"Comfort" Brooder Heat Plate - for rearing Coturnix chicks

I use a heating plate and like it much more than a 24 hr bulb.

I LOVE heating plates! It's all I've ever used. Plus I put a reptile heater under the floor of the brooder for the first week or two.

The one I got has a triangle top you can add so they don't jump up on it when the get a little bigger.

Thanks for the look at this. I'll be interested to hear how it works out for you. I have a DIY plan in mind for one of these too!

I know many people use either the heating plate or the heat lamps. My experience has been drafts are more of an issue with the chicks. If you have a draft in your brooder or brooder room the chicks will cluster under whatever you have and the ones on the outside of the cluster may get chilled. Not good, especially if you are dealing with temps below 70 ambient in the room or shed where your brooder is.

I just bought this. Hoping to hatch my quail at Easter. Hope it's works.

I've been using one of these for around a year - it is an excellent piece of kit - as you point out it's better than having chicks under 24 hr lights and save a fair bit on electric too - the cover is highly recommended as I found out the hard way - it keeps the unit really clean....!

I wish I would have gotten the cover. We've had to keep our growouts in a little longer, and yikes, the poops. lol

I’m glad you did a review on these to spread the word. I absolutely love these plates from premier one! I have several and have not lost any chicks out of several hatches. (Somehow.) I feel they are consistent and safe. They make the babies feel like they are hiding under a mama hen. To those who say they “can’t see the chicks” —- I just lift it once a day to check on everything. That way if there’s an ill chick you’ll spot them.

They do have to be adjusted a few times as these little Coturnix grow so quickly. I use them for the first few weeks.

I also bought the regulator but never used it. The little pointy lids are fine but better for chickens than quail. My quail don’t really jump on top. Well, not as much as chickens did.

I keep my brooder in the house so I didn’t want fire hazards from the heat lights.

I've been using a "K & H" brooder plate since last March. I think the one you have is easier to adjust Height wise, but I do agree with you that they are so much better than heat lamps. Last time I used heat lamps was 2 years ago and it cost $30 more per month in electricity than when I wasn't using it. With a heat plate I didn't see any increase in electric costs.

Interested in buying some hatching egg if you have any available, how do i go about ordering, i dont do facebook or instagram ,is that still possable? Let me know , Thx

We have used heating plates/electric hens for years and we love them. We wouldn't use anything else. I also use flat panel heaters (same technology) in our chicken coop and heating plates in our quail tractor houses in the winter when they aren't in use for brooding chicks. Yes, we know that quail are pretty hardy, but we think that just because they CAN tolerate the harsh winters here in SE Ontario, Canada, doesn't mean they should have to if we are able to provide them with something to take the edge off.

I use the heat plate and I think it’s great the chicks seem to like it. I haven’t had any issues with it at all.

Are you doing the beginner class tonight?

I just got 4 of those from Premier. 3 for 20 chicks and one for 30. Have never had quail before but my first 34 out of the 119 incubated are loving it. More would have hatched I believe but the cold snap brought the humidity level to low. I think it is still alright for a first time experience. My chicken chicks will love the other ones middle of next month.

I tried one of the heating plates with the legs like you use in that video and wound up with four dead chicks out of eleven. Before that, I was using the 25W heating pad that they sit on with a much better success rate. Also, the ones they sit on are cheaper. One caveat to this is that for the first few days, I also toss in a water bottle(standard cheap, thin plastic water bottle from the bottled water you buy from the store) filled with hot tap water. I change it out every few hours for the first three or four days after they hatch.


I live in Kentucky, so it gets fairly cold here. I'm currently working on a hutch with four 2' x 3' compartments, and I plan on putting one of the 9"x12" heating pads in the sand boxes of each compartment for two reasons. I put a three week old quail out thinking it was fully feathered, so it would be fine. It got down to 14 degrees one night, and that sucker was dead in the sand box the next morning. The second reason is that the quail lay their eggs in the sand. It gets cold and those eggs freeze and crack. I'm plugging them in with a thermal switch so it won't turn on until it hits freezing. But even when it's on, it's only 100W for all four of them, which is still less than a heat lamp and no risk of fire.

We have 3 heating plates... One of the old brinsea style and 2 of the new style like the one you showed. They work great for all types of birds from quail to turkeys and geese. The only issues we have had are if chicks get wet or it's under 55°. We still use heat lamps if it's cold or add a seed starting mat under the brooder.

It seems clear to me that these will only work well when the ambient (room) temperature is high. If your brooder box was in an area where the air temperature was below freezing at night, it wouldn't work nearly so well as a heat lamp. Personally, I use two lamps. One is on all the time and the other only comes on to keep the surrounding temperature reasonable. It's nice to have 250+ watts at your disposal when you're in an environment where the temperature swings from 95 on a hot day to 5 degrees on a cold night.

good vid ! I bought one at TS and couldnt get the temp past 92 here so put it away till it gets warmer then it may work....

Terry, have you forgotten about your MeWe group?

I would like to buy a comfortplast Quail cage

For how many quail chicks would this size of brooder plate be suitable? (taking their growth over 2-3 weeks into consideration...)

So what size would you recommend if I hatch 60-100 quail at a time?

How many chicks would you put in a brooder of that size? i just bought and constructed a similar setup and wondering how ambitious to be with the hatchlings

My birds hat he'd today...Sunday. when do I open the incubator to get them out and place in brooder?

The plate seems so hot 🥵 anyone else have that issue

Great video just bought one as the light was very bright wud help with transition to outside pen.

Has anyone tried a ceramic heat emitter instead of a light bulb? Would allow them to still get a night cycle as well....

Over priced heating pad

Can this be kept on 24/7?

Can you rig up the brooder plates into a homemade incubator for poultry (including quayle but not necessarily only quayle) ? Thanks.

I have not used my plate for quail yet, but I use them for my chicken chicks. The cover is a WONDERFUL addition. The smell of hot poop gets really rank!

When can they be moved to grow out pen with no heating plate ?

still using?

Mine are 5 days old. And one jumps up on top now and again 😆 I don’t have the shroud it’s a different brand. But I do like that one u got.

Thank you for the video. What temperature did the brooder get to? I see the brooder is about the width of the heat plate and u have room for the chick's to run around. What type of temperature was the room that the broader was in? Thanks.

I have a small for my chickens, and I love it! The domed top is a worthwhile investment though, so they stop pooping on the plate

very useful information, thank you for this video