First Time Chick Parents, Spring 2016

[AmandaMBG]

I have mine set up but the majority of the birds prefer to sit on top of it. They will literally pile on top of each other trying to stay on it lol!! It works though and it's pretty funny to watch.

But we don't sit them ON the heating pad. We bend a bit of wire into a frame, put the heating pad on it, then put a towel on that. That forms a cave. They duck in and out just exactly like they would under a broody hen. Temps under the pad don't need to be at that "95 the first week, 90 the second week, 85 the third week, etc" and temps under mine the one and only time I ever tested it in response to a question it was 82.9 under the pad, and the room was 69 degrees. The chicks had already been under it for days before I even tested and were absolutely thriving. When they get bigger or need less heat, you just bend the frame upward a bit or turn down the pad. This video starts out dark on purpose....the first day after we brought them home they already understood the difference between night and day.

 

[Blooie]

Oh, yeah....they do like to get on top of it! Chicks will do that with a broody hen too - climb up on her back and just sit there, surveying their domain from the warmth and safety of Mama's back!

 

[RonC]

I like the cave idea, I've heard of people hanging a feather duster so they can get under it also. Here's an old pic of my first flock. There are six in there. Towel wrapped candy box sitting on top of the heating pad. Took a while to warm up but it stayed warm for a while after turning it off.

 

[Werforpsu]

I posted this picture on the mama heating pad thread also. I would love to know if you all think that this is functional and sufficient. There are three heating pads. 2 in the 'blanket' and one under the stool for bottom warmth. The heating pads are on medium and the brooder is in a 60 degree basement. I went to check on them 20 minutes later and they were all under there hanging out, but don't appear to be sucked in tight to each other, just cuddling.

 

[Werforpsu]

What a great clever idea for your brooder. I love it!!!!

Thanks. I went down the rabbit hole on pintrest a bit, but I came out when I saw this! I realized that I didn't need cardboard.....lids were perfect!

 

[Blooie]

I posted this picture on the mama heating pad thread also. I would love to know if you all think that this is functional and sufficient. There are three heating pads. 2 in the 'blanket' and one under the stool for bottom warmth. The heating pads are on medium and the brooder is in a 60 degree basement. I went to check on them 20 minutes later and they were all under there hanging out, but don't appear to be sucked in tight to each other, just cuddling.

Three heating pads is overkill, and will get entirely too hot for them to even want to use it. My chicks are outside right now, and have been for 2 weeks. Well, all except for one - he was just hatched Friday and went from the incubator to the heating pad outside the day after. Temps were in the 30s, and it was raining. I always raise my chicks outside this way, and they've been through temps in the teens and twenties and a full scale blizzard with 60 mph winds and sideways snow. They are all thriving - all of the the chicks in the past (now grown up, healthy chickens) and this year's chicks! They do not need, nor should they have, heat from the top AND the bottom......

The ideal situation is to drape the heating pad over the frame. A towel with Press N' Seal can go on top of that, just laid in it - because they will want to spend time up there and you don't want them pooping all over the pad. That's it, simple and easy. When people try to overthink it, chicks suffer. Remember that too hot is always more dangerous than some chill, and 60 degrees is NOT cold.

I hope that helps....I'm sure someone over on the MHP thread has already told you the same thing by now. They're all so good about helping out when I don't get there or miss a post! And welcome to the Broody Brigade.

 

[Werforpsu]

Three heating pads is overkill, and will get entirely too hot for them to even want to use it. My chicks are outside right now, and have been for 2 weeks. Well, all except for one - he was just hatched Friday and went from the incubator to the heating pad outside the day after. Temps were in the 30s, and it was raining. I always raise my chicks outside this way, and they've been through temps in the teens and twenties and a full scale blizzard with 60 mph winds and sideways snow. They are all thriving - all of the the chicks in the past (now grown up, healthy chickens) and this year's chicks! They do not need, nor should they have, heat from the top AND the bottom......

The ideal situation is to drape the heating pad over the frame. A towel with Press N' Seal can go on top of that, just laid in it - because they will want to spend time up there and you don't want them pooping all over the pad. That's it, simple and easy. When people try to overthink it, chicks suffer. Remember that too hot is always more dangerous than some chill, and 60 degrees is NOT cold.

I hope that helps....I'm sure someone over on the MHP thread has already told you the same thing by now. They're all so good about helping out when I don't get there or miss a post! And welcome to the Broody Brigade.

Hmmm...I, of course, am going to defer to your expertise in this since I am a beginner.

I am wondering if your heating pads are larger and better then mine. My three pads have made the air temp about 75-80 in the cave. I am using a wooden stool to hold up the cave instead of wire...plus I put the heating pads inside the towels since the stool doesn't have sides like your wire cave does...perhaps that is preventing a bunch of heat from reaching them??

My youngest are only a week-10 days old. I was under the impression that they should be kept in a brooder that was about 85 degrees at a week old. I also was under the impression that if they were hot, they would naturally leave the confines of the cave and go play in the brooder (its quite large)...is that wrong? Since they can very easily get away from the heat (the other side of the brooder is about 60-65 degrees) and since they were shivering and trying to sit on each other before (until I used an electric radiator to make the entire room 80 degrees), I figured that this was the correct amount of heat. They come and go from the cave, coming out to eat, drink and play.

Let me know if with this additional information, You still think I should remove the base heat (or turn it all down to low).

Thanks for any advice!

 

[RonC]

I think the roof of your cave is too high using a stool. Think about mama hen crouching down on the little ones. Probably just high enough for the chicks to walk under it would be closer. Maybe 3 inches. A Brinsea Ecoglow is what Blooie is copying.

 

[Werforpsu]

I think the roof of your cave is too high using a stool. Think about mama hen crouching down on the little ones. Probably just high enough for the chicks to walk under it would be closer. Maybe 3 inches. A Brinsea Ecoglow is what Blooie is copying.

Okay. That makes sense. Of course, I have to work with what I have at the moment (a store is an hour from us). So it's either this or an 80 degree room and heat light....

 

[barnbum7]

I really love the video of the heat cave. Awesome.
My chicks are 5.5 weeks and are in the coop! I put them out last Friday night and they stayed. We had many field trips before that. The run fence is up, but not permanently connected to posts and the netting cover isn't up yet, so they only get run time when we're home.

Since our coop is inside a large barn, it's darker than I'd like, so hubby hooked up the light in there so I can leave it on during the day. There's one window in the room between the coop and run--and they hang out in there a lot, but like the light on for the day.

Here are some pics. I can't wait to finish the run.











That is my oldest grand--3 in a few weeks. (I see now she's in my avatar photo too.) She loves the chicks. In the bottom photo she is giving them some grass she picked--sure they could use it. The grass is getting long in the run. We may have to cut it.

Oh--on this forum--what's an ovation exactly?