Advice and help needed please!

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Philcott

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I have a major problem, and I am hoping someone out there can come up with an idea!

Been cleaning out the chicks, and have discovered that the Brinsea EcoGlow is not pushing out anywhere near enough heat. The little red electric light is on, and there is some heat in the plate, but not nearly enough for chicks. Will give Brinsea a call and see what they've got to say.

The other electric hen I have won't fit into the brooder box (it's a rabbit hutch - usual type one wire door and one solid door)

I have chicks that are a week old inside the house under an electric light for warmth, but they need to go outside today, as continual light is not at all good for them!Add to that the next batch is due tomorrow!

The only thing I can think of doing is putting these week old ones in with the two and three week old chicks that I have just moved to the big brooder with a proper electric hen. Do you think this will work ok, or am I setting myself up for major problems. It does mean that the brooder is going to be a bit crowded until Monday, when I have some muscles that can move a big wooden box into the brooder house for me and will take the bigger electric hen.

To be honest, I don't know what else to do! Would appreciate anyone's input!
 
Philcott said:
I have a major problem, and I am hoping someone out there can come up with an idea!

I have chicks that are a week old inside the house under an electric light for warmth, but they need to go outside today, as continual light is not at all good for them!Add to that the next batch is due tomorrow!

To be honest, I don't know what else to do! Would appreciate anyone's input!
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I really wouldn't presume to advise anyone as experienced as you, Philcott, but is there a chance of getting a dull emitter as a heat bulb, instead of the red lamp? Maybe you could put the new ones due tomorrow in a temporary small brooder lined with the silver stuff used for putting behind radiators to reflect heat? I've tried both of these things with the quail chicks I've got ATM, and the ceramic heat bulb means I can give them 'day' and 'night' and the silver stuff works really well at keeping heat in the brooder, compared with the overnight temperature readings I was getting before I used it. (Difference of up to 10-15C - I made a long strip of the stuff, backed it with cardboard to hold it rigid,stapled on, and joined it up in a circle to fit inside the brooder box.) It might even be that the Ecoglow is adequate if you could use more insulation in the brooder?
 
No, don't do that Philcott. We tried mixing 1 week with 2 weeks and they got bullied away from the heat, food and water, they have formed into a flock even at that young age. Continual light isn't a disaster by any means until Monday as some run them on continual light to 6 weeks. But can you get a big cardboard box from the supermarket, petrol station, neighbour or something -or just carboard and some adhesive tape? You just need to contain them don't you as I presume they are going into a garage or shed? Have you got ceramic bulbs you could use at night?
 
I would stick with the Ecoglow. To improve heat retention you could place into a plastic box with a lid on half of it, I use the roll away boxes from B&Q. Then you could place the whole box in a warm back bedroom, they should be fine. You could even pick up a small reading lamp and bulb for extra heat.

Brinsea did have an issue with the ecoglow, and they did have to make modifications to the design, I am not sure though when that was? Maybe early last year?

By observing your chicks you should be able to tell if they are distressed or not, high pitched chirping,huddling and pasty bot are usual clues that something is amiss.

What chicks have you hatched Philcott? :D
 
Thanks for your input peeps! Thanks Marigold for the compliment - experienced? not yet my friend - one never stops learning!

The Eco glo was so low a heat that it was barely warm, and yes had one little chick cheeping much better. The others seemed to have grown on better and are bigger than the little cheeper - I suspect that whatever has gone wrong, has only done so in the last 24 hours or so. There was a big of cheeping going on yesterday, but much more today.

I have been down to the feed mill and they found me two cardboard boxes of the right size, so will stick them together and use those until Monday. The electric hen wouldn't fit through the door of the hutch as it is a 40 x 40 cm but will fit in the boxes - I measured them! I hatch weekly, so time is of the essence as the next lot will be here overnight! So have got until tomorrow evening to sort it out.

I like the idea of the silver foil stuff - will have to get some of that, because I have put out the five week birds (almost completely feathered already) into a pen with just a bit of underfloor heating, rather than the electric pad - I'm sure it will help with reflecting their heat back to them. Poor little things - just been outside and it has started snowing again! What an introduction to the wide world, they have been in a pen inside a shed up until now! Still they are big sturdy chicks. A max/min thermometer is something I need to put on my 'wish list'! I keep meaning to buy one and don't get around to it.

What have I hatched so far - first hatch was back on 3rd Jan! I've got f2 Brockbar bantams (most of the chicks have hatched silver with only a few buff coloured so going to have a lot of FTGH girlies I think!) blue pekins, both frizzle and straight with the inevitable black ones as well - some of them look like little penguins! Barred chocolate wyandottes, (chocbars :D My boy is called Mars ) F1 Ancobar bantams, Rhodebar bantam (she's the one that is cheeping so loudly - I don't hold out much hope for her sadly as she is so far behind the others.) I've got barnebars,(candled but looking as though they are clears) marans, silver duckwing welsummer, (also looking as though they might be clears) welbar, shetland, a 'gift' of six cream legbar hybrids (was sent these eggs in error! So bunged them in the incubator anyway 4 out of 6 fertile) - can't think of what else off the top of my head. Will be hatching until end of April probably.

Once again, thanks for your thoughts and input - it is much appreciated.

Oh meant to say, phoned Brinsea and they are sending out a new power cable - they seem to think it might be faulty. Otherwise the whole lot will have to go back to them for repair. Might be cheaper just to buy another one!
 
Philcott said:
. A max/min thermometer is something I need to put on my 'wish list'! I keep meaning to buy one and don't get around to it.

!
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I recently got one of these http://amzn.to/zMxJfm - very simple and sturdy, easy to set and read, and a reasonable price from Amazon.
I got the radiator stuff from Wickes, but Homebase or any of the other DIY shops will sell it. (In our house it was intended for making wing covers for my husband's model planes, but it got poached for my chicks.) It's so effective i might even consider getting more to use behind the radiators!
 
Great for the radiators Marigold. I made some 6mm ply sheets up that slotted over the radiator brackets and glued the sheet with PVA to one side. You can only see them from the top. It saves taking the radiators off the wall and gives more insulation as well. It's made a noticable difference to the output of a double panel radiator, less so on a single panel convector.

Hope you get sorted Philcott. I won't be buying a Brinsea unit then!
 
An ordinary light bulb is fine in an emergency. The light doesn't do them any harm in the short term.
 
That thermometer looks just the ticket - like the idea of LARGE numbers! :D There comes a stage in life when you find it simpler just to give up and use large print than put glasses on to go and find the glasses you need to read something, then can't find the other glasses when you take the reading glasses off! :lol:

Am going through to town on Monday so will pop into DIY stores and see what I can source in the way of radiator 'stuff'
 
What an interesing mix of chicks Philcott..fascinated by your brockbars?

Think I am in a similar situation, hatching weekly and so the first batch is due to go outside..always feel a bit nervous when that happens. They go out in a large shed built with 4 large 2x4 pens all with individual electric hens.
 
Marigold said:
We're all crossing our fingers there will be no power cuts.....
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Oh don't please - that would be an absolute nightmare! I am giving serious thought to fitting a generator to the house as a back up just in case!

Brockbars are a Buff Rock barred bird. Supposed to be Buff in colour but hey ho, most of the chicks so far are silver! Brother sister mating the next time around so will have to see what they produce. I will say the buff rocks I have are incredible layers, they have been laying since mid December and haven't stopped up until this bad patch of snow we've had!
 
We have just had a 10 second power cut....with hatchlings due tomorrow my heart is in my mouth! :o :o
 
foxy said:
We have just had a 10 second power cut....with hatchlings due tomorrow my heart is in my mouth! :o :o
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That far on they should be fine, as they will be generating their own heat to a certain extent. Perhaps a duvet over the incubator if it goes down again?
 
I had a large (120Ah) 12V battery with a 300W inverter sitting by the side of the incubator all the time. Would be enough for a whole day on the incubator and 3 hours on a 250W heat lamp. Never needed it fortunately. If you do use a generator connect it with a plug-to-plug lead into the house ring main, but don't forget to switch the incoming mains main isolator off first, otherwise you will be powering the whole street!
 
Thanks Chris for that snippet - just the sort of thing I wouldn't have realised! :-)17 I'm hoping to go for something that will kick in automatically when the power goes out. Going to cost I think, but while I love the old fashioned way of doing things, I do like my mod cons - especially in winter! And as sure as nuts, it's when it cold (I don't do cold very well being from Africa) that's when the leccy is going to take a dive! :-)07
 
My Father designed 'no break' generator sets for most of his working life. Wrote a Handbook all about the process which has changed little in 20 years, which is why the book is still on the Colleges' set book list. So that's what you are looking for Philcott, a 'no break generator set'. They are used in hospitals and the like. They have a set of batteries which are kept trickle charged. When the mains fails the emergency circuit is energised immediately by an inverter powered by most of the batteries. The remaining batteries are used to start the generator. When it is up and running to full speed the inverter is smoothly phased out and the generator phased in. Don't know how the circuits are wired up to a house. The isolator from the grid must be broken and the set takes over and stops when mains is restored. Perhaps I should read the book?
 
We have an inverter on stand-by too, fab little machines, managed to keep our neighbours incubator going through a 24 hour power cut :-)17
 
chrismahon said:
I had a large (120Ah) 12V battery with a 300W inverter sitting by the side of the incubator all the time. Would be enough for a whole day on the incubator and 3 hours on a 250W heat lamp. Never needed it fortunately. If you do use a generator connect it with a plug-to-plug lead into the house ring main, but don't forget to switch the incoming mains main isolator off first, otherwise you will be powering the whole street!
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If you had a 25Watt electric hen they could manage about 5 days when we worked it out.. ;)
 
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