# What to use for heating brooder?



## kfelton0002 (Mar 12, 2010)

Okay so I am defintely not going to be using the heating pad that I have because it shuts off every 2 hours, so that pretty much just leaves a heat lamp as a source of heat for my brooder. I will be brooding my chicks in my bedroom and will be checking on them frequently throughout the night to prevent history from repeating itself. 


Anyway, I found some reptile heating bulbs at walmart and they don't cast a bright light. They are designed for nocturnal reptiles so I was thinking this would be ideal for baby cockatiels seeing as they sleep a lot and their nest boxes are dark. It would be an easier transition for them to go from a darkened nest box to a darkened brooder I think. Has anyone else used something like this? The heat bulbs that I have now produce A LOT of heat and I think they would be a little too much for baby cockatiels. They are meant to be used to brood baby poultry in an open space. In the past I used a regular light bulb, but it kept the brooder somewhat illuminated and I didn't like that very much. What do you all think?? Would the reptile heat bulbs work?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

From what I've heard that should work fine as long as it's not too close to the brooder to overheat the chicks. Do you have a thermometer that you can hang so you can monitor the temp just in case you have to move the heating lamps further or closer to the brooder?


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## kfelton0002 (Mar 12, 2010)

Oh yeah. I have a digital thermometer that I used in my brooder last time and it worked really well. It also measures relative humidity so that is pretty handy. I'm going to pick up a few of those reptile heat bulbs this weekend so I can give them a trial run before I pull my chicks. 

Oh and I also have a dilemma!! My husband and I are going out of town for a weekend close to the end of the month and I will be hand feeding my chicks then! I will have to take them with me, but how am I going to explain my babies to the owners of a hotel?? Should I hide them in a duffle bag or something? I can get a smaller storage tote to brood them in temporarily while we are out of town so that I can hide them, but what about housekeeping?? They will see the babies when they come in to make the bed will they not?? Aren't some hotels pet friendly?? What am I going to do??

HELP ME!!!


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## kfelton0002 (Mar 12, 2010)

I suppose I could teach my mom how to hand feed them and leave them with her, but she has a dog and I'm scared something might happen to my babies!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

We brought rabbits home with us one time after a long trip and we snuck them in. Are you going to leave them at the hotel during the day? If so you might just want to clear it with management and make sure it's ok, birds are nothing like dogs and they're babies at that so they wont even be noisey. You can call them before hand and ask them if its allowed to have them there.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

This is what I use: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752461 You can also do a search and find them cheaper and in other sizes. I just place the mat across the opening of the container (I use carboard boxes), leaving 1/3 open for ventilation. I have used these from day ones and older, and I have used them in an emergency to incubate eggs.

While traveling you can get an inverter to plug into the cigarette lighter in a car to invert to electricity to run the mat.

As far as in the room since the birds are little and not destructive you can point this out, and most motels are very understanding. Or as Roxy suggested call ahead to find out.


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## Karine (May 28, 2010)

You can request NO housekeeper. Some people do not want housekeepers to go into their room I know you could tell the front desk to not send cleaning crews.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

All you'd have to do for that really is put the "do not disturb" sign up...they aren't supposed to walk into a room with that sign up.


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## kfelton0002 (Mar 12, 2010)

My husband doesn't really want to take them with us because he thinks it will make them sick or something, so I think I may just leave them with my mom and teach her how to hand feed. My husband has agreed to shortening the trip so that we won't have to stay overnight, so the sooner I can get back to them the better!


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Going back to the bulbs for heating, I did read in my book, that if you go for two 25 watt bulbs rather than one 50 watt, then you still get the same heat that one provides from the two and should one blow then yes the temperature will drop but because one would still be working then you are more likely not to loose your chick, it might get cold but not to extremes to kill it.

Have you also considered ceramic heat lamps, they would have a much longer life than a normal bulb. Also I was looking on ebay, (it came from china or hong kong but shipped world wide) and I found a thermometer you could set within certain temperatures and should the heat drop below or go above your set temperatures then a alarm will sound, which would be great on a brooder should there be a problem with heating then you would be alerted to it so would be able to rest easier.

Jenny


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## kfelton0002 (Mar 12, 2010)

That thermometer alarm sounds pretty awesome! I may just look that up!! Thanks!!


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Sorry to hijack, but I have a question on the heating pads. Do you put them on top of the bedding, under the bedding, or stand alone? If with bedding how much of a buffer do you use? I wonder if you could use a dimmer with them. 

PS found them on clearance. I was using the stick on under the tank heating pads, but I didn't like that they couldn't be moved. It looks like these can. Do you have to stick them on the aquarium?


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Thanks for the link. I LOVE my T-Rex mat. Here is what I have on my Mousebird site: http://www.mousebirds.com/emergency-heat.html Most of the info is from the MFG. But I prefer to have the mat above the bird, across the opening of the container.

I do not use heating pads anymore. Most of them have an auto-cutoff built in that turns them off after 2 hours. Plus if there is not suffecient bedding separating the heat generated from the pad and the bird there is a slight risk of the crop being burned when the baby rests it's crop. Or sometimes the contact with the heat can effect small babies bones and make them flexible, and contribute to splayed leg and other problems. IF a heating pad is used it should be under the container, and at least 2-3" of bedding used inside the container. I preffer to use a couple of thin papaerback books under the container to act as a spacer so that the pad is not in direct contact with the container.


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## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

Can you get such a thing as a habistat heat mat where you are? (for reptiles) I've used one of these when I've needed to handreared from hatch, they stay at a constant temprature and don't switch off at all.


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Thanks so much! My tank is a 20 long, I was going to make a water brooder, but was having problems keeping the 10 gallon weighed down, so that idea got scratched. 

I found with the 20 long I have to have 2 heating pads, one underneath and one velcro'd to the side. I didn't like the idea of bending the pads. I had to pay extra for the heating pads that did not have a auto shut off, about $20 each for a normal sized pad. This still wasn't warm enough even with a double layer of fleece on the top for week old chicks. The birds were attached to the side wall of the aquarium at night. From your instructions it look like it can be placed on the side wall on the outside and still heat up the whole tank, I like the idea of styrofoam backing too. The styrofoam could be taped on the back wall without having to attach the heat pad permanently.


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