FINCHforum

You can use a seed mat with adjustable controller, I have one of these that I actually use for starting tropical seeds. I would set it on a piece of foam insulation (looks like styrofoam with foil on one side). You can use a seed starting dome to cover and keep in the heat, they are clear and have vents on either end. You could also set a small bowl of water under the dome to help maintain humidity.

I would set the "brooder" up on something so its not in direct contact with the mat, as you could get hotspots inside the brooder. Give it legs!

You can get the same sort of thing in a reptile mat. There are variable temp controllers that come with those as well.

ac12 wrote: I think I found a way to control the temp in a brooder. This is an electronic thermostat that you can plug the baby wipe warmer into. It monitors the temp inside the brooder, and turns the heater on or off. That is much better than using a light dimmer where I have to manually adjust the dimmer based on the temp inside the brooder. And based on my experience, it is HARD to maintain a particular temp.

What I don't know is how much the temp swing is before it turns on/off, and how long it takes the heater to warm up. I will have to test it once I get it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/311591494175?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

And it isn't expensive.
I just ordered one.
Just make sure you select US plug, for those of us in US/Canada.

I finally fired this thing up, as I thought my gouldians had abandoned the nest and chicks. It turned out they did not abandon, and are back to SITTING.

But in the process I discovered a problem.

The default settings on the thermostat does NOT work for the baby wipe warmers. The temp swing was too great. This is because the heater in the baby wipe warmer takes a while to warm up.

I had to change the thermostat to turn on at T - 1 degree F. The default was T - 3 degrees F, which let the temp drop down too far.
At T - 1, the heater has time to warm up, before the temp has dropped too much. The temp drops about 1 to 1.5 degrees F below the turn on temp. So I get a drop of about 2 to 2.5 degrees F from the target temp.

On the other side, the overshoot is about 0.5 degrees F. The heater turn off at the target temp, but there is still enough heat to carry it about 0.5 degrees F beyond the target temp.

So in total, I get a temp swing of 2.5 to 3 degrees F.

I'm going to play with it to see if I can't get the temp swing to be smaller and more stable.

I am very happy with how the thermostat works
The light dimmer that I used could not be adjusted to give a stable temp, from day to night.

In testing the thermostat I came to the realization that the baby wipe warmers are terribly inefficient.

- When the thermostat turns off, there is a brief period of 'overshoot' where the heater in the baby wipe is still heating the air in the wipe compartment, where the chicks would be.

- But, the temp quickly starts to drop. This is the problem or issue. The baby wipe warmer looses heat fast. I could watch the temperature dropping. I thought the double wall plastic construction would help hold in the heat, but it appears not to be the case.

Yes I know these things are cheap, and they were not meant to control temp like I'm doing. In fact the always on condition of the wipe warmers, makes the loss of heat important, so that it does not overheat.

Next project, to see how I can reduce the rate of heat loss without turning it into a tear it up and rebuild project.

ac12

To raise temperature increase the bedding so less space to heat. To drop temp, put in less bedding so there is more space to heat.

If I put coco fibre and fill the chamber half way up, my warmer stays at a steady 95-96 degrees which is perfect for a newly hatched baby.

When they get pin feathers I put in less nesting materials to bring it down to 87-89. If there are several babies to keep each other warm I can go about 85 degrees.

I tilt the lid open to lower the temp as they feather up.

I only us the Babies R US brand and I havent had a problem. I have one I have used for two years. now.

Hope that helps.

DUH

Never thought of putting towels in to make the inside air space smaller.
Mine is the "Munchkin" wipe warmer.
The heater is in the cover, so adding towels to the bottom will work.

ac12


Yep mine heats from the top also. ;) Don't us paper towels. Their feet slide and they will get splayed legged. I made that mistake with one baby in 2015. Thank goodness a wonderful lady took her and made sure all her perches and seed cups were rough textured to accommodate her weak legs.

oooo
Good to know about the paper towels.
Cuz I use paper towels to line a bowl that I put inside the Munchkin.
I used paper towels so they don't get their claws caught in the little loops of the towels.
I need to look for rough paper towels, or cloth towels without those tiny loops.

WHAts a heat pad can u add a picture plz I can only find the electric ones online