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

[Blooie]

Maybe they will just stick their tiny heads out!

Now I want pics!

Me too!!

 

[aart]

Quote: Me Three! haha!

 

[Coop de Grass]

You could also paint your house purple (Take that covenants!

)

Not as weird, I think, as chicken owners.

For the same reason we get attached to $10 pound puppies and kittens. To most of us here the aren't livestock or commodities, they're pets - part of the family.

If that's a Roo (or turns out to be) you could just name him MacGyver!

MacGyver is a great name!

 

[Coop de Grass]

Hello all, This is probably the wrong forum, but my chicks are under a MHP and you guys are my support group!

One of my FBCMs has developed pasty butt... I cleaned her off last night and cuddled him/she for a long time to make sure him/she was completely dry. She (I give up) had been hiding under the MHP, but when I put her back she was eating forever. I made sure she also drank. This morning she was hiding under the MHP again. I cleaned out the brooder, and while she was in the smaller brooder, she seemed to be having trouble standing up - but that might have been because of the plastic tub floor under the shavings.

She is definitely smaller than the other chicks. Hatch date was April 12.

Do I separate her from the rest? Do I just add corn meal to the feed for everyone?

One more thing - she looks like she has a ping pong ball hanging down behind her legs - almost like a yolk. She has come out from the MHP. I wonder if it was too warm for her because she was at the very back.
Advice please

 

[junebuggena]

Hello all, This is probably the wrong forum, but my chicks are under a MHP and you guys are my support group!

One of my FBCMs has developed pasty butt... I cleaned her off last night and cuddled him/she for a long time to make sure him/she was completely dry. She (I give up) had been hiding under the MHP, but when I put her back she was eating forever. I made sure she also drank. This morning she was hiding under the MHP again. I cleaned out the brooder, and while she was in the smaller brooder, she seemed to be having trouble standing up - but that might have been because of the plastic tub floor under the shavings.

She is definitely smaller than the other chicks. Hatch date was April 12.

Do I separate her from the rest? Do I just add corn meal to the feed for everyone?

Advice please

Could be that the heating pad is too high for her to get contact with, and properly warm up.

 

[wamtazlady]

I think I remember reading of it being used for turkey poults too.
Should work for any barnyard bird...height might need adjusting...and of course, due diligence is always required.

Thank you aart and Blooie for your replies. Guess I'll give it a try but keep a heat lamp close by just in case it doesn't work.

 

[jmoeller]

Hey everyone, It's been a long time since I've been on this sight. I just love the Mhp concept and I used it last spring. I brooded my day old chicks in my spare coop OUTSIDE under MPH with wonderful results.


pix of outside coop. nothing special here.

close up of the chicks cuddled up under MHP


This is a picture of these same chickens integrated with the rest of my flock, happy, healthy and well adjusted. Everything one wants in their chickens.


Well this year God blessed me with a true all natural MHP, my hen Duane went broody a few weeks ago. It's been hectic here this year so I just ignored her and let her sit in a nest box. Then one day I decided to go ahead and get the heritage Rhode Island Reds I had always wanted so I placed my order. ( Thanks to Dick Horstman, I recieved 14 happy, healthy, active chicks on Wednesday) While walking out to collect eggs one day I was thinking about all the things I would need to get together to set up my MHP system again. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks ~ DAH I have a hen that wants babies, and a bunch of babies coming so.........
With the guidance of Bee I moved my broody to the spare coop ( pictured above) placed 3 hard boiled eggs under her and let her sit. She sat for about 10 days before the new chicks came on Wednesday. This isn't Duane's first rodeo, to her credit she hatched and raised 2 chicks last spring on her own. The brown and black hen in the above pix is one of Duane's first hatch.

The following is a little story I wrote about my adventures placing the the new chicks under Duane.


THE TAIL

OF THE BROODY HEN.

By Jen.
One dark April night I found myself with 14 two day old chicks sitting under MHP in a rubber maid tote. Luckily I had the wonder broody Duane sitting on 3 hard boiled eggs in the broody coop waiting for some chicks of her own.
Now I had heard stories of how to properly place new chicks under a broody hen before, "do it under the dark of night" they said, "make sure you wear a leather glove" they said "broody hens can be crazy mean" they said. So I looked around my house for assistance from the 3 strong brave men in the family. I couldn't find a single one

So once again I headed out to tackle a job alone. I placed 7 of the 14 chicks in a small box, grabbed the flash light and headed for the coop. I set the flash light on a ledge outside the coop and it dimly lit the inside of the coop enough that I could make out where the intimidating broody lay. First I jammed my hand under her and pulled out 2 hard boiled eggs, and set them aside. Then I carefully picked up the first chick and stuffed it under the hen. She kind of puffed up and growled a little but that was it. I slowly and carefully stuffed the other 6 chicks under her as she just sat there and let me fill her box with little brown fluffer nuts.
I headed back to the house for my second load of chicks and proceeded to deposit them under the broody in the same manner. I carefully closed the door to the coop and headed for the house. I hung the flash light back up by the fermented feed and realized in horror I had forgotten to wear my leather gloves

About 6:30 am I headed out to the coop to see if everybody was getting along. I opened the door of the coop and 14 little fluffer nuts were running around all over the coop. Standing in their water dish, pecking at the litter on the floor, climbing on top and squeezing under mamma. Mamma just sat there calmly, patiently taking in all the mischief of her little ones. I moved her out of her nest because I wanted to take that 3rd hard boiled egg out from under her but it was no where to be found. I wonder if the mice ate the egg out from under her rather than chew her toes off

This is the scene from early this morning.



This pix was taken this after noon. Apparently the chicks did not read the How To Properly Raise Chicks manuel, The are not all huddled up under mamma where it is 95* they are wandering all over climbing on everything & playing tag and it was only 68*!!!!! Boy do I have some dumb chicks.
Do you think I should get a heat lamp out their and bake them a little more?

So yes, I know this is the MHP thread and I LOVE MHP and will use it from now on if a broody hen isn't available, but my point is that we get all to focused on what the books say we need to do to raise chicks properly. I think the best possible teacher of how to raise chicks would be a Chicken.. If Duane isn't fixated on all the details we humans tend to fixate on, I defer to her, she's the expert.

 

[aart]

Hello all, This is probably the wrong forum, but my chicks are under a MHP and you guys are my support group!

One of my FBCMs has developed pasty butt... I cleaned her off last night and cuddled him/she for a long time to make sure him/she was completely dry. She (I give up) had been hiding under the MHP, but when I put her back she was eating forever. I made sure she also drank. This morning she was hiding under the MHP again. I cleaned out the brooder, and while she was in the smaller brooder, she seemed to be having trouble standing up - but that might have been because of the plastic tub floor under the shavings.

She is definitely smaller than the other chicks. Hatch date was April 12.

Do I separate her from the rest? Do I just add corn meal to the feed for everyone?

One more thing - she looks like she has a ping pong ball hanging down behind her legs - almost like a yolk. She has come out from the MHP. I wonder if it was too warm for her because she was at the very back.
Advice please

Pic of 'ping pong' ball?
Sounds like it could be an umbilical hernia, the muscle not closing properly as the yolk sac ascends, which could cause major intestinal malfunction.
....or a vent deformity?
Did the pasty butt just start?

 

[Blooie]

Hey everyone, It's been a long time since I've been on this sight. I just love the Mhp concept and I used it last spring. I brooded my day old chicks in my spare coop OUTSIDE under MPH with wonderful results.


pix of outside coop. nothing special here.

close up of the chicks cuddled up under MHP


This is a picture of these same chickens integrated with the rest of my flock, happy, healthy and well adjusted. Everything one wants in their chickens.


Well this year God blessed me with a true all natural MHP, my hen Duane went broody a few weeks ago. It's been hectic here this year so I just ignored her and let her sit in a nest box. Then one day I decided to go ahead and get the heritage Rhode Island Reds I had always wanted so I placed my order. ( Thanks to Dick Horstman, I recieved 14 happy, healthy, active chicks on Wednesday) While walking out to collect eggs one day I was thinking about all the things I would need to get together to set up my MHP system again. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks ~ DAH I have a hen that wants babies, and a bunch of babies coming so.........
With the guidance of Bee I moved my broody to the spare coop ( pictured above) placed 3 hard boiled eggs under her and let her sit. She sat for about 10 days before the new chicks came on Wednesday. This isn't Duane's first rodeo, to her credit she hatched and raised 2 chicks last spring on her own. The brown and black hen in the above pix is one of Duane's first hatch.

The following is a little story I wrote about my adventures placing the the new chicks under Duane.


THE TAIL

OF THE BROODY HEN.

By Jen.
One dark April night I found myself with 14 two day old chicks sitting under MHP in a rubber maid tote. Luckily I had the wonder broody Duane sitting on 3 hard boiled eggs in the broody coop waiting for some chicks of her own.
Now I had heard stories of how to properly place new chicks under a broody hen before, "do it under the dark of night" they said, "make sure you wear a leather glove" they said "broody hens can be crazy mean" they said. So I looked around my house for assistance from the 3 strong brave men in the family. I couldn't find a single one

So once again I headed out to tackle a job alone. I placed 7 of the 14 chicks in a small box, grabbed the flash light and headed for the coop. I set the flash light on a ledge outside the coop and it dimly lit the inside of the coop enough that I could make out where the intimidating broody lay. First I jammed my hand under her and pulled out 2 hard boiled eggs, and set them aside. Then I carefully picked up the first chick and stuffed it under the hen. She kind of puffed up and growled a little but that was it. I slowly and carefully stuffed the other 6 chicks under her as she just sat there and let me fill her box with little brown fluffer nuts.
I headed back to the house for my second load of chicks and proceeded to deposit them under the broody in the same manner. I carefully closed the door to the coop and headed for the house. I hung the flash light back up by the fermented feed and realized in horror I had forgotten to wear my leather gloves

About 6:30 am I headed out to the coop to see if everybody was getting along. I opened the door of the coop and 14 little fluffer nuts were running around all over the coop. Standing in their water dish, pecking at the litter on the floor, climbing on top and squeezing under mamma. Mamma just sat there calmly, patiently taking in all the mischief of her little ones. I moved her out of her nest because I wanted to take that 3rd hard boiled egg out from under her but it was no where to be found. I wonder if the mice ate the egg out from under her rather than chew her toes off

This is the scene from early this morning.



This pix was taken this after noon. Apparently the chicks did not read the How To Properly Raise Chicks manuel, The are not all huddled up under mamma where it is 95* they are wandering all over climbing on everything & playing tag and it was only 68*!!!!! Boy do I have some dumb chicks.
Do you think I should get a heat lamp out their and bake them a little more?

So yes, I know this is the MHP thread and I LOVE MHP and will use it from now on if a broody hen isn't available, but my point is that we get all to focused on what the books say we need to do to raise chicks properly. I think the best possible teacher of how to raise chicks would be a Chicken.. If Duane isn't fixated on all the details we humans tend to fixate on, I defer to her, she's the expert.

Loved the story! Love the pics!!! Love it all!! That's why MHP is successful WHEN a broody isn't available. It's as close to an imitation as we can get. Yes, you do indeed have illiterate chicks!

Look at them, running around pretending to be chickens!! A broody is always preferred - I wish I had a couple out there about now with these eggs in the incubator. Truth be told, that picture makes me a tad jealous!

 

[LilyBird]

So I put my MHP together today. Here's some pictures of what I did. Instead of using bungee cords I used some heavy duty zip ties, since my husband has an endless supply of them. I can always cut them off and then put more on again if needed.

Zip tied the heating pad around the frame.

The sides I folded up and loosely zip tied it

Next was a pillow case folded around the frame, duck taped at the edges and press and seal put just on the top.

As for the tank. I'm going to start with it and see how it goes. I have a thermometer inside the tank. Sitting empty it's no warmer inside than it is outside. I dragged a big mirror in front of the window, so there's only a small amount of the tank that is by the window. And there's no direct sun that comes in that window. There are huge trees outside that give lots of shade. It should work until they outgrow it. Lol