RentACoop Heating Plate Review: Safer Than a Heat Lamp

Twenty-two watts instead of two hundred and fifty, and no bulb to shatter over dry bedding.

The verdict: A brooder plate lets chicks warm themselves the way they would under a hen, going under when cold and moving away when not, and it does it at 22 watts with nothing to shatter. Buy it for any brooder of up to twenty chicks. Skip it if you are brooding in an unheated space in genuinely hard frost, where a plate alone may not keep up and the room itself needs warming.

Specifications

Specifications above come from RentACoop's published product information. Treat pricing as approximate, since Amazon pricing moves.

What it does well

• No bulb, no glass and no clamp, which removes the three things that make heat lamps the most common cause of brooder fires.
• Twenty-two watts against 250 for a lamp, which over several weeks of continuous running is a real saving on electricity.
• Chicks self-regulate by moving under and away, which is how they behave under a broody hen and is far safer than a fixed hot spot.
• Twenty-five height settings and a tilt option, so the plate follows the birds as they grow instead of being replaced.
• The anti-roost cone is not a gimmick. Chicks will stand on a flat warm surface and foul it, and the cone stops that.

Where it falls short

• A plate warms the space under it, not the room. In an unheated garage in hard frost that may not be enough on its own, and the honest answer there is to warm the space rather than to buy a bigger plate.
• Chicks have to be shown where the heat is for the first day or so. With a lamp the warm spot is obvious because it glows. With a plate it is not, and a chick that does not find the warmth chills quickly.
• It gets outgrown. Twenty chicks at day old is not twenty chicks at four weeks, and you will be raising the plate to its limit and then moving the birds on.
• The cord is the safety item to watch, as with any electrical appliance in a brooder. Chicks peck and rodents chew, so run it out of reach and inspect it.
• It sits inside the brooder and takes up floor area, which matters in a small tote where space per chick is already tight.

What owners report

Owner reports on brooder heat plates are strongly positive and the reason given is nearly always safety. Keepers describe switching after a heat lamp incident, a bulb that shattered, a clamp that slipped, or simply the realisation of what 250 watts an inch from dry shavings represents. The second consistent report is behavioural: chicks under a plate settle into a natural rhythm of warming and foraging, and owners describe a quieter brooder than they had under a lamp, which is what you would expect when birds can regulate themselves.

The practical notes that recur are worth heeding. Show the chicks the plate on day one by placing them under it. Tilt it so there is a low edge they can get under easily and a higher edge as they grow. Expect to raise it every few days. And a handful of owners in cold outbuildings report needing a second heat source, which is a limit of the concept rather than a fault in the product.

Reading the chicks instead of the thermometer

The temperature to aim for is whatever produces the right behaviour. Chicks packed tightly together under the heat are too cold. Chicks avoiding it and panting at the far wall are too hot. Chicks moving in and out, eating, drinking and sleeping in loose groups have it right. The week by week target temperatures are in our brooder temperature chart, and the full setup, including bedding, feeders and space per chick, is in the brooder setup guide. Plan at least half a square foot per chick at the start rising to a full square foot or more as they feather, which is the figure that decides when they move out.

Plate or lamp, and what to brood in

The case against heat lamps is not that they fail to work, it is what happens when they fail. A 250 watt bulb suspended over dry shavings by a clamp is a fire waiting for a knock, and coop and brooder fires are a regular event in this hobby. The full comparison is in heat lamps versus heat plates. The container matters too, and high solid sides stop the floor-level draughts that chill chicks, which we cover in brooder tote versus stock tank and in our stock tank brooder review. The rest of the field is in best brooder heat plates.

Who it suits

• Anyone brooding up to about twenty chicks in a house, garage or shed with some background warmth.
• Keepers who have used a heat lamp and do not want to again.
• People brooding ducklings, poults or quail as well as chicks.
• Owners who want a heat source with no bulb to replace and no thermostat to set.

Who should skip it

• Brooding in an unheated outbuilding in hard frost, where the space itself needs warming.
• Very large batches, which need a bigger plate or several.
• Anyone who will not spend the first day showing chicks where the heat is.
• Very small brooders, where the plate's footprint eats scarce floor area.

Alternatives worth considering

Keep reading

• Heat lamps vs heat plates
• Brooder tote vs stock tank
• Brooder temperature chart
• Brooder setup guide
• Best brooder heat plates
• Rubbermaid stock tank brooder review
• Sweeter Heater OH11x40 review

This review draws on published specifications, manufacturer figures and the consensus of verified owner reviews. We have not tested this product ourselves, and we say so rather than implying otherwise. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.