@minihorse927 WOW! Hundreds of chicks??? I can sure see why the heat lamp brooder system is your system of choice - I'd need to use an entire hoop coop with an electric blanket to keep that many warm and healthy at one time. You really know how to do it....it must be fantastic to be able to do that and see all those cute little stinkers running around - I admire you so much for your success!!
@Diannastarr Unfortunately chicks aren't always hatched in the crazy, lazy, hazy days of summer. Some arrive when it's so cold your nose hairs freeze and sunshine only happens a couple of times a week for a few hours. The first two photos below are of Scout at a few weeks old out in the brooder in the coop in his heating pad cave, and then as a healthy, active adult. He was hatched the 28th of October under Mom Agatha. Temps were in the 70s. Within a few days we were at 17 below zero. Unfortunately Scout suffered an injury and had to be separated from his mom. When he was recovered he went back outside in the coop to live. We moved his dog crate brooder out with him. The day this picture was taken it was 4 degrees below zero. He got water out of the same bucket the other chickens used. He had no companions to snuggle with. Neither was his water nor his environment heated for him - the only thing getting warm and staying warm was Scout. But even then he was rarely in his brooder or his cave - he was out in the coop and the run exploring, learning, integrating, and still had his little piece of comfort when he needed it. The door was wired so he could get back in but the big chickens couldn't. He feathered out fast. He integrated with the flock fast. And he thrived - in fact he exceeded any of the chicks I raised in the house with a heat lamp.
Mathilda, Scout and some of this year's chicks. Looks like he grew up just fine, despite my apparent neglect and lack of care.
The large pen on the right of this picture is my brooder. As you can see, it's not in a dark and dingy garage. Instead it is contained within the chicken run attached to the coop. It's bright and airy and very pleasant for them. The chicks can see the others and the others can see them. They learn to be chickens from watching the Bigs, and integration was virtually flawless. The hanging buckets contain their food and water.....water is always fresh and cold, just the way they like it.
There are 14 chicks in here at this time, and as you can see there is plenty of room for more both in the pen and under the heating pad cave. By the way, it was in the teens and twenties during the time the pictures of the chicks were taken.
Gladys liked to supervise the chicks. I think it's plain to see that they are not suffering or being inhumanely treated despite this unorthodox method of raising chicks. They sure have more room than they do in a Rubbermaid tote.
Getting a little drink of ambient temperature water. Again, the temperatures weren't conducive to heating their water to lukewarm, and there was no heat lamp warming it up as a side "benefit" but they sure never seemed to mind.
I didn't want to get into a debate about this. It's silly, and on the merits of the discussion there's no reason for debate. You like using a heat lamp and you have your valid reasons. I prefer Mama Heating Pad and brooding chicks out in the run where they experience all of the things they would under Mom. I can't talk you into trying this method and you know what - I'm not trying to. I am the first person to admit that it's not for everyone! It's a non-issue for me because having done it both ways I know what works best in my situation, which is obviously much different than your circumstances. If there was only one way to raise chickens, this entire web site would only take up one page and take a half hour to read. Why, I've learned so much from this thread alone and seeing all the terrific ways people have found to raise chicks that it sometimes surprises me. I've stolen more than a few ideas from this thread as well!
I also freely admit that my comment about Mama Hen not heating water was unfair, and I owe you an apology for that. I should know better than to type my first gut reaction to something, and I didn't exercise any restraint when I thought of it - I just posted it. That was wrong. I think part of me was still stinging from earlier comments, but those have no place in this discussion, and that's no excuse. I could have PM'd you, but I was rude publicly so I'm apologizing for that the same way. That's the sole reason I popped back in this evening.
Then came the remarks explaining to me what the sun is....how sunlight heats water...how chicks are always hatched during warm, perfectly balmy weather... how those of us who prefer to use something different like a heating pad or EcoGlow keep our chicks all winter in dark garages....how we can't keep more than a few chicks at a time (even though many of us prefer that number).....we all suddenly sounded like knuckle-dragging Neanderthals compared to your enlightened wisdom. I wanted to show you with photos that those things are simply not true. So I'll acknowledge with respect and admiration your 40-50 years of experience. In exchange could I get a little credit for good old fashioned common sense? After all, it looks like the chicks I raised this way are doing as well as the ones you raise you and My Pet Chicken's way, so neither of us has all the answers, do we? Truce?
@Diannastarr Unfortunately chicks aren't always hatched in the crazy, lazy, hazy days of summer. Some arrive when it's so cold your nose hairs freeze and sunshine only happens a couple of times a week for a few hours. The first two photos below are of Scout at a few weeks old out in the brooder in the coop in his heating pad cave, and then as a healthy, active adult. He was hatched the 28th of October under Mom Agatha. Temps were in the 70s. Within a few days we were at 17 below zero. Unfortunately Scout suffered an injury and had to be separated from his mom. When he was recovered he went back outside in the coop to live. We moved his dog crate brooder out with him. The day this picture was taken it was 4 degrees below zero. He got water out of the same bucket the other chickens used. He had no companions to snuggle with. Neither was his water nor his environment heated for him - the only thing getting warm and staying warm was Scout. But even then he was rarely in his brooder or his cave - he was out in the coop and the run exploring, learning, integrating, and still had his little piece of comfort when he needed it. The door was wired so he could get back in but the big chickens couldn't. He feathered out fast. He integrated with the flock fast. And he thrived - in fact he exceeded any of the chicks I raised in the house with a heat lamp.
Mathilda, Scout and some of this year's chicks. Looks like he grew up just fine, despite my apparent neglect and lack of care.
The large pen on the right of this picture is my brooder. As you can see, it's not in a dark and dingy garage. Instead it is contained within the chicken run attached to the coop. It's bright and airy and very pleasant for them. The chicks can see the others and the others can see them. They learn to be chickens from watching the Bigs, and integration was virtually flawless. The hanging buckets contain their food and water.....water is always fresh and cold, just the way they like it.
There are 14 chicks in here at this time, and as you can see there is plenty of room for more both in the pen and under the heating pad cave. By the way, it was in the teens and twenties during the time the pictures of the chicks were taken.
Gladys liked to supervise the chicks. I think it's plain to see that they are not suffering or being inhumanely treated despite this unorthodox method of raising chicks. They sure have more room than they do in a Rubbermaid tote.
Getting a little drink of ambient temperature water. Again, the temperatures weren't conducive to heating their water to lukewarm, and there was no heat lamp warming it up as a side "benefit" but they sure never seemed to mind.
I didn't want to get into a debate about this. It's silly, and on the merits of the discussion there's no reason for debate. You like using a heat lamp and you have your valid reasons. I prefer Mama Heating Pad and brooding chicks out in the run where they experience all of the things they would under Mom. I can't talk you into trying this method and you know what - I'm not trying to. I am the first person to admit that it's not for everyone! It's a non-issue for me because having done it both ways I know what works best in my situation, which is obviously much different than your circumstances. If there was only one way to raise chickens, this entire web site would only take up one page and take a half hour to read. Why, I've learned so much from this thread alone and seeing all the terrific ways people have found to raise chicks that it sometimes surprises me. I've stolen more than a few ideas from this thread as well!
I also freely admit that my comment about Mama Hen not heating water was unfair, and I owe you an apology for that. I should know better than to type my first gut reaction to something, and I didn't exercise any restraint when I thought of it - I just posted it. That was wrong. I think part of me was still stinging from earlier comments, but those have no place in this discussion, and that's no excuse. I could have PM'd you, but I was rude publicly so I'm apologizing for that the same way. That's the sole reason I popped back in this evening.
Then came the remarks explaining to me what the sun is....how sunlight heats water...how chicks are always hatched during warm, perfectly balmy weather... how those of us who prefer to use something different like a heating pad or EcoGlow keep our chicks all winter in dark garages....how we can't keep more than a few chicks at a time (even though many of us prefer that number).....we all suddenly sounded like knuckle-dragging Neanderthals compared to your enlightened wisdom. I wanted to show you with photos that those things are simply not true. So I'll acknowledge with respect and admiration your 40-50 years of experience. In exchange could I get a little credit for good old fashioned common sense? After all, it looks like the chicks I raised this way are doing as well as the ones you raise you and My Pet Chicken's way, so neither of us has all the answers, do we? Truce?
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