Seedling heat pad and temp reading for MHP cave?

[RumneyRoost]

This is the one that I have. I do have another one without a thermostat that doesn’t seem to get as warm.
I plan to move them outside to start integrating in a few weeks. I may have to add the second mat if the night time temps are too cold.

 

[RumneyRoost]

Just wanted to update. The littles are almost two weeks old and they’ve done well with the seedling mat. The last 4-5 nights I’ve found a couple sleeping half under and a couple sleeping on top.

So today I moved them outside. Inside the tote is nice and dry, I added a second mat on the floor as well. If they’re too warm they can move off of it or come closer to the door.
Night time temps are 60-65 here right now. At 8:45pm the thermostat sensor for the mats was reading 95f.

 

[cityeggs]

Just wanted to update. The littles are almost two weeks old and they’ve done well with the seedling mat. The last 4-5 nights I’ve found a couple sleeping half under and a couple sleeping on top.

So today I moved them outside. Inside the tote is nice and dry, I added a second mat on the floor as well. If they’re too warm they can move off of it or come closer to the door.
Night time temps are 60-65 here right now. At 8:45pm the thermostat sensor for the mats was reading 95f.

Thanks for the update! That's great to hear and really helpful to know the temp you're getting!

Based on your experience, I got a thermostat for my seedling mat and tested it out by setting it at 85F for a few hours. I kept a separate thermometer under it along with the sensor, and the thermometer consistently read 90-92F underneath with surrounding air temp around 70, which sounds like it's the right range for chicks?? I will keep the separate thermometer in there to gauge whether the thermostat is just +5 degrees above what the sensor reads, or whether it changes depending on what it's set to.

Our two chicks arrive Friday. We're going to keep them indoors for at least a few days to keep a closer eye on them (and bc they're just so much fun to watch), and then gauge whether to fully move them outside, or just during the day; it depends on how hard it is to run the extension cord into the secure coop & run at night. During the day, we keep the door open to a larger fenced area (and the chicks will be in a big dog crate within sight of the big girls), so the cord can come in through the door without making any holes in our tight coop, or just keep them in the yard part.

 

[cityeggs]

Following up mainly for anyone else considering the seedling mat route for a heat cave. I've been having problems with it staying the right temp; though the chicks seem ok, I'm not happy with it and I think I'd just get a Sunbeam heating pad next time. I'm not sure whether it's my thermostat (BN-LINK) or my seedling mat (Jump Start), but it has fluctuated 20 degrees, and generally had trouble staying warm enough.

When I tested it initially, I had it on the cooling rack right over a baking tray, so I think the reflective metal helped, it was only on for a few hours, and the sensor was right below the mat. Most of yesterday, despite the fact that I kept upping the heat setting until it was supposed to be 97F, the air temp below the mat (where the sensor was) hovered around 82, and the low according to my separate thermometer went down to 78. I did have windows open during the day, and it was breezy, so that might have been part of it - but air temps were only 70. I did unplug it and plug it back in to see if that would help, and it seemed to, though that's also when I closed up for the night, so it's hard to tell which played a bigger role. The thermometer I have records high/low temps for previous 24h, and at some point over night, it did get up to 98F underneath. This morning (windows closed), it's measuring 87-88F for air temp underneath, and the chicks are making happy noises and out and about, with the periodic nap in the cave.

I was frustrated enough with the set-up that I almost ordered a Sunbeam yesterday, but since the chicks seem to be doing fine, I held off, and I think we'll be ok without it, unless we put them out in the coop 24/7. The smaller of the two definitely spends more time under the heat (and keeps trying to snuggle under the larger chick when she's been out for a while), but the larger one is very active and out most of the time, going under occasionally, and often just parking herself right under the edge instead of all the way under (as far as I know, they both hatched 9/24).

I do wonder whether the Jump Start thermostat would have worked better with the JS mat. None of them got great ratings - I think I remember complaints about both not working, and also other rave reviews about consistent temps, but you often get what you pay for, and the JS model was almost $50, while the one I got, BN-LInk, was only $20. Perhaps, something to test out if you already have all the equipment at home, but if you're going to spend money, I'd recommend just going with the tried and true Sunbeam xpressheat.

 

[Chixchik]

Neither are heat lamps, if you come right down to it. We’ve had reports on the MHP thread of chicks being burned by commercial brooder heat plates too, complete with photos.

Look, nothing is fireproof. Nothing. Anything from a phone charger to a coffee pot can start a fire. Shoot, I’m married to an electrician and he’s taken photos of burned wires and insulation within walls behind outlets despite absolutely nothing being plugged in. And any - absolutely any - appliance designed to produce heat is always riskier than say an electric can opener. The heating pads most of us use have a specific switch on them for “stay on”. That’s the Sunbeam X-Press Heat model. I never, ever recommend that anyone grab a old heating pad that‘s been rolled or folded and stuffed in the back of a linen closet. The wires in old pads can become brittle over time and develop tiny cracks from being shoved around folded up. Those cracks can cause shorts within the pad.

Common sense has to be the guide with any heat source. If you’re not comfortable using a heating pad, then obviously don’t do it. If you don’t like the notion of a heat lamp, chose an alternative. Mama Heating Pad has repeatedly proven to be a gentle source of even heat for raising chicks by hundreds and hundreds of people, without a single report of a fire, and believe me, people on the MHP thread have reported every problem from chicks nor using it to chicks getting trapped at the back of them. It doesn’t heat the bedding, the walls, the floors, it just warms the chicks. When anything unusual has happened, the users are quick to post on the thread about it and we immediately brainstorm to find solutions. That “we” is all of those successfully using MHP. Now search BYC for reports of heat lamp fires - new ones pop up every year.

Chicks only use MHP for about 3 weeks, and most of us completely turn the pad off on nice days…the chicks will still go under and snuggle down, but in reality they spend very little time under it even when they are tiny. This time of year it would be used more for that “raised by a broody hen” feeling for the chicks than for heat anyway. Common sense. Using properly grounded outlets, checking the pad carefully every time it comes out for a chick season, and investing in a new pad to begin the MHP journey (which is then never folded or rolled between uses), plus the gentle heat put out by the pad make it every bit as safe as most alternative methods, and darn sure safer than a heat lamp.

I‘d a million times be more willing to grab a running heating pad than a running heat lamp any day. I just raised my 10th or 11th batch of chicks spanning over 7 years, using the very Heating Pad and frame I started out with. They are just as safe as any other method of providing heat, and as I said, safer than some.

I agree. Seedling mats just aren’t warm enough. The temp on the floor of a Mama Heating Pad cave should average between 82.5 and 85 degrees.

I’m know that sounds contrary to what we’ve been taught about heat for chicks, but honestly they don’t need to be as warm as we were told. Need proof? How about a batch of chicks climbing over patches of snow as they trail behind a broody hen….they aren’t being kept in a 95 degree box and they thrive!

Amen