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

[MistyMountain]

MHP hard at work. These guys are now 2-1/2 weeks old!

 

[Blooie]

Hey, MM - been awhile!! Don't you just love this whole heating pad thing? The biggest drawback I've found so far is because raising chicks is so simple, there's a huge temptation to get more!

 

[MistyMountain]

Hey, MM - been awhile!! Don't you just love this whole heating pad thing? The biggest drawback I've found so far is because raising chicks is so simple, there's a huge temptation to get more!

It is SO easy! I raised these side by side with a group under a heat lamp. I can't even tell you how much more calm this group is! These guys will be moving out just before the 3 eggs in the incubator hatch out! No stress about the temp or whether the heat lamp is going to burn the house down!

ETA: BTW, Blooie, glad you are back and well!

I'd send over my Mr. Fix-it to help with the water heater if I could!! I know too well what that is like!

 

[Blooie]

Yeah, the kids are still without hot water (almost 2 weeks now) so I'd take Mr. Fixit if I could get him!! Ken is really good at that sort of stuff too, but not physically able to lift the old one out and the new one in. In old trailers the hot water heaters are in a tiny closet with the only access through a small door on the outside of the trailer. Not enough room for more than one set of arms in there, let alone get it lifted it out and down the 2 feet to the ground, then putting the new one back up. Fortunately the kids haven't put the washer and dryer back in the bathroom yet so Ken and Kenny opened a skinny access door to the HWH from in there so it's easier to reach the connections from inside the house. That should help, but that opening in there can't be made wide enough to get the heaters switched - the bathtub is located right up against it.

So Kenny rounded up some muscle to do the heavy stuff, but he has to wait until he and them are off work at the same time. Naturally that will be Thursday at the earliest, and we leave for Sheridan that morning and will be gone until Sunday. Ken told then if they can just get the heaters changed out, he'll do the connecting when we get home, but if Kenny can find someone who's comfortable working with natural gas in a close space, to go right ahead. Electricity Ken doesn't mind a bit - that is his specialty and he made a living with it for 40 years! But he's the first to admit that natural gas scares the pee-wadding out of him especially in a 1974 single wide trailer house where connections and safety are rather questionable anyway.

I think the one thing I found with MHP that makes it so amazing compared to a heat lamp is the ability for the chicks to learn the difference between night and day right off the bat. That, to me, is a good reason they are so calm. They aren't running around frantically all night and day, and dropping in their tracks when they get tired, only to have wide-awake chicks tromping on them and pecking at their toes!

 

[Blooie]

Never mind....posted to the wrong thread....who's tired? Not me!

 

[ccrow]

Here are some pictures of my setup... first, a look at the pen and coop:


The coop is 4x8 inside, I think; the pen is four times that size and as you can see, the coop is elevated so they can get under it. The cardboard over the pop door is to prevent the silly pullets from roosting there

Here are a couple pics of the enclosure for the babies:




Of course now I'm finding all the things that don't work so well; next time we will be doing it a little differently!

 

[aart]

Here are some pictures of my setup... first, a look at the pen and coop:


The coop is 4x8 inside, I think; the pen is four times that size and as you can see, the coop is elevated so they can get under it. The cardboard over the pop door is to prevent the silly pullets from roosting there

Here are a couple pics of the enclosure for the babies:




Of course now I'm finding all the things that don't work so well; next time we will be doing it a little differently!

A chicken coop is a fluid thing, something always needs to be (or can be) tweaked.
That's a sweet setup!

 

[Victoria-nola]

Quote:
Yes, we can always learn more and apply it, one way or another. Now I get it about where the chicks are! That works well, seems to me. So but yeah, everything I've said about opening a small hole or two, and them exploring and eventually going out the pop door on their own, still holds.

 

[aart]

Quote:

A chicken coop is a fluid thing, something always needs to be (or can be) tweaked.
That's a sweet setup!

Yes, we can always learn more and apply it, one way or another. Now I get it about where the chicks are! That works well, seems to me. So but yeah, everything I've said about opening a small hole or two, and them exploring and eventually going out the pop door on their own, still holds.

Indeed the .....what I call 'tiny doors'...for chicks to be able to wander the coop are a great way to integrate.
One thing I learned is the openings/doors need to be adjustable width wise.
I made a 5x7 door in coop partition wall.....tested it before installing chicks, my slimmer hens had no trouble getting thru it.
Had some other slider doors in there already about 4" high, cranked them down to 4" wide....again breached by the slimset.......
......went down to about 3.5" and that did the trick.

 

[ccrow]

Thanks for the replies, and for the compliment, aart

Now I just have to figure out how to do the chickie door(s)... I can easily cut openings in the hardware cloth but I'm not sure how to do it in a way that allows me to close them again if necessary, and to avoid sharp edges. Suggestions are welcome, lol! Plus I need to pick up chicken wire and get busy putting that around the pen. The fence is 5+ feet tall; would 3 foot wire be enough, do you think? I plan on using 1" mesh.