Heating pad brooder question

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Rural Broody

Rural Broody

In the Brooder
Jun 13, 2016
50
3
49
Southern Ontario, Canada
So my day olds are supposed to be coming home tomorrow and the brooder is set up with pine chip base and I made a heating pad cave as close as possible to the instructions I found in Blooie's post. I've tested it and the temp under my cave is only reaching 86-88. Will the chicks be able to handle this? There will be 12 of them. Planning to keep them inside, too, until our coop is ready.
Thank you!!
 
Hi, welcome to BYC!
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Sounds like that should be pretty good. You should be able to tell by looking and listening. If they are peeping loudly and piling on top of each other they are too cold. If they are panting, too hot.

Good luck!
 
Oh my gosh! I love this already haha. They're so cute and they love the mama heating pad. They keep going in and out and one little gal is already having a nap in the back.

Is that normal for them to sleep right away after coming home? I made sure to dip all their beaks and they've all been active and eaten.
 
It's pretty normal for them to sleep a lot! My chicks would be running around and then PLOP! they would just drop down and nap, then just get up and start running again!
 
Great! And yes I've already noticed! No sooner had I posted my question than the chick in question popped right back up and ran around. The others all seem to be taking turns falling asleep standing up haha!
 
Rural Broody said:
Great! And yes I've already noticed! No sooner had I posted my question than the chick in question popped right back up and ran around. The others all seem to be taking turns falling asleep standing up haha!
Click to expand...

I am a first time chicken owner too and they have been a hoot from the start! I am really enjoying them.
 
Ok seriously I'm gobsmacked! It's night one and all my chickies are huddled up together - ASLEEP. I did NOTHING. Is mama heating pad really this amazing?? They just got quiet and put themselves to bed at dusk.

Mighty pleased, I am.
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It's pretty amazing isn't it!! No being kept up by chirping all night because they are content and warm all snuggled under their make shift momma. I used this method too and I loved it!!
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Well now I'm a little confused. I had my girls in their temporary brooder - a large rubber bin that was too small for 13 birds - but it was only 4 days. They used MHP like rock stars.

As of today I finally put together the larger brooder which is well over 4X the amount of space. I even reintroduced them to MHP so they knew where it was. Forced them to hang out there a few times. They had ample time to run, play, and inspect, yet come this evening, the entire flock was huddled together in the corner farthest away from MHP. What the heck!

I searched the threads again and decided to just move them all once they were sleeping. Seems to have mostly worked. But why did they do so poor a job of figuring it out this time?
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