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That is sure ambitious -100 chicks. But yes, you can do it. I brood my day-olds in my enclosed run with no issues. Reptile pads are not an adequate substitute for the heating pad, however, since they heat from the bottom up, not the top down as does MHP. The simple principle behind the MHP...

The people who brood a dozen or more chicks under a heating pad will leave it open on three sides so the piled-on chicks can "squirt" out the sides instead of being squashed.

Twelve chicks is too many for one pad. I use two side-by-side for more than six chicks. They do pile and the ones on the bottom will suffocate. I had a chick get caught between the wire frame and the pad. So I made an envelope to enclose the pad and frame and I stitched it closed so no gaps...

Quail babies are the cutest. I'd love some but my chickens would probably eat them like treats.

I just adore ingenuity and innovation! Those little ones look very content.

:frowHi Blooie!

I guess if your chicks didn't freeze they widdle toes off, you guys aren't such awful chick moms.

I ran an experiment testing the temperature on the surface directly underneath the pad, and it varied from 80F to 110F. The wide variation was directly in relationship to the ambient temperature. Outdoors, with temps ranging from barely above freezing to 70F, the surface under the pad remained...

Oh, geez. Don't get me infected with chick fever. The last two seasons, I let a broody raise a few chicks for me, so I haven't needed MHP. But last time, I got an "accidental" roo from some pure-bred Cream Legbar eggs where the chicks are easily auto-sexed on hatch. The chick with the most...

This is like homecoming week! As I recall the Press 'n Seal leaves an adhesive residue on anything it adheres to for an extended period, especially if it undergoes heating. But I delighted in it's ease of cleanup on the old towel I had draped over the heating pad cave. The residue easily...

How large is your run? I have a very roomy run that I partitioned into sections that can be closed off. This enables me to set up the MHP and brood chicks in any of these sections. When they turn two weeks old, I then open the portals that I've built into every partition, and the chicks have...

Michelle, the heat setting does need to be lowered after the first week. Three-week olds won't be using the heating pad at all during the day, and they may prefer to sleep on top at night. Some three-week olds using MHP wean themselves off heat entirely, so don't let it surprise you some have...

Michelle - I'm late to your comments, so I don't know how old your babies are. If they're in their first week, they should be wanting to go under the pad. If they're staying on top, there are two reasons for this. One could be you have the pad upside down. The side with the writing is warmer...

Regarding the possibility of chicks burning themselves on heat plates when they have no down or feathering on their necks - those surfaces do get very warm, and heating pads without a cloth cover do, too. Some pages back Blooie posted a scary report that chicks feet were burned off by walking on...

Also, MHP is much safer around children.

I would listen to Ms Common Sense. If the chick seems okay, hold off on the Vit E and selenium. Perhaps the Nutri-drench had the nutrients the baby was lacking, and it responded well to them. I'd keep the Nutri-drench up for another week since it can only help.

Michelle, if you read my article on brooding outdoors, linked below in my signature line, it will answer a lot of your questions. Is there any way you can set up your brooding safe pen in your run? That's what I do. My run is covered and I have panels that shelter from cold drafts. Even though...

So will you!

Here's one alternative if you have the plastic water bottle and don't want to change to a new kind. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/957712/how-to-hang-a-chick-water-bottle Instructions on how to hang the bottle to avoid shavings in the watering tray, and you don't need to be concerned about...

Oh, Blooie. That's just too upsetting for words. One would have been devastating, but five! Yes, four days in transit is likely the culprit. The tiny ones had less body mass so they would have been the ones to hit the tipping point as they chilled. The damage was done, but the end result is on...