# Need Advice on Brooders



## heyholly (Nov 8, 2012)

Can anyone give me advice on the best way to go with brooders. I've been hand rearing birds for the last couple of years, mostly cockatiels, but I've haven't had much luck with with anything under 2 weeks old. I don't normally pull chick that early, however this breeding season I had a pair of tiels that tried to raise chicks on the aviary floor. I didn't feel comfortable leaving them there so I bought them inside.

Unfortunately against my best efforts they didn't survive. I kept them in a pouch, on a heat mat, inside a box. I had a thermometer inside the pouch and tried to keep the temperature at around 38 degrees celsius, but the thermostat in the heat cut out in the middle of the night. 

It wasn't really an ideal set up to begin with. I have been considering buying a commercial brooder but they cost a small fortune and I'm not sure how to go about buying one. I know other people have had success with light bulbs but in Australia you can only but energy saving bulbs and they don't seem like they throw out enough heat to me. I don't know where to get another heat mat either, the one I had was given to me by a friend. 

I want to make sure I have the right set up before next breeding season

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

If you google for homemade brooder or homemade pet bird brooder, you'll find lots of information on making a good cheap do it yourself brooder.

Heat mats are made for reptiles but they're also suitable for birds. You may be able to find one at a pet shop, or google for information on which brands are available online in Australia. You can also use an infrared heat lamp made for reptiles. They don't emit any visible light or UVB and are safe. There are a few heat lamps marketed specifically for birds, but they're probably the same as the reptile lamps with a higher price tag.

Just FYI this is not a situation for a full spectrum light. Those are aimed at providing UVB, which is beneficial for vitamin D production in birds that would be out of the nest and flying around in the sunshine in the wild. But I would guess that they're completely inappropriate for unfledged babies who would be living in a dark hole in the wild. UVB is essential for reptiles so you'll find these bulbs in the reptile department too, but they're not what you're looking for (not now at least). If you want to use a full spectrum light later on, look for one with a 5.0 UVB rating - the 10.0 type is fine for reptiles but much too strong for birds.


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## Bird Junky (Jul 24, 2012)

Hi Why don't you give the parent birds a nest box & allow them to raise
babies to an age, (feathered up) when you can hand rear with much
more success??? Tame young can be completely parent raised if the
babies are handled on a daily basis...B.J.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

The OP said that the parents were raising the chicks on the aviary floor instead of in a nestbox. She wasn't comfortable with that; if the parents were using a nestbox as normal she wouldn't have pulled the chicks.


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## heyholly (Nov 8, 2012)

tielfan said:


> If you google for homemade brooder or homemade pet bird brooder, you'll find lots of information on making a good cheap do it yourself brooder.
> 
> Heat mats are made for reptiles but they're also suitable for birds. You may be able to find one at a pet shop, or google for information on which brands are available online in Australia. You can also use an infrared heat lamp made for reptiles. They don't emit any visible light or UVB and are safe. There are a few heat lamps marketed specifically for birds, but they're probably the same as the reptile lamps with a higher price tag.
> 
> Just FYI this is not a situation for a full spectrum light. Those are aimed at providing UVB, which is beneficial for vitamin D production in birds that would be out of the nest and flying around in the sunshine in the wild. But I would guess that they're completely inappropriate for unfledged babies who would be living in a dark hole in the wild. UVB is essential for reptiles so you'll find these bulbs in the reptile department too, but they're not what you're looking for (not now at least). If you want to use a full spectrum light later on, look for one with a 5.0 UVB rating - the 10.0 type is fine for reptiles but much too strong for birds.


Thanks thats really helpfull  My Dads pretty cluey when it comes to building things so we should be able to come up with somthing.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Brooders in Australia are quite pricey, I have looked at a few, but there is no way I have the money to fork out for one for the price they are sold for. 

Bazza’s Birds & Accessories has them, a small one is $300, and a large one is $380. And then there is a breeder who sells them for $400-$500!







It is certainly much cheaper if you have someone handy to make one for you, if you do, it is a bonus and you save a lot of money.


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## Debbie05 (Feb 9, 2010)

The very first time I used a heating pad and didn't realize that they shut off after 2 hours. So I went and borrowed a older one that has no automatic shut off.


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## Debbie05 (Feb 9, 2010)

Also there is a chart on this site that tells you how warm to keep the brooder at what age. I use it as long as the chics are developing normally.

http://www.cockatiel.org/articles/handfeeding.html


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## Hecken (Dec 23, 2012)

I don't know if it would work for 'tiels but we made a brooder for our quail/chicks by using a small vivarium. We put a red bulb on one of the short sides and kept the temperature at around 37.5 degrees celsius  Again, no idea if it would work for cockatiels though!


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> The very first time I used a heating pad and didn't realize that they shut off after 2 hours


Heating pads for humans are iffy because most modern ones shut off after two hours - even if they say that they don't! I'm not an expert on the subject, but I would guess that reptile heaters probably deliver a temperature that's closer to what you're looking for too.


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## amandacv86 (Mar 1, 2013)

Maybe you could try putting the nest box closer to the floor of the cage?


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## heyholly (Nov 8, 2012)

amandacv86 said:


> Maybe you could try putting the nest box closer to the floor of the cage?


Sorry I should explain. They actually didn't have a nest box in the aviary at that point. I knew they were ready to breed, but I was going away for three weeks so I wanted to wait to til I got back to give them a nest box. I did see one egg on the floor before I left, but I didn't think they were sitting on it. I left my parents to look after the bird and they did a great job as far as feeding them properly and keeping the aviary clean, but they're not the most bird savvy people and wouldn't have known what they were really looking at, they probably thought it was normal. Anyway when I got home two little chicks had hatched and a few days later they other two did as well. As for the parents they looked nice and healthy still so I gave them a box and they went on to breed very successfully.


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