Cause of chick death? - Heartbroken

[Englishable]

Honestly, the best advice I can give you is to invest in an Infrared Non-Contact thermometer gun.
They are pricey, but it's worth the price for how accurate it is.
I use one when I brood chicks and I cannot stress enough the importance of it. The reading is instantaneous and it truly saves lives not having to take the time to wait for a regular thermometer to come to temp, or to use another method.

This might be a silly question, but would something like this work?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MXZGE5V

We just had a baby in August and got this for her We also use it to test her bath water to make sure it's not too hot (among other uses, my husband is constantly playing with it and just pointing it at random things!).

 

[Cyprus]

This might be a silly question, but would something like this work?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MXZGE5V

Yup! That would work! What I use is basically the same thing
I hope your baby is doing well

 

[aart]

We also use it to test her bath water to make sure it's not too hot

I didn't think infrared would work on water<scratcheshead).
I use an infrared on brooder floor under lamp and on eggs in incubator.

Curious how this works out.
I am assuming that the sweeter heater does not work by direct contact (like the heating plates and MHP) but by warming the air and surfaces under it?
Get hubs out there to check surface of heater and floor under it...report back here, please.

So sorry or your devastating loss.

 

[Englishable]

Well I think they probably froze to death. This morning, my husband put a stone paver and a piece of wood under the Sweeter Heater, with the heater as low as we'd had it for the chicks. After an hour or so we went out to take temps with our baby thermometer. The surface of the heater read about 160, but the paver and wood only read 60 max. A few inches away from the heater the floor of the brooder read 37. I lowered the heater a bit more and will take temps again here soon, but it looks like this isn't going to work for us. We'll see if we can't return them (we just bought two of these), and get a heat pad to do the Mama Heating Pad technique.

I hate that we had to learn this wouldn't work with such devastating results. The other two chicks died yesterday and the late hatcher isn't looking good - under normal circumstances we probably would have culled it and might still. I just feel so bad because it's a fighter and we lost all the others.

 

[azygous]

Skin burns at less than 110F. I certainly would be leery of using something so close to baby chicks that gets 160F. You are very wise to consider the heating pad system next time.

 

[Englishable]

Skin burns at less than 110F. I certainly would be leery of using something so close to baby chicks that gets 160F. You are very wise to consider the heating pad system next time.

I had searched on the forums for people's reviews of the Sweeter Heater and it seems generally very positive, even with the rather high surface temps. Users even stated they used the heaters in very cold temperatures. I really thought this would be the best solution for our situation and what we wanted and it just wasn't

 

[Englishable]

The beauty of the heating pad system is you can't overheat chicks, and the design of an enclosed "cave" helps hold chick body heat and protect against a much colder ambient temp.

I measured the temperature on the floor of the brooder just under the heating pad cave, which is at the height of the chicks' backs, and it was 85F. The pad is around 100F. I was brooding in spring when it was down into the 30s at night and 50s during the day.

If you felt your Sweet Heater get so hot to the touch it burned your hand, you have what killed the chicks. Chicks instinctively move away from heat when they absorb too much and toward it when they chill, like lizards and snakes do. The heating pad system is designed to be just the the right temperature for chicks to make direct contact with, and they will sleep all night, not needing to move away from the heat because it's not hot to the touch. I placed a folded wool blanket over the heating pad when it got into the 30s to help keep the heat from radiating upward away from the chicks.

During the day, chicks catch on very quickly that they need to go under it to warm up as they lose body heat. They can be seen runny around freely even though it's chilly enough for you to need a coat. They self regulate by running under it until they absorb enough heat to be off and running around again. Food is outside of the heating pad cave as is water.

My article about brooding outdoors is down in my signature line. Here's the thread introducing Mama Heating Pad. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/

Can I ask a few questions about this setup?

What size heating pad and MHP "ribs" would we need for approximately 30 chicks? I'm hopeful batch #2 has a better hatch rate than this one.

Is this the kind of heat pad we could use? https://www.sunbeam.com/pain-relief...xpressheat-heating-pad/002013-511-MASTER.html

 

[azygous]

I would use two of those large pads for thirty chicks. They double in size each week so you need to be sure they all will fit at three or four weeks. They are usually self weaned by age five weeks.

The frame most of us use is steel field fencing, easily cut and shaped but strong enough whereby numerous large chicks climbing on it won't collapse it. That Sunbeam says you can "select" auto-off so it should stay on if you don't select it, but double check that before you place the order.

Some pads also have a feature where they turn back on if there's a power interruption. If you can find one of those, it's a very nice feature that can give you peace of mind.

 

[aart]

Is this the kind of heat pad we could use? https://www.sunbeam.com/pain-relief...xpressheat-heating-pad/002013-511-MASTER.html

That is the pad that I use. Important that you can disable the '2 hours auto off' feature.

I would use two of those large pads for thirty chicks.

Yes, two 12x24 pads for 30 chicks.
I wish @lazy gardener could post pics, she had a 2 pad system setup last year.
She had them end to end(12x48) with a 4" gap in between.

This is how I set up my heating pad, I like the flat configuration and adjustable legs for ease of operation and chick egress. I have 26 day olds under there now, thankfully they will be going to their new home before they outgrow the pad space.

 

[Englishable]

Looks like our late hatch chick, "Lucky," might make it after all. Her/his leg is even starting to straighten out. I feel bad that it's all alone though - could we try to slip it under one of our two broody hens tonight or tomorrow night? Do hens reject chicks that are a bit gimpy?