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

[aart]

I like 2x4 mounted wide side up for roosts....functional, easy to procure and install.
Some of my larger, clumsier birds had a hard time navigating the smaller (2") perch in front of nests...made it a no-brainer for me.

 

[Coop de Grass]

Agreed about the wood! My girls love their 2x4s but then, they haven't roosted on anything else since I removed the 1 1/4 dowel ladder that I had leaned against the wall!

As far as patience...

On the bright side, sometimes you are rewarded a couple of days early! Today is day 19, and two eggs started chirping last night.

 

[dyorto]

That's for the roost tips. I was thinking 2x2 were the way to go, but I'll do 2x4 instead!

 

[Ridgerunner]

The portion of my tree limb where the cockerel is roosting in that photo is less than 1-1/2” diameter. Some chickens normally roost on that in winter. That’s where I’ve seen an adult hen’s feathers totally cover the toes when a roosting chicken squats and fluffs up. A 2x4 on edge has a thickness of 1-1/2”. That’s what I use for my juvenile roost.

I’ve seen adult chickens try to perch on a 3/8” thick piece of plywood during the day. It was a guillotine type door. They didn’t last long before they fell off, but they’d hop back up and try again. I do like to watch chicken TV. A former highly-respected member of this forum, Patandchickens, posted that her dominant hen would roost on a ¾” thick brace that was higher than the rest of the roost.

I have various reasons to say that I really don’t think the chickens care that much, but I do believe the roosts need to be thick enough so the roost can support their weight without sagging excessively. I also believe the roost needs to be big enough so the chicken can grip it with its toes or balance on a flat surface. I don’t have any minimum sizes or any maximum sizes, but 1-1/2” is probably a reasonable minimum.

 

[circlehouse]

Thanks! We have 2x4's but I was thinking that might be too big. We have cold winters here so we will install them flat. Thanks again!

 

[Robblob]

MHP is working great at night, but the smallest chick in the bunch chirps like mad because it's not warm enough. Have to supplement still with heat lamp. Is this normal? Also, they spend most of the time on top of the MHP than in it. It seems as though the only time they go in the MHP is when I put them in there for bedtime.

 

[Blooie]

MHP is working great at night, but the smallest chick in the bunch chirps like mad because it's not warm enough. Have to supplement still with heat lamp. Is this normal? Also, they spend most of the time on top of the MHP than in it. It seems as though the only time they go in the MHP is when I put them in there for bedtime.

Remember that they don't sit under a real Mom 24/7 either. In fact, most of the time they are all over the place....as soon as the sun comes up they are zipping here and there. They just pop underneath her for a quick warm-up or if they get spooked - and they're doing the deciding when they need her. I think of all the things I was surprised about, the amount of time they DON'T spend under the cave was the biggest......it's that mindset of "they have to be totally warm, draft free rooms, heat cranked up, entire brooder glowing red" that was tough to shake. And that seems to be the point that most people trying this for the first time have the hardest time with. It's almost like they feel they have to shove them under there every time a couple of them poke their little heads out.

I can't tell you if the behavior of your littlest Little is normal or not. I never, ever put a heat lamp out to supplement MHP. I just kinda feel like it defeats the purpose. The idea is to get totally away from the fire risk, away from the light day in and day out, and to give them only one small spot for warmth while spending most of their time out in the cooler temps their little bodies need. It certainly isn't unusual to have one chick be more vocal than others - we all have the one adult that's louder and more demanding than the others too, I think. I don't know what your heating pad is set on, but if you think she needs more heat you can either pop it up a notch or flatten the frame a bit on one side so she can find that little area that's closer to her back for the heat. Or you can tell her to "shut up" and put her in the corner. Um, that seldom works. <sigh>

 

[aart]

MHP is working great at night, but the smallest chick in the bunch chirps like mad because it's not warm enough. Have to supplement still with heat lamp. Is this normal? Also, they spend most of the time on top of the MHP than in it. It seems as though the only time they go in the MHP is when I put them in there for bedtime.

How old is chick?
Distress chirping is not always because of cold.
Is there room for them all under there?
Have you checked her butt? That's always the first thing I check with the tinys.

 

[ksguy]

I'm beginning to wonder if I've maybe got a set of really ... erm...intellectually challenged chicks. They're 18 days old, been using MHP for about 11 days. When they were inside, we'd try really hard to keep the lighting in the room "natural" and help them under the heating pad at bedtime. They started getting the hang of it after 3 or 4 nights. On Saturday, I moved them outside to a 3'x8' run within the run where my big girls live. The weather was great and they had a blast. They'd occasionally nap on top of the pad, but never under it. My outside setup is very similar to Blooie's in the original post - heating pad cave covered in straw with some straw bedding inside.

Both nights I've gone out right around dusk to make sure they went to bed. Both times they were huddled in the corner of their coop, cheeping furiously - presumably getting chilly (I won't flatter myself by saying they missed me). I had to force them under the heating pad and obscure the opening with straw to keep them inside - they kept coming out trying to huddle down underneath me. Saturday night I was out there regularly until after 3AM checking on them. Last night bedtime was the same story, but I only checked on them once after dark, at 11, and they were still inside. Everyone was alive and well this morning.

My heating pad is set to level 2 (3 level pad). As I mentioned the cave is higher on one side and tapers down to lower on the other so they have a range of places to hunker down. Tonight it's supposed to get down to 30 and I worry they'll wander out and freeze. Am I just being a worried parent or are my chicks just not "getting it"?

 

[Beekissed]

I'm beginning to wonder if I've maybe got a set of really ... erm...intellectually challenged chicks. They're 18 days old, been using MHP for about 11 days. When they were inside, we'd try really hard to keep the lighting in the room "natural" and help them under the heating pad at bedtime. They started getting the hang of it after 3 or 4 nights. On Saturday, I moved them outside to a 3'x8' run within the run where my big girls live. The weather was great and they had a blast. They'd occasionally nap on top of the pad, but never under it. My outside setup is very similar to Blooie's in the original post - heating pad cave covered in straw with some straw bedding inside.

Both nights I've gone out right around dusk to make sure they went to bed. Both times they were huddled in the corner of their coop, cheeping furiously - presumably getting chilly (I won't flatter myself by saying they missed me). I had to force them under the heating pad and obscure the opening with straw to keep them inside - they kept coming out trying to huddle down underneath me. Saturday night I was out there regularly until after 3AM checking on them. Last night bedtime was the same story, but I only checked on them once after dark, at 11, and they were still inside. Everyone was alive and well this morning.

My heating pad is set to level 2 (3 level pad). As I mentioned the cave is higher on one side and tapers down to lower on the other so they have a range of places to hunker down. Tonight it's supposed to get down to 30 and I worry they'll wander out and freeze. Am I just being a worried parent or are my chicks just not "getting it"?

It's unusual that they haven't learned it by now but chickens are just that way....never do what you expect. I'd not use a lot of light when you go to put them away each night and I'd have that heating pad set a good deal higher...they need to know that the HP is the warmest place under which to hunker, especially in 30 degree weather. Right now it seems they are finding each other as the warmest option. I'd remove some of the straw on top...could be they are not sensing the warmth under there and are not homing in on the brooder as the source of a greater warmth than their own and each other's body heat.

Then I'd shove them under there at dark and walk away. No light. If you have street lights or dusk til dawn lights shining into your coop, they may be a tad confused about when to go to bed, so blanket any windows that are allowing any light in the brooder.