Brooder/heat lamp issues

[ValerieJ]

When it comes to medicating for coccidiosis, You betcha sweet bippy, yeah. Coccidia is a one-celled parasite that is present everywhere. It's in the soil and it's all around the world. Young animals of a wide variety of farm animals that are exposed to the soil and haven't built up an immunity to it are highly susceptible to being infested with it. I buy the medication and start treatment the very first day that my chicks 'boots-hit-the-ground', as my soil apparently has a very high load of this organism. Before I understood coccidia, I lost a lot of birds (about half) to this horrible disease that is able to kill chicks in a matter of days. Once you notice chicks are sick, they're VERY sick. This organism attaches itself to the gut lining, and if not treated promptly, has a very high morbidity rate. The medication to treat it, works by imitating a certain B-Vitamin, which is why when you treat for coccidiosis you withhold vitamin supplements for your flock. Without this B-Vitamin present in your livestock, the coccidia starve to death and your livestock is 'cured' until their immune system is compromised with stressors such as another illness or disease, allowing the coccidia to gain a foothold. Given as, and for the duration prescribed the medication will not harm you, your flock, nor the environment. The ONLY thing it hurts is the parasite...
Given that the medication functions by blocking the B-Vitamin, it's highly recommended to add a vitamin and mineral supplement to their water, specifically B-Vitamin for at least a week to waylay deficiency issues in your livestock, AFTER their entire treatment for coccidiosis is complete.

That was great information. Thanks!

 

[Shezadandy]

Really ?? You are going to medicate for an illness that you are not even sure of ?

If we were talking about antibiotics, that would be one thing-- this is a parasite as opposed to an infection. It's just a stronger dose (treatment dose as opposed to prevention dose) of the same thing in medicated feed. If you've got the means to pay for a fecal test every time you suspect coccidiosis, great - but sometimes by the time you get it to the vet for testing, you could have a dead chick, depending on the age. The younger they are, the faster it kills. Adding Corid for the 4 day treatment won't hurt them and in fact doesn't even have an egg withdrawal time if used in laying hens, if you have to treat the entire flock as opposed to just some chicks in a brooder.

 

[Birdinhand]

I'm raising between 30-70 chicks a year, they start out outside, with a mother heating pad and since I switched from light bulb to MHP most of the issues of disease have virtually disappeared. I don't treat for coccidiosis unless I start having issues with it, lately, that's been zero. treating profalactically with medication is something I generally try to avoid, I prefer to focus on creating a low stress environment and am a strong advocate of nipple waterers for vastly reducing microbial load. as for light bulbs, I've seen a couple blow up, one of them severely burning my daughters arm. when they explode they put off quite a burst of flame and that is something I really don't want happening in my coop, I still have a fire extinguisher and two smoke detectors in there from early on when I was using a heat lamp... won't ever go back to using bulbs.

 

[Ebony Rose]

I'm a citizen of the USA but live in Panama. Of all the things that I miss about the USA, I miss CHOICES at the market the most. Getting a heating pad would probably require an act of congress... oh wait, we don't have a congress here... Temperatures between 70-100*F day in, day out, year round. A light bulb is the best that I'm gonna manage. Importing one really isn't an option, at best, it's a craps-shoot if it'll ever arrive; at worst, I can expect to pay for the item, pay to have it shipped twice, (Once to a USA address, and then forwarded on to me here), pay customs and duty, and then someone determines if it's a permissible item... AFTER you've paid all the fees they determine if you can even have the item... assuming that it gets approved, then you hope that someone doesn't nick it off of the loading dock, and then someone doesn't nick it at the mailing service... and then you pray to God that it still works after the month long process of trying to import it here. BTW, if it's broken when it arrives, you get to ship it BACK to the States, paying duty and customs AGAIN when it leaves the country... and AGAIN when the company you bought from sends it out again. I like my hair. I'd like to keep my hair. Importing anything here causes a loss of hair as I cannot manage to not pull mine out during the process.

 

[Shezadandy]

I'm a citizen of the USA but live in Panama. Of all the things that I miss about the USA, I miss CHOICES at the market the most. Getting a heating pad would probably require an act of congress... oh wait, we don't have a congress here... Temperatures between 70-100*F day in, day out, year round. A light bulb is the best that I'm gonna manage. Importing one really isn't an option, at best, it's a craps-shoot if it'll ever arrive; at worst, I can expect to pay for the item, pay to have it shipped twice, (Once to a USA address, and then forwarded on to me here), pay customs and duty, and then someone determines if it's a permissible item... AFTER you've paid all the fees they determine if you can even have the item... assuming that it gets approved, then you hope that someone doesn't nick it off of the loading dock, and then someone doesn't nick it at the mailing service... and then you pray to God that it still works after the month long process of trying to import it here. BTW, if it's broken when it arrives, you get to ship it BACK to the States, paying duty and customs AGAIN when it leaves the country... and AGAIN when the company you bought from sends it out again. I like my hair. I'd like to keep my hair. Importing anything here causes a loss of hair as I cannot manage to not pull mine out during the process.

WOW!!! That is something!!!

 

[Birdinhand]

I would definitely stick to simple light bulbs if I were faced with that kind of a hassle getting a heating pad, holly cow!

 

[Ebony Rose]

It is what it is I still love it here!

 

[Lizzy733]

I use a 60 watt 'party' red bulb (not teflon coated), and they love it.

I use this with my quail chicks who really do need the heat, even here in the tropics. I use the red bulb because it provides enough light for me to see them, for them to see the food and water (available around the clock), and the red tint seems to distract them from the art of pecking each other's eyes. Yeah, that's a real thing with quail.

It's important to note that light bulbs may be coated with teflon, and they don't even need to be tinted to have a teflon coating. Teflon coating reduces the heat output and reportedly makes the bulb less prone to breakage. The gas emitted by warm teflon is also highly toxic to birds. Keep this in mind if you cook with teflon and your birds are anywhere near the kitchen. If the packaging indicates that it's break resistant or causes less heat, etc., put it back on the shelf and keep searching.

Cheers, A bit of clarification when I say red bulb, I mean an infrared heat lamp specifically. They provide directional heat... come up to temp fast and can lead to an extreme hot-spot with a sharp drop off to cooler temps.
Incandescents don't produce nearly as much heat as one of these and are much more controllable. For an indoor setting incandescent may be all you need - but do always spot check your hot end to make sure they're balanced. Chicks aren't as delicate as heat-loving reptiles, thankfully, so there's a bit of leeway with the cool end as long as they can warm up fast when they need to.

 

[oldhen2345]

I love the MHP Momma Cave. The chicks seem to do better than with the light. These silly girls have to be reminded to go into it when they are cold- but are slowly catching on. I have one chick that doesn't seem to be doing well. She doesn't eat or drink much - just stands around. I keep trying to help her to the water and food and then putting her under the cave. she feels cool most of the time. Since she is only a couple of days old, maybe she is still getting sustenance from her egg yolk sac - but time is running out for that. What can I do to help her?

 

[Shezadandy]

I love the MHP Momma Cave. The chicks seem to do better than with the light. These silly girls have to be reminded to go into it when they are cold- but are slowly catching on. I have one chick that doesn't seem to be doing well. She doesn't eat or drink much - just stands around. I keep trying to help her to the water and food and then putting her under the cave. she feels cool most of the time. Since she is only a couple of days old, maybe she is still getting sustenance from her egg yolk sac - but time is running out for that. What can I do to help her?

Ugh. I'm sorry to hear that. I just had one that never thrived - didn't want to eat or drink and there wasn't much I could do for her. Maybe try hard boiled egg yolk - could also mix the feed with some warm water - use PoultriDrench - don't know that she falls into the "star-gazing" category- treatment for that is B vitamins (better to look around for more specific info). If they don't have the desire to eat and drink even with their siblings to watch and learn from, it's a tough scenario.