Most importantly, ITS SAFE. I was not going to use a heat light: too much energy consumption, light 24/7 (no chance for chicks to experience natural circadian rhythms), and fire risk were all concerns for me. So when I stumbled across a brooding plate in a store, I started looking around at different brands and found rent-a-coop.
The company: I like Rent-a-coop. It's a small business, which is something we like to support and so far, all of their products have been really great -- we bought feeding cups, a diy watering system, this brooder. Everything has been really well made, so I feel confident when I buy from them.
Now this brooder is something special. The one we got was rated up to 50 chicks... we have 7, so it was massive. That was ideal, though, because it is also height adjustable to allow for an adult chicken to warm. So... this is definitely going to be used during our minnesota winter.
I thought that the plate was great. It never felt too hot when i was handling it, though my husband said it burnt his fingers, but I think he was being dramatic and has delicate fingers :) my toddlers even touched it without issue. We had ours set up at an angle, so the chicks could choose how much heat they need and it seemed to work REALLY well. Their feathers came in earlier than their clutchmates but it could just be overall environment; my mom also had some same aged, same breed chicks that she was caring for using a heat lamp.
I had a hard time setting the height at first. The legs felt like they were jambed. But after I got the first one figured out it was a breeze. It was even easy to reset the height inside the brooder without having to take everything out. And I think my chicks likes that they had a safe space that was covered. They'd dart under the plate when we'd first come in and come out on their own time. When we moved our chicks to the coop after they feathered out, we moved the brooder as well. They never really used it unless we entered the coop, then theyd run for cover and come out on their own time (just like in their brooder). I don't know if it was the plate or the overall time we spent with our chicks or both, but now that they're a couple months old, they're social and not super skidish. Perfect pet chickens!
We purchased the plastic cover. It was worth it. The chickens really will try and roost whereever they can. The only bummer is that it makes storage of the brooding plate tricky because it doesn't collapse down.
Overall, it may be an expensive front end buy, but the money saved in electricity and peace of mind made it worth it for me. That and the prospective dual use during the winter. I'll update after the winter with how the chickens fared.