’re always happy to help out fellow chicken lovers who want to raise some chickens but don’t know where to start.
