Brooder heat options

Since I have moved my brooder from my spare bedroom to the barn, I am looking at getting a new heat source for my brooder other than a heat lamp. I am considering a brinsea ecoglow 50 or a sweeter heater. Does anyone have any experience with either one?

I have the little brinsea 25 heater, seems to work in a controlled environment but would worry about how much your chicks would move away from it in a colder environment?
I saw some heaters like the brinsea at Premier 1 in the USA, much cheaper than the brinsea's are. http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=120893&criteria=brooder


I am not sure how big your brooder is but I have use Quartz ray heaters for years in my brooder coop to warm the entire coop. I also have used the ones from Princess Auto that are shop heaters (Use the radiant heat bulbs)

It all will depend on what you are looking for in a heater, to just heat the chicks, or to heat the whole area. My concern about the plate heaters like the brinsea is that the chicks will stay under it too much and not come out to eat and drink. They say they mimic the mother hen more but the mom gets up to eat and drink making the chicks do the same, not sure if they would on their own if the outside temperature is too different than where they are being kept warm?

The instructions on the ecoglows say the ambient temperature must be at least 13C for chicks to do well under their ecoglows.

I worried about it being in a cooler area too not being able to create enough heat. Although I won't have chicks for at least another six weeks.

My brooder is 8 feet square and two feet high. It is covered by a solid top with mesh opening about 18 inches square. I need to have it covered to keep the cats out. Originally I was going to place a heat lamp on this opening, but it turns out the lamp needed to be lower for younger chicks so I worry about fire.

I looked at the sweeter heaters online and thought maybe if I had two of them with food and water in the space between them it might keep the middle area warm enough for them to venture out to eat and drink.

Or maybe I need to rethink the entire brooder. It bothered me last year that it was difficult to see the chicks and get at them to handle them    

My head is starting to hurt from thinking about it...

I purchased a used Eco glo 20. Got it home, plugged it in and left for work. It's going to be amazing for my babies (and safe in my house with my precious dogs!) Figured I needed more so looked at the Eco glo 50. Not sure it will be big enough for the turkey poults and my chicks so went with the biggest sweeter heater I could get shipped. It was $189 CAN to get it here. Just ordered last week so haven't turned it on yet obviously but here is my reasoning on the purchase of the SH vs the EG50.
SH larger area - broods up to 5 dozen chicks at a time. I also have goats so it could double as a kid heater if not needed for chicks. Hanging required for that. Figured it would work longer for my turkey poults who seem to grow like bad weeds! The downside is it uses 150watts of energy vs 60ish for the EG50. The EG50 was $15 cheaper. Figured the SH would be more multipurpose than the EG50.
Does that help any? There is an article online with a really neat brooder setup. It was in backyard poultry and is called 'brooding chicks poults & keets'. I found it when I googled SH reviews.
Good luck!

So is the sweeter heater more of a radiant heater, not a contact heater like the brinsea?

Moose, being a reptile guy, had this heater probe thing that is wired to a power bar that you plug in like normal. Set the probe where the focus of the heat is, set the temperature on the dial whatchamajig (that's a technical term) and go. It worked well for our heat lamps, however now that we had the heat lamp scare, we will be resorting to some other type of heat. I will still use the temperature doohicky with whatever solution we find, but I anxiously watch this thread for more info.

No I believe it's the same idea as the Eco glo. No glow to the heat surface and won't start a fire if it falls. Otherwise I may have not purchased it. It is completely sealed so no fire hazard.
Infrared heat to heat things not air. . http://www.sweeterheater.com/

these seem good although expensive...I believe that is similar to the one hanging in my big commercial type brooder.   it hangs in the middle and there is a pen offeach side with water troughs on the ends and feed troughs along thesides.  because I made it fixed though it only works good for 3 week olds and up.  mine is open though not closed up boxes like gails. ( pdf file in brooder pics on sweeter heater site)
 they would benice to have in box brooders although hard to figure how to attach to lid when you have to open thete.  I worry about it hanging in case it came loose..do you think it would work for chicks ifyou mointed it in the side wall og a brooder or would it just heat the other wall??
I think the idea that warm and dark is where they rest and light will draw them out to their feed and water stations is bang on.   when we usr the heat lamps they are heat and light so not as restful or natural as having heat without light for sleeping just like under a broody hen

I believe the radiant side needs to be overtop of the chicks in order for it to work. I am going to mount a peice of 2x2 in my brooder (its 2.5' wide) and hang it from there so its not disturbed each time I move the lid.
You could email sweeter heater and check if they would recommend the wall mount. I think if the chain fasteners are good you wont have any issues. I like the chain as i can adjust it based on the size of the chicks/poults. Yes it was pricey - but I would rather pay for that than suffer a fire due to a heat bulb.
I used a radiant heater last year outside in my barn and it was fabulous. But that was June and the ambiant temps tend to be higher than 10 degrees. In March it wont work. Anything to stay away from those dangerous heat lamps!
I will let you know my reviews soon enough - first chicks are coming March 29.