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

[bruceha2000]

Happy chicks, doing chicken stuff! Love this way of brooding chicks! Go MHP

Everyone staying healthy now???

 

[henless]

@henless Super cute!

Thanks!

Hatching sounds very stressful. I don't think I could ever do that!

Well, it's not easy peasy. Even though I had a horrible hatch, it was still fun and I learned a lot. I'm hoping next time will be better.

@Aart cute chicks and any unzipped yet?

@Henless sorry about your hatch but super cute chick you have from it. Gonna be a special one that is for sure. Love the new flock.

She is special. It actually worked out ok. I had planned on getting a few brown egg layers for eggs this Winter. I wanted Australorps, but Barred Rocks were my 2nd choice. Besides, since they are barred, breeding to one of my Cream Legbars next year will give me sex linked F1 Olive eggers.

Super cute

Thanks bunches! I can't believe yours are old enough to lay. Seems like just yesterday you were bringing them home!!

So glad it's working out for you! Oh, and yep, your dues are paid!

@henless I wish your hatch had turned out better. Doesn't look like mine will be very successful here either. At this point 9 out of 27 have hope, but of those 6 have bad air cells. I dunno, we'll see. <sigh>

It's a big learning process. I knew nothing about hatching before this. Now I know more and hope to have a better hatch next time. Shipped eggs are even harder due to all the stress they get from going through our postal system. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you get a decent hatch. Is this your first hatch?

One more hatched overnight, not the second pipper-no change there....and another 6 are pipped.
Mill chicks using MHP like pros.

Congrats aart!! I was so excited to see my first pip. It only took Merida an hour to hatch after she pipped. Good luck!!

Merida is adorable! I admire her independence and survivor attitude!

Thank you! She is a cutie pie. She sure loves her Mama pad. She'll have her back up against it and her little head will just drop as her eyes slowly shut.

 

[mobius]

If I had this scenario, I would move them into the coop now and keep them shut in with their food and water for a few days. Then on days that I could spend more time with them I would open the door and let them explore for a few hours, chasing them back into the coop if I saw them getting cold or after "recess" was over. That way they learn how to go in and out. After a few days, you could probably just remove the food/water from the coop entirely.

I rather agree with Jen here....I put mine outside in coop/run at four weeks with MHP, but water and food were in the coop, not in the run. In the first day they learned how to go up and down the ramp and put themselves to bed in the coop all by themselves. I would put water and food near MHP, then when satisfied they were managing the new space well, I would move it back to the run....mine have been super comfy and happy this way...

 

[MesMama]

Everyone staying healthy now???

Yes!!! Thankfully Not sure what the deal was and so of corse that leads me to question everything, like is the bedding too small and they're eating too much of it? Did I miss signs of something? Is it too hot, too cold? Yada yada. Finally I was like you know what, I can't control everything. I've done all I can to "baby proof" etc. I left them in God's hands, which they are anyway I just needed to loosen my grip Now I'm enjoying them MUCH more!

 

[MesMama]

I checked on them after dark last night and everyone was under mama A couple were right at the entrance with one of the buff o's sitting the furthest out, she must be top dog at this point? Lol! It was cute, like she was guarding everyone else

 

[Blooie]

Hi!
Thanks for spreading the idea of mine around! My original video on youtube is

I also will try to go into more detail about my solar mobile chicken house in another video and photos
Patrice (Naturalchicken)

It was a chance encounter with your first video that made me throw away the heat lamp and the indoor brooder forever. although I do confess that when I have shipped chicks they stay in for the first 24 hours so I can watch for signs of shipping stress. But after that, out they go! I just use the frame, straw and the pad, oh and I put an old towel on top of the pad (but under the straw) too and just toss it when it gets soiled.

When I saw your comment on YouTube yesterday I couldn't help but respond and let you know about our Mama Heating Pad in the Brooder group. So we are awfully glad to have you with us. As I'm sure you've seen, we have an amazing group here.

This is my first hatch, and so far I'm not real optimistic. But we'll see.

 

[Sassyhens1]

I do not mean to hijack this thread but I have a question. Months ago I attempted this however all the heating pads I found had an auto shut off. After an hour or so they click off as a safety feature. What do you recommend?

 

[mduerksen]

I do not mean to hijack this thread but I have a question. Months ago I attempted this however all the heating pads I found had an auto shut off. After an hour or so they click off as a safety feature. What do you recommend?

I found a sunbeam one at Walgreens that has an auto off or a stay on feature

 

[junebuggena]

I do not mean to hijack this thread but I have a question. Months ago I attempted this however all the heating pads I found had an auto shut off. After an hour or so they click off as a safety feature. What do you recommend?

Get a heating pad that allows you to turn off the auto-shutoff.

 

[henless]

I do not mean to hijack this thread but I have a question. Months ago I attempted this however all the heating pads I found had an auto shut off. After an hour or so they click off as a safety feature. What do you recommend?

You have to look for one that has a bypass feature for the auto shut off. Or look for one that does not have the 2 hour shut off feature. I bought my first one from Sunbeam. It's 12x15 and has no auto off feature. I just bought another 2 off of Amazon. They are by Sunbeam, have not auto off feature but they are larger, 12x24.


eta: Here are the links to the ones I have.

Small one from Sunbeam

Large one from Amazon

The one from Amazon is cheaper.