Brooding outside

[moniquem]

Hi All, I need some advice..

I am planning on picking up some chicks this weekend (5). My brooder is a large 55 gallon rubbermaid tub. I am going to cut the top off and fit with chicken wire and cut an opening on the side for window placement (plexiglass). I am also setting up a MHP heating pad.

My plan is to set this all up on my back porch. My concern is for the next month it is going to be in the 50-60 during the day but 30's at night. I feel like that is really cold at night?

I could bring them in for night time but I don't have a place that is cool at night. My basement is pretty warm and I'm worried about the huge flucuation between day/night temps if I do this.

Suggestions?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

This was taken about two weeks ago(ignore the upload date showing today)....in my unheated coop. It was 27 degrees outside and the babies were 5 days old.

Happy, healthy and completely unphased babies with their mhp

 

[lazy gardener]

What aart says. Brooding with a heat lamp and brooding with a heating pad cave are entirely different methods. And with either method, your goal is to have a small foot print of space that is warm enough for the chicks to warm themselves up in. That foot print of space should be big enough for them to all comfortably be in that space without pig piling. The remainder of the brooder should be at ambient temperature. Any brooder that has a heat source running that is uniformly the same temp, or even within 10 degrees from warm to cool spots is a flawed brooder. It does not provide enough option for the chicks to self regulate, and to wean themselves from heat.

 

[lazy gardener]

Is your porch predator proof? Your temps will be fine with the MHP system. My chicks are brooded here in Maine, in April in a grow out coop with night time temps dipping into 20's and day time temps from high 30's to occasional low 60's. My chicks do just fine, and wean themselves off that heat by the time they are 4 - 5 weeks old, at which time the temps can vary between night time 30's and day time low 70's. If your porch is predator proof, I'd ditch the tote, and put them in a cardboard appliance box so they will have more room.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I would set the brooder outdoors tonight like you have planned, with everything in place and running, then go out with a thermometer and check the temperatures inside the brooder and under the heating pad tonight and tomorrow night. Also check if there's any draft. If the heating pad can hold around 90-95 degrees and there's not cold air gusting into the box I would think you should be fine.

Alternatively you could start indoors for about a week and then move the entire set up outside, as it should warm up a little more each week.

 

[lazy gardener]

BTW, I do hope you mean hardware cloth over the top of the tote, if your porch IS NOT predator proof.

 

[aart]

It's too cold for chicks both day and night. I think the temperature for very young chicks is about 84-90 F.

That's only directly under their heat source.

 

[aart]

My brooder is a large 55 gallon rubbermaid tub.

What are the dimensions of this tote?
Is your porch enclosed?

 

[aart]

then go out with a thermometer and check the temperatures inside the brooder and under the heating pad tonight and tomorrow night.

You can't measure temp under an MHP like you can under a heat lamp,
MHP works by direct contact.

 

[Blooie]

I raised all but my very first batch outside in a wire pen inside the run. Temps? Well, here in northwestern Wyoming our "chick season" is still in the twenties dropping into the teens from time to time, with sideways blowing snow and winds up to (and sometimes over) 60mph. No losses, no issues, and at 3 weeks old they were being weaned off all heat. By the end of the 4th week Mama Heating Pad and the entire brooder came out.

My point isn't that everyone should do this - so much depends on each person's own personal comfort zone. My point is that with your temps, I believe they will be absolutely fine. @lazy gardener and @aart have nailed it. And glad you are liking it as well, @Ahavati .