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

[bruceha2000]

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I tried giving the chicks their first treat today: A thawed strawberry and some plain yogurt; they wouldn't touch it! So I thought Maybe they aren't ready to take things from my hand yet? and layed it on top of their feeder. A few of them gave it an experimental peck, shook their little heads and ignored it from then on. Well after about an hour it was still untouched, had been dumped on the ground and was covered in wet bedding so I removed it. At least now I know my babies don't like strawberries (at least not those that had been frozen and thawed) or yogurt.

Like I said, my chickens are w

ird!


HEY I just noticed, this is my 100th post!

I don't blame them, I don't like thawed strawberries either. Yuck texture, yuck taste. Just my opinion of course.

I spoke too soon at last check they are all in front of the cave asleep.

I believe you are due a partial refund of your dues, you overpaid. Blooie shouldn't get THAT much cuteness

Ridiculous chickens, i just checked to put them to bed in the coop and TODAY they are all on the TOP roost. Twittering away. Butts outward...
Goofballs!

They naturally feel safer from ground predators higher up. I have an 8' roost at 2' high and approximately 27' at 4' high. None of the chickens sleep on the 2' high roost. Not even the broody raised chicks from last June, they went to the 4' high one with the older girls at about 4 weeks.

Well, we're getting 6 chicks tomorrow and the remaining 6 on Tuesday. 3 - Copper marans, 3 - Blue laced red wyandottes, 3 - Buff orpingtons and 3 - Black astrolorps. Got most of the brooder work done. Got a nice big refrigerator box from a friend that works at an appliance store who is also a chicken person. Constructed my cave for the MHP from a tomato cage and some 1/4" HWC. Found the Sunbeam heating pad at Walgreens. Got the waterer, the feeder, chick starter, etc... Still need to pick up some pine shavings. We're getting pretty excited.

I cut the tomato cage down the center and formed it.

Excited to get the first of the babies tomorrow!! Hopefully there won't be any issues with them being a week or so different in age.

I would be concerned they could get trapped in that back area, especially with the short gap. You could "turn it" 90 degrees by pushing down the open end and bending up one of the current long sides. Then put the pad on the inside.

It's a bit too late to start kale. If you want to try, plant it in a spot that gets morning sun, and afternoon shade to protect it from getting too much heat. Or wait till August to plant, for a fall crop. It's very frost resistant, so as long as you don't get a hard freeze, you should be able to harvest from the end of September till mid-November. Tomatoes and warm season veggies need to be going in the ground now, to be mature and ready for fruit production come summer.
Warm season veggies- tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, melons, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn,
Cool season crops- Kale, chard, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, bok choy, cabbages, spinach, turnips, carrots, radishes, beets, chard
Onions do well in hot or cool weather, but I rarely manage to grow them to harvest. The chooks break into my beds as soon as they start to sprout and eat them all.
Herbs aren't picky about where or when they grow, but many can be very invasive. Mints, oregano, marjoram, lemon balm, and chives are best suited to container planting, otherwise they will take over whatever bed they are planted in.

Um, not up here in the NE USA junebuggena! You put a tomato in the ground now and all you will have is a dead plant. Peppers, tomatoes and the like, as STARTED PLANTS don't go in the ground until after Memorial Day. Kelsey, if you are planting tomato seeds indoors to grow your own transplants, do it now. Don't bother with peppers, they take SO long to get going it is already too late. You should buy them at the nursery. And with regard to tomato plants, if you buy started ones, do NOT get the biggest one you can find with blossoms already on it. You want a small compact one, not a rangy one. Another thing you can do with tomatoes if you can only get rangy ones, to get a good root system, dig a trench at the depth you want to plant, strip of the lower leaves and plant the roots AND that part of the stem. It will grow roots from the entire buried part.

I also think it is not too late to start kale or other cold weather crops. Heck the ground a couple of inches down is still frozen.

Does anyone have experience with isa Browns too? I have 2 and they look very different from each other at 3 1/2 weeks. Makes me wonder if I have one of each of those too

They are sex links, sexable at hatch. If you got a cockerel someone at the hatchery screwed up big time.

 

[aart]

Quote: There are weasels and mink here, saw one cross the road 100 feet form my driveway just a couple weeks ago.
My coop is a 1/2" HC envelope, my run is not - 2x4 welded wire hawks biggest day pred here.

 

[junebuggena]

Is that true in dominiques as well, do you know? Just stripes in general? Thanks!

It's true of any breed with the barring/cuckoo gene. Females can only ever have a single copy of the gene, resulting in thick black 'bars', giving a dark look. Males, if purebred, should have two copies, resulting wide bars of white and more narrow bars of black, producing a 'lighter' look.

 

[ShanandGem]

It's true of any breed with the barring/cuckoo gene. Females can only ever have a single copy of the gene, resulting in thick black 'bars', giving a dark look. Males, if purebred, should have two copies, resulting wide bars of white and more narrow bars of black, producing a 'lighter' look.

My lavender cuckoo Orpingtons are the same. Cockerels are double barred and much lighter in color, with less distinguishable stripes. The barring on the ladies is much easier to see.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Where did you get the eggs and do you know the parents of the eggs?

ISA Browns are hybrids. If you are hatching eggs from your ISA browns crossed with your rooster they will not breed true.

I got them at a tractor supply store. They were both tan as chicks. I was told that was a how they tell if they are pullets. But I dont have any experience to know

Yes, if they were tan as chicks and not yellow, you have pullets. That’s how you tell the sex in red sex links. But they are four-way crosses, their genetics are really messed up. You can get different looks when they feather out. You can always post photos.

I thought you might be talking about hatching eggs from your ISA brown hens. That’s totally different.

 

[Blooie]

I'm a little late but I have to chime in about the tomato cage cave. Great design in general, but I'm glad you've going to open up that back. Yes, mine is a cave, but the FRAME isn't. It's just an arch, open on both ends. The towel I put over the top closes off the back side - it just sort of drapes back there. If I was brooding indoors, I'd be more likely to follow the "totally open on both ends" concept because I know it would prevent chicks from getting stuck back there and unable to get out of the heat. But I brood outdoors, in an open pen in the run, in Northern Wyoming. I want the cave closed in on all sides to hold the heat in. Also with the tomato cage cave, I don't think you need to add another heating pad. Just run it longways. As long as the heat can be as close to the chicks' backs as possible and the sides are covered with the towel or whatever you're going to use, you don't need the entire frame covered. I even like to leave an area at the front of my cave without the pad on it. The towel covers that and comes down in the front for a little awning, and all of my chicks have liked to spend time there. It's still warm, dark from the awing, but not as warm as the rest of the cave.

I can't remember who wondered about how many chicks my MHP cave holds, but he/she thought it looked like it would hold around 6. Nope, that particular cave held all 15 chicks very comfortably and I would have no problem brooding up to 20 in it.

This entire concept is deceptively simple. A frame, a heating pad, something to cover it that also adds a soft layer of warmth, and chicks. I'm excited because tomorrow is "lockdown". Ken will be home from his 3 day trip and we'll get the pen set up outside. All the components are ready - the frame is the same one I've used before, the pen is the same x-pen, now with @azygous portal system in place, and I'm ready! It'll take us about 10 minutes to put it all together. Well, 15 if the Bigs aren't outside playing in the yard and are underfoot in the run instead.

 

[Leahs Mom]

So proud to finally brood the chicky babies outside with MHP....looking forward to trying my chick doors to integrate...
..THEN realize, run wire to big contain chicks, CRAP. Hmmmmm

@aart

I know you don't want to do it but....

This is how I solved the problem on my run. I used the plastic netting (not predator proof of course...just a chick barrier). Don't get it at Menards - the brand that TSC carries is much better quality material. (Menards has diamond openings and is more brittle; breaks when using zip ties on it.) Used the plastic because it's easier to work with and easier to remove and re-use.

Cut it in half lengthwise, then zip tie to bottom of run. I left quite a bit at the bottom so it comes out like an "L" on/under the litter so they can't get under it.


Overlapped a bit at the gates since the chain link gates have pretty good-sized gaps.









On our longer fences I used the closet shelving stuff to line them where the chicks would be free ranging. (Same shelving I showed you before...hubby got tons of it that was being thrown away.) Zip-tied those too.



ETA: If you look through the kennel pen run to the fence behind it in this photo, you can see the shelving along the bottom of it.

 

[dyorto]

It's only 30 degrees out, but kinda sunny. Will 3 1/2 weeks chicks be okay outside for 20 mins in an enclosed pen while I clean out the brooder?

 

[bruceha2000]

It's only 30 degrees out, but kinda sunny. Will 3 1/2 weeks chicks be okay outside for 20 mins in an enclosed pen while I clean out the brooder?

Seems a bit cold to me. Why not just put them in a large cardboard box for the period? If you do put them out, make sure there is a shelter so they can get out of the wind.

 

[aart]

Quote: If I do it, and I probably will, I'll use chicken wire or maybe HC...I do not care for plastic fencing at all.
I'll need about 150 feet of it to do both runs....luckily my gates are pretty tight so shouldn't need to overlap.