Brooder box with light and heat pad?

[Stiggy]

Mine have been laying profusely, out of 15 laying silkies I was getting 9-10 eggs a day until recently when 3 went broody though typically when they go broody I have no fertile eggs since the rooster seems to prefer roosters rather than hens.... and my faverolles mix boy will only mate with 5 of the hens. Yes they can be unpredictable layers. And their protection of babies is great, in fact in squabbles if there is more than one broody with babies and something happens where they spar or whatever the silkies will use their 5th toe to fight, kind of like a spur. Do yours do this?

 

[Happy Feathers]

A note about heating pads...what ever country you are in. There are 2 kinds, one will stay on until you turn it off, the other has a timing mechanism that automatically turns the pad off. A friend of mine lost some chicks because the pad shut off on a cold night. I've never seen a timer pad that you can adjust or bypass. That said, good luck with the babies!

 

[Stiggy]

Thanks, yes I did look into that, one idea of the heat pad was that if the light went out for whatever reason then they wouldn't freeze to death. This heat pad is only 10 volts so idk how hot it will get yet, if it is to cold then I will put in my brothers one which is 30 watts and about 30 degrees which he uses for alcohol....

 

[CollegeChicken]

Very good point about the heating pads that stay on vs the ones that automatically shut off. Obviously the one that stays on is ideal to prevent temperature fluctuations...by incorporating a heating pad you can use a less powerful heat lamp (reducing energy use ) and allow the chicks to have heat from above AND below creating a nice ambient area of heat. So many times I see my chicks sprawled on the heating pad corner just loving their heat coming from all sides..it almost looks like theyre sleeping with little smiles on their faces LOL

 

[MeepBeep]

by incorporating a heating pad you can use a less powerful heat lamp (reducing energy use )

You won't really save any energy use, as what you save from the bulb will be used by the heating pad, it's a wash in the end...

Ironically light bulbs are horribly (beyond horrible) in regards to the light output for the amount of energy they use, but they honestly make very good heaters and are pretty darn efficient at producing heat for the amount of energy they use...

I have used a 'pig blanket' aka livestock heating pad for my large brooder pen but find light bulbs to just be overall easier as it provides more temperature zones for the chicks to choose from...

 

[Stiggy]

Thanks for the input guys.
In the end I nicked off with my brother heat pad and I have that under the youngest babies, they also have a normal non eco 75 watt bulb over head which makes it nice and cosy at one end and cool at the other.

The heatpad that I ordered over a week ago only arrived today as was both to small ( sent the wrong size but oh well) and only gets to about 16 degrees which isn't enough by the time I take into account the need to keep both it, the brooder box floor and the chick warm. However should I need to isolate a chick or 2 or a hen that needs warming then it will do fine. I will keep it for that reason and buy another heat pad identical to my brothers for my other brooder box ( I have 2 running but I need to set up a third)

@MeepBeep I could have bought a whelping box heat pad but it was to expensive/ to big and clumsy and not warm enough, I have never seen a pig one here but I bet it is very handy

 

[kittydoc]

@Stiggy, We use a 250W red heat lamp which is mounted way too high up for any chick of any breed to reach it. Their regular lighting is a fluorescent lamp several feet above the box, and it is on a timer for 12 hr/day. Since we have also been silly and had cold-weather hatched chicks, we kept the heat lamp on 24/7, and just moved it up progressively until they were well feathered and seemed OK at the ambient temperature in the garage. We had an extremely bitter in the US last winter, but all survived. We went nuts, though, because we had them in the garage for an extra month because spring was very much delayed. The only upside to this is that all ten of those girls are very, very sweet from being around us so much. We eventually had to use the brooder plus a converted tall cat cage to house them all.

As a veterinarian, heating pads scare me a bit. I myself have been lightly burned by one (I was on narcotic pain meds and did not feel the heat burning me). I have treated animals burned with heating pads, and it's not pretty. However, you said it only covers 1/4 of the floor of your brooder, so that's OK. You can also keep the heating pad covered with whole sections of newspaper to help minimize the heat, and keep it on LOW. I tell people using them with kittens/puppies to set it to LOW, place a layer of newspapers at least 1/2" or 1 cm thick, then cover that with a towel. However, you don't want to use towels with chicks. I agree with others that you will be able to use less heat from a bulb if you are using a heating pad.

I hope your Silkies thrive, despite the cold weather! Try to keep from opening/closing your garage door as much as possible. If it gets too cold (colder than the heat lamp and pad can handle), you could put an electric heater somewhere near the brooder. You would have to monitor it carefully. A tip-over automatic off switch is very highly recommended. A heater with a fan or rotation would be better than a static one, which could create a singular hot spot.

We did not need to go to that extreme since our garage is attached to the house and only two sides were exposed to the outdoors, though we had a built-in electric heater we could have used to warm up the garage if we had needed to.

In conclusion, we hope to never raise cold-weather chicks again! They did swimmingly, but it stressed me out! Best wishes for you and your babies!

 

[moms3cuties]

@Stiggy, We use a 250W red heat lamp which is mounted way too high up for any chick of any breed to reach it. Their regular lighting is a fluorescent lamp several feet above the box, and it is on a timer for 12 hr/day. Since we have also been silly and had cold-weather hatched chicks, we kept the heat lamp on 24/7, and just moved it up progressively until they were well feathered and seemed OK at the ambient temperature in the garage. We had an extremely bitter in the US last winter, but all survived. We went nuts, though, because we had them in the garage for an extra month because spring was very much delayed. The only upside to this is that all ten of those girls are very, very sweet from being around us so much. We eventually had to use the brooder plus a converted tall cat cage to house them all.

As a veterinarian, heating pads scare me a bit. I myself have been lightly burned by one (I was on narcotic pain meds and did not feel the heat burning me). I have treated animals burned with heating pads, and it's not pretty. However, you said it only covers 1/4 of the floor of your brooder, so that's OK. You can also keep the heating pad covered with whole sections of newspaper to help minimize the heat, and keep it on LOW. I tell people using them with kittens/puppies to set it to LOW, place a layer of newspapers at least 1/2" or 1 cm thick, then cover that with a towel. However, you don't want to use towels with chicks. I agree with others that you will be able to use less heat from a bulb if you are using a heating pad.

I hope your Silkies thrive, despite the cold weather! Try to keep from opening/closing your garage door as much as possible. If it gets too cold (colder than the heat lamp and pad can handle), you could put an electric heater somewhere near the brooder. You would have to monitor it carefully. A tip-over automatic off switch is very highly recommended. A heater with a fan or rotation would be better than a static one, which could create a singular hot spot.

We did not need to go to that extreme since our garage is attached to the house and only two sides were exposed to the outdoors, though we had a built-in electric heater we could have used to warm up the garage if we had needed to.

In conclusion, we hope to never raise cold-weather chicks again! They did swimmingly, but it stressed me out! Best wishes for you and your babies!

I too have been burned by falling asleep and having been on pain meds for my last surgery 6 months ago,,,,, Sooo do be careful! ( I even started to burn my paper box and started melting my hard plastic box with the heat lamp.) Be SURE to stabilize your heat lamp! Great suggestions!

 

[MeepBeep]

@MeepBeep I could have bought a whelping box heat pad but it was to expensive/ to big and clumsy and not warm enough, I have never seen a pig one here but I bet it is very handy

Pretty much all the same thing... Yes, they are generally big and yes they are expensive, but I used to sell exotic animals for a living and that included a lot of reptiles so at the time they were a much better investment over individual heat rocks that burnt way to many a lizard/snake... And they are built rock solid, I purchased mine used 20 years ago now and they are still going strong... Also I brooder in my house so it's a steady 70°-74° F depending on the time of year and the 'pig blanket' at full heat provides a rise of 30-35° over ambient temp so it get me right in the correct range, but if it's for outside use or in cooler temps it certainly would be under powered... As I said I honestly find myself just using lights more often, they just work...

 

[Stiggy]

Thanks guys for the advice and ideas, unfortunately I cannot have them in the house bit of the house, putting them in the garage was a stretch ( dad and bro don't really like it but there isn't anywhere else as the other sheds have no power/ insulation ) the weather here has been pretty random ( as is our weather) and the flooding has been the worst in decades which has not been helpful at all. I'm planning on building a third brooder next week to accommodate the growth rates of the chicks and I will dish out some extra $ if there is any left for a heat bulb rather than a old fashioned heat and light bulb. So far they are loving the heat pad and all bar 3 are doing well. 2 have early stages of leg problems a very early stage of straddle leg/ b2 deficiency and one has it bad unfortunately but everyone else is doing great .

The heat pad is under the plastic box and there are air gaps ( very small) and then on top is some newspaper and a special kitchen cloth ( for grip) followed by some shavings .

If it was up to me they would have taken over the spare room as they did when I lived with my mother but alas that won't be happening here.

I'm not a new chicken mother by all means but this is the first year I have done it alone so I know what you mean by stressing over them, I check them about 10-12 times a day lol .
Thanks all the best to you and your chooks as well.