Mama Heating Pad in the Brooder (Picture Heavy) - UPDATE

[lazy gardener]

Such opinionated little beasties they are!

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

I thought my MHP went nuts and hurt my week old babies last night!

My Wife and I were watching TV, ( a Friday night out for us) catching up on the shows we missed during the week. The way this works is we start watching a show and I fall asleep, she continues to watch, then goes to bed leaving me in my chair.

I woke up from TV watching to the sound of my chicks screaming the distressed chick call! My wife was in the dining room walking, I asked what was wrong with the chicks, as I crawled out of my chair to check on them.

She said T"They are Peed at me ( not really using peed), for turning their light off, they do not think it is bedtime yet"...

As soon as they settled under the MHP they were happy. IT was funny, they were as loud as primates in the zoo when they get excited! I usually use a very dim light before I turn the lights off them completely, I guess she did not know the routine.

I have found that this is actually the biggest challenge for me when brooding inside, because they do NOT cope well to sudden changes in the light, and the mudroom where they are has full length windows into the living room. There IS natural light that comes in the front windows of the mudroom, but it's always a bit dim, so once the sun is properly up (and on weekdays, when I'm walking out the door to go to work), I turn on the light. I have learned that I HAVE to turn off the light right when I get home, though, so that they then can have the gradual decrease in light as the natural light goes away. If I forget, there's LOTS of screaming, and I have to rig some gradual decrease in lighting to get them to be in the dark - a real pain.

(I try to remind myself that they can't see well in the dark, and need the gradual decrease in light to find their way to where they want to sleep.)

- Ant Farm

Edit: I should add that because I need to have the lights out in the living room, I can't clean or tidy in the evenings. It's a real mess - looking forward to moving them outside (once I build their growout pen!)

 

[aart]

There IS natural light that comes in the front windows of the mudroom, but it's always a bit dim, so once the sun is properly up (and on weekdays, when I'm walking out the door to go to work), I turn on the light. I have learned that I HAVE to turn off the light right when I get home, though, so that they then can have the gradual decrease in light as the natural light goes away.

Same here, luckily not living space.

 

[ShanandGem]

I give my chicks a night light, since the coop is darker than the inside of a boot in the night. I buy the battery operated tea light candles from Dollarama, 2 for $1. I turn one on and put it in their brooder before removing the red heat lamp and replacing it with a ceramic one (emits no light) from 11-6. They fussed a little the first night, but now they just go gather around their tiny tea light and go right to sleep,
A battery lasts about a week in one and the batteries can be replaced so they're not terribly wasteful. I have used all three plugs on my extension cord for heat so this seemed to be the only option.

 

[Jensownzoo]

I didn't think about it until ShanandGem mentioned the tealights, but I have given my mother pillar candles from target that are battery-powered (the outside is scented wax) that have a timer in them so they go off automatically. My chicks raise a big fuss as well when the lights go out, but I hadn't considered that they needed the dimming light to find their sleeping spots. They're in a windowless basement room, so no way to use natural light until they move to the coop. I may have to borrow one of those candles for a few weeks...

 

[ShanandGem]

The trick is to place the light close to the heat source. Chickens are attracted to light and if you put it in a cold corner they may not be warm enough.

 

[Blooie]

It's so funny how different we all are! To me the biggest advantage (aside from the fire safety issue) to MHP is that the chicks learn natural day/night cycles from day one. I keep my shipped chicks in the house the first 24 hours or so just to make sure I don't have any suffering from shipping stress. We sacrifice use of the room they are in for that brief period and do not turn on any lights. The sun comes up, the chicks wake up. The sun goes down, their eyelids go down. After I know they are eating, drinking, and know where the heat is, out to the run and their outdoor brooder pen they go, so the gradual changeover from light to dark and back again is their "norm". Chicks I pick up myself go from the car into the outside pen. I don't have to fiddle with nightlights here, nightlights there. As it starts to get dark and the big chickens head for the roost, the babies head for their cave.

Like any animal, the lessons they learn best and fastest are those that they teach themselves, and in my mind there is no better way to let them do that than to use their own natural instincts. Keeping things simple and letting them be chickens seems to work best for me.

 

[Beekissed]

Same here...I haven't kept a chick inside since '08. I don't even wait for a day to see if they are alright, I just put them in the outside brooder, watch them awhile to see if all are moving around and bright eyed, then check on them several times that day and at bedtime that night. I trust them to God after that and He always does the job perfectly.

 

[Jensownzoo]

I would have loved to have kept them in a room with a window! Unfortunately, I also do cat rescue and they pretty much have the run of the rest of the house with my two dogs. I actually had to frame in for a door to close the little basement room off (used to be the coal room way back when). Just built the foundation and floor of my coop last week...hoping to add walls early next week. I really hope that future broods will take place in there.

 

[Blooie]

I would have loved to have kept them in a room with a window! Unfortunately, I also do cat rescue and they pretty much have the run of the rest of the house with my two dogs. I actually had to frame in for a door to close the little basement room off (used to be the coal room way back when). Just built the foundation and floor of my coop last week...hoping to add walls early next week. I really hope that future broods will take place in there.

You did have to make some adjustments, then, didn't you? I think you'll love brooding the future chicks out there...so much nicer and easier!