Inexpensive Brooder You Can Make

[CandoAviary]

Thank you, and the submersible aquarium heater allows me to set the temperature perfectly.

So right. I have several aquariums and good tank heaters are very reliable and accurate. If I never need a brooder I will set one of mine up like this...love it... only draw back that I can see is that it is not very easily portable.....
Maybe setting it up in a small cooler with a handle would make it more portable
When I had to take chicks that I was handfeeding to the show with me I would just set the nestbox on the floorboard of my van between the seats... with a van the engine is right there and the floor is a perfect temperature. After some hundred miles even a little warm...then I would slide a beach towel underneat to insulate a little. Not rocket science but it worked

[suefourmet]

Just in case anyone is still following this thread. If you want to use a heating pad, you can find the non-auto shutoff ones by searching on the internet. You can buy a thermometer/thermostat at a good reptile store or online. The easiest way I have found to control temperatures is to: 1) Put the heating pad under your container. 2) Place the thermometer that is connected to a thermostat on top of whatever padding you are using. 3) Plug the heating pad into the thermostat and work with it until the temperature is exactly where you want it and then set the thermostat. It will turn the the heating pad off and on as necessary to keep the temperature stable.

I've been able to hold a stable temperature at 96 degrees indefinitely.

Sue
Sue Fourmet

[rcirmele]

Sally,

I did something similar. I used a "Critter Carrier" and a reptile hot rock. The critter carrier was clear plastic so you could see through it and it had a ventilated top. I also had to spend a lot of time adjusting the temperature with the towel thickness. I would have loved to have a thermostat to control the temperature.

[fahrenheit45]

hello everyone,

thank you so much for the ideas you all are sharing. i started reading this thread because i keep finding eggs every other day outside the nest. my shafttails are doing this routine for almost two weeks now. the latest one they threw off the best almost have skins of the little one already.

i really wanted to take the eggs and follow one of ideas that's with a lamp. i live in the phillippines and this is a tropical country.

i wondering if there is a right time for me to get the eggs and start doing these things.

i hope you guys can help me out.

we have very limited equipment like warmers and stuff. the aquarium idea is the 2nd closest i can follow. but the lamp is still the easiest.

the shafttail eggs were down to 3 from 5 eggs and my zebras are just in a horse race now having 6 eggs.

any help i could get is very much welcome. keep those ideas coming.

thanks to all of you again.

[ac12]

Denis
The problem with an egg incubator is maintaining accurate and stable temp and appropriate level of humidity. I think this would be difficult to do using a lamp.
Then you have to turn the eggs several times a day.

Once the egg hatches, then you need the chick brooder.
Candace's use of the lamp on the nest would be what you want to duplicate.

[ac12]

I forgot to post this.
This is the inline dimmer that I used.

http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-Dim ... ogId=10053

[fahrenheit45]

Thanks Gary.

[PrettyBird]

Great ideas I love the baby wipe warmer one....hmm I wonder if that would work for parrotlet babies for a while?
I also like the critter carrier. I have a few of those laying around the house!
Is a heat rock a good choice if you have towels as the barrier? (of course having a thermometer as well)

[ac12]

@Dee
I think as long as you can control the heat so the chicks get the correct temp you are OK.

[william]

i was wondering about the out come of those babies i saw in the munchkin warmers sense i notice the posts were from june 2011. thanks!

[Sally]

I love the Munchkin warmer as a brooder, in part because of its portability. It is very easy to tuck it into a tote bag and off you go. This warmer can be plugged into a volt converter that plugs into the cigarette lighter plug on your vehicle.

As the chicks get bigger, closer to fledging, I like the critter carrier, as it gives more room for the chicks to move around and build strength in their wings, but it is not as portable (still can be tucked into a larger tote though).

Once fledged, they can be moved into a small cage. They spend their time up to this point in my bathroom, as it is more convenient for me, but once they move into a small cage, they are in the birdroom, where they can start to relate to other birds.

The last stage is to be moved into a regular cage, preferably with other juveniles, preferably with their own species. Young adult birds of their own species can teach them how to be birds.

[william]

I love the Munchkin warmer as a brooder, in part because of its portability. It is very easy to tuck it into a tote bag and off you go. This warmer can be plugged into a volt converter that plugs into the cigarette lighter plug on your vehicle.

As the chicks get bigger, closer to fledging, I like the critter carrier, as it gives more room for the chicks to move around and build strength in their wings, but it is not as portable (still can be tucked into a larger tote though).

Once fledged, they can be moved into a small cage. They spend their time up to this point in my bathroom, as it is more convenient for me, but once they move into a small cage, they are in the birdroom, where they can start to relate to other birds.

The last stage is to be moved into a regular cage, preferably with other juveniles, preferably with their own species. Young adult birds of their own species can teach them how to be birds.

thanks sally very helpful info !!!!

[PrettyBird]

Does anyone know where I can get the wipe warmer? I went to Walmart today, looked around the baby section, then asked an employee and she looked at me like I was dumb, and said "noooo?...I dont even know what that is. We dont carry that. Ive never seen it"

So then I went to Zellers. They dont have it either. How frustrating.
Im guessing Toys R Us? How much are they?

Also, if I cant find a wipe warmer. How much are reptile heat rocks at the petstore?

[PrettyBird]

nevermind....I decided to head over the the petstore and get a reptile rock and thermometer as I already have the tanks.

[Sally]

You never know with Walmart, they are often out of things, or they change vendors, etc. I found mine in the baby section of Walmart, I'm thinking it was near the diapers. The munchkin warmer from Target was near the diapers. I guess since you use this when changing diapers?, it would be near them. (Don't know much about human baby things.)