Cozy Coop Heater & Brooder Temperature

[Downtown Chickens]

Make sure the heating pad does not turn off after 15 minutes. Most heating pads now days have an auto shutoff.

 

[MGG]

Yes thank you for adding that. Sunbeam ones usually have an option to turn off auto shut off

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Since you already have a heat lamp, I would use that to buy you some time. In a couple weeks, they will be fine with your inside temps and the Cozy panel.
I normally don't recommend a heat lamp but they are sometimes necessary to keep chicks from being chilled.
I highly recommend a heat plate for brooding, like the one from Premier1.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Sorry for your loss - sounds like the chick possibly got stuck behind the coop heater and died from some combo of stress/heat/dehydration.

I use a mama heating pad. I've used a heat lamp before but they tend to run really hot, so if going that route, I'd ditch the usual bulb that they sell at feed stores and get a lower wattage reptile bulb from a pet store instead.

 

[Blooie]

You sure about that?

I wouldn't say "no" risks although most of these types of fires seem to be started more by blankets and throws versus pads, but it does apparently happen

IIRC, the cozy coop can be horizontal or vertical, which means you could turn it into an MHCC (mother hen cozy coop)

Heat plates are another option.

Ouch! Oh, I hate to see that! But being married to a professional electrician for the past 52 years, I am not stupid enough to say that it can't happen. Anything plugged in, from a phone charger to a coffee pot, can start a fire. Wires within walls can even start fires with nothing plugged into them.

So I regularly caution folks, when I talk about Mama Heating Pad, to be sensible. Don't use an old pad that's been rolled up or stuffed in a closet somewhere behind the towels and toilet paper. If the pad is really old, those little heating element wires may have become brittle and repeated shoving around in there can cause tiny cracks or even breaks in the wires. So can the simple act of unrolling or unfolding them if they've been in that position for a long time. That's a short waiting to happen! When we get out an old pad to put on our shoulders or back, we feel the heat. We can feel if there's a cold spot or a hot spot, or notice an odd smell. We can unplug it real fast and check it out. If that heating pad is being used in another room, or even outdoors as I do, and it's not noticed, there's absolutely going to be a problem. Buy a new pad. They're cheap - replacing everything in a house or, God forbid, having a family member injured or worse is not worth the risk. If you wash your heating pad like I do, dry it flat and store it flat between uses.

I also tell them to check connections carefully. If they have to use an extension cord, (which would send my hubby into apoplexy!) use a heavy duty one designed for outside use, make sure it can't be tromped on by feet or wheels, and for heaven's sake, waterproof and dust proof the connection between the power source and the cord. And the same applies to where the heating pad is plugged in, either to the E cord or directly into the outlet. I'm lucky and hubby wired my coop and my run to code. But I still have to be sensible and careful. We run the heating pads when we get them out for the year and make sure they are in good working order. We check the cords and we check the outlets. Chicken dust can build up in surprising places.

Whenever I see posts like the one above, I feel terrible. I don't pretend that Mama Heating Pad is always 100% safe....only a fool would be that blind, and it would be totally irresponsible to represent it as infallible. It is, as far as I'm concerned, infinitely safer than a heat lamp and it's much more like a broody hen. But I always feel bad when people have issues. I don't know any details about the setup, and I love to have had those details so that I could post a specific warning over on the Mama Heating Pad thread. The group has always been fantastic about posting any problems or potential problems, and then we all brainstorm and find a fix. I take any failure of Mama Heating Pad as a failure on my part. I take it personally, which is stoopid because I am not there to see it being setup and say, "No, you don't want to do that" or "It would work better if you......"

I'm so glad you shared this photo.

 

[ColoradoPip]

I take any failure of Mama Heating Pad as a failure on my part. I take it personally,

You can't control everyone's actions! With your tips, so many people have been successful with no issues. I only wanted to point out that it's not completely without risk. You make many valid points about wiring, checking connections, checking for cold spots, and such. To be honest, it's an excellent idea and I've been debating using it too!

My biggest concern though, is that you have to override the auto off safety feature.

My post was to bring awareness that it is not...no risk, but like you said...nothing is!

 

[Blooie]

I figure if it wasn't safe to override the auto-shut off, Sunbeam wouldn't have put the "stay on" switch on the control.

And I'm GLAD you pointed out that it isn't without some risk. For goodness sakes, I can't take offense to that or I'd have been annoyed every time someone came into the MHP thread telling about a trapped chick, or chicks who couldn't figure it out, or someone accusing me of putting my chicks into a miniature MRI machine...but that's a tale for another day! I don't get mad - I learn.

Let's face facts. Those same warnings are on every appliance we buy. Do we read them? Mostly not. So does everyone read my warnings? Mostly not! So reminders with visuals are invaluable!! I'm grateful!

 

[MGG]

I agree @Blooie , I definitely should not have said "no risk of fires". There still is a risk. It just is a much lower risk than a heat lamp is what I meant to say. All things are subject to malfunctioning. I'll watch what I say better.

 

[Blooie]

As should we all from time to time!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The mama heating pad is ingenious use of things that are readily available.
However, my vote is still for the Premier1 heat plate. It is by far the most efficient and safest way to brood chicks. The smallest Sunbeam electric blanket is 180 watts and the smallest heat plate for 15 chicks is 15 watts. It pays for itself in energy savings over the cost of running a heat lamp in one brooding.