Does anyone use seedling heat mats for under the nests?

[new chick 203]

I used the seed mats this fall when I had a broody with 2 chicks separated in a brooder coop. it had started getting nippy and this gave them just enough warmth. I thought I was so smart, but I guess it's not an original idea.

 

[cashdl]

I use the seedling propagation mats for chicks, and sick birds. I find they are very sturdy and mine get abused alot. When I first put my chicks outdoors, I put a 24 X24 mat under their bedding with a heat lamp above it. After a couple of days I remove the lamp. They get to keep the mat till about 3 months old or when they start roosting. Then they are easy to clean and disenfect and then bring in the next batch of babies.

When birds are sick I put them in a dog crate with a mat under the bedding. You can tell they appreciate it because they will hunker down in the bedding till they are laying directly on the mat.

Lanae

 

[RandyShmoo]

Planning for the onset of winter in NH...wondering if anyone has tried the Flex Watt heating tape? Was considering it outiside and underneath the nest boxes to produce some heat to prevent egg freezing but keep it low enough to prevent hens from sleeping in the nest boxes (maybe just under the floor of the coop should work since ours is off the ground). I wanted thought of others that may have tried it, though... I figured less worry about the coop catching fire than the heat lamps...am I right in that assessment? Thanks for any feedback...

 

[SassysEggs]

Hi Randy - I'm from VT and have been looking for similar - also a way of keeping the coop warm on below-10 degree days.

It's my first winter with birds, and I have one molting just now, hiding all day long in the base of the coop it's so frigid.

I didn't plan to heat the coop but now am looking for a very modest source of safe heat for those bad days. For a small coop (2.5x5') and just 3 birds I was thinking of a seedling mat for the below 10 degree days and same for next.

One I saw on farmtek will heat just 10-20 degrees higher than ambient temp, which is about right since my birds will be adapted to cold temps.

Also - there's the Thermo-Peep - which is pricy, but might work well on the panel facing the roost.

 

[RonP]

Here is what I did.

Working GREAT!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/heated-nesting-boxes-help-stop-frozen-eggs

 

[lm84]

RonP, we are in NJ too! We just bought a thermo cube and heavy duty extension cord tonight, and I already own two sees mats. My hens JUST started laying this week and I already have about a dozen or so frozen eggs! I have waited so long for them to begin laying, and every egg has frozen before I got home to collect them. We are setting up the heat mats this weekend, and hoping it works well and saves our eggs. We have not built actual nest boxes yet so we are just using crates with straw, but the seed mats should still work. Thanks for the idea!

 

[RonP]

RonP, we are in NJ too! We just bought a thermo cube and heavy duty extension cord tonight, and I already own two sees mats. My hens JUST started laying this week and I already have about a dozen or so frozen eggs! I have waited so long for them to begin laying, and every egg has frozen before I got home to collect them. We are setting up the heat mats this weekend, and hoping it works well and saves our eggs. We have not built actual nest boxes yet so we are just using crates with straw, but the seed mats should still work. Thanks for the idea!

I was actually looking forward to this cold spell to accumulate data on my install.

I had 0 frozen eggs, even though I gathered them ~8pm, and coop temperatures were well below freezing, as you know...

All my eggs were in the mid 40F range!

All the best with your eggs.

 

[RonP]

Update:

We have had an unusually cold February for my area, many day temperatures only in the teens.

My schedule allows egg collection once around 8AM and once around 8PM.

The heated nest boxes are working as designed, flawlessly!

This year to date I have had 0 frozen eggs, whereas last year I had literally dozens...

My coldest recorded egg temperatures was 33F, significantly above the 28F threshold for egg freezing.

That particular day, daytime high temperatures in the coop were in the low teens, and the eggs were collected at 8:30pm.