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

[chicken curious]

I've been pulling from our fabric scrap pile (shirts my kids have outgrown, but aren't donate-able)

Anyway, I stick to cotton and get 4 uses: front, back, invert...inside front, inside back

then can use the poopy fabric as a weed/grass suppressant for a pathway I'm making : D

 

[debid]

debid, that's a really good point! They have some branches in there that they climb all over and rest on during the day, but almost every branch area is slanted in some way. There are natural 2x4 'shelves' higher than their box and I've seen them rest there during the day, but still return to a pile of friends at night on the top of the huddle box.

They are really laying out with necks stretched long on the top of the box...they look weird, but happy.

I'll add a roost tomorrow and then they'll have the option. Can they handle a 2" horizontal surface?

I used a scrap of closet dowel. Maybe 1 3/8" diameter? I like to give a variety of sizes but the brooder is too small for multiple roosts so I picked a safe number and they seem content with it.

 

[junebuggena]

Just had a 3 week old chick die. Pretty sure it launched itself off the heating pad and crashed into the side of the brooder. They've been really rambunctious today. Most of them have been jumping off the heating pad all day long. Heard a commotion, went and checked and there was the chick flopping around in the midst of death throws.

 

[dawnd13]

I didn't cover the actual heating pad in the press n seal, I covered an old kitchen towel int he press n seal and since I work all day, I put a couple of extra layers of the press n seal on there and used them as tear aways for faster clean up. It worked really well with the towel and I just threw it in the wash when I moved the girls out to their new coop a couple of weeks ago. My chicks all wanted to be on top of their MHP, so the kitchen towel worked really well for me.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

I don't have enough time to search too much on thread right now. Can you guys tell me some of the ways you covered the top of heating pad? I have the pad covered in press and seal but I have 20 chicks that all want to sit on top. Right now I'm using cut up pieces of cheap walmart bath towels but its a mess. Thanks!

I didn't use press and seal. I put the whole thing in a zippered pillowcase, and I used cloth baby diapers on top - they are absorbent and meant to be pooped on, and can be swapped out for fresh and laundered after it's all over. Blooie uses old towel that she pitches afterwards - don't blame her, cleaning and bleaching the diapers is a pain.

 

[perchie.girl]

how about putting a tray of sand on top....

 

[aart]

Just had a 3 week old chick die. Pretty sure it launched itself off the heating pad and crashed into the side of the brooder. They've been really rambunctious today. Most of them have been jumping off the heating pad all day long. Heard a commotion, went and checked and there was the chick flopping around in the midst of death throws.

OhCrap...that stinks!

 

[aart]

Quote: I too found a dead chick(2-3 days old) under the MHP this morning no obvious cause of death.
Was one of the larger EE's...Crap!

 

[junebuggena]

OhCrap...that stinks!

Just when you think you've seen every possible way for a chick to commit suicide...

 

[lazy gardener]

I don't have enough time to search too much on thread right now. Can you guys tell me some of the ways you covered the top of heating pad? I have the pad covered in press and seal but I have 20 chicks that all want to sit on top. Right now I'm using cut up pieces of cheap walmart bath towels but its a mess. Thanks!

No matter what you do, poop happens!

I've been pulling from our fabric scrap pile (shirts my kids have outgrown, but aren't donate-able)

Anyway, I stick to cotton and get 4 uses: front, back, invert...inside front, inside back

then can use the poopy fabric as a weed/grass suppressant for a pathway I'm making : D

Do you use T shirts? Brilliant use of them. Any issues with the chicks climbing inside the shirts?

Quote: Takes me back to the days when I was raising my human babies. I used cloth diapers, the old fashioned kind, with diaper pins and rubber pants, and even made some of my own diapers!... Yep, they are messy, but they are so absorbent. I found some packaged for rags at a store several years ago, and bought them for MHP use (told hubby they'd make awesome rags!) I wish I'd bought 3 or 4 more packages, b/c they are so handy. Hose them off, toss in a bucket of bleach/soap water, sozzle a bit, then, they MIGHT be clean enough to go in my washer. Warning, don't dump bleach water in your yard. I have a spot where I did that after processing roos, and 2 years later, the soil there is totally dead, and won't grow anything. I'm composting on that spot to try to bring it back to life.

Sorry for those of you who've had chicks die recently. It stinks, but... it's inevitable. I have 2 shipped chicks with extruded vents that I will most likely cull rather than put them in with the rest of the chicks. I'd rather cull them, than have them picked to possibly start a cannibalism habit in this flock.

My hatched chicks are twice as big as the shipped chicks. All hatched on the same day. IMO, that shows how shipping stress can retard growth, and how hybrid vigor, and superior nutrition can advance growth. chicks are 10 days old today, and almost completely feathered on their wings, have sprouts on their shoulders and their backs. Some of them more advanced with tail feathers than others.