Fluff & FeedHappy birds start here.

Chick brooders and heat plates

By the Fluff & Feed team · Updated

A hen with her chicks

For chicks without a hen, a heat plate is the safer pick. The plates here draw 12 to 40 W, while brooder heat lamps draw 250 W. Start the brooder at about 95°F the first week and lower it about 5°F a week, per Penn State Extension.

Heat plate or heat lamp?

A heat plate stands on legs over the chicks, and every plate here adjusts in height as they grow. Heat lamps hang an exposed hot bulb over dry bedding. Cornell's Small Farms Program warns that this "is always going to be a fire risk." If you do use a lamp, Penn State Extension says to keep it at least 20 inches from anything that can burn, and Ohio State says never to lay one on a flammable surface.

Sources: Penn State Extension, Cornell Small Farms Program, Ohio State Ag Safety.

Chick counts are the maker's own numbers.

15 of 15 brooders and heat plates match

Buying through our links may earn us a commission at no cost to you. It never changes which products match. How we earn money