Heating Pad in Dog Crate Brooder

[cjschulz]

This is our first "go" with chicks. After many hours of researching brooder ideas, we decided to use the dog crate and heating pad concept. We brought our little girls home yesterday. They love their new home!!!
I placed the heating pad on a cooling rack and covered it with an old towel covered with Press N Seal. I suspended it in the corner (for stability) with chains and key rings and small carabiners. Adjusting the height is so easy.

 

[HopeMartin]

Oh my! What a great idea! I've never seen or heard of it before now. Thanks for taking pictures too!

I have a dog crate I was considering using like this. Of course this means I now have everything to set up a brooder. Oh no!

 

[cjschulz]

Thank you!

You'll definitely want to put cardboard around the crate as the little girls can fit right through the wires. Plus it helps keeps the mess inside.

I attached the heating pad at an angle with the back side low. It helps keep the heat in and gives the chicks the perfect temp to sleep. I've been adjusting the front (angle) to help control the temperature. When choosing a heating pad, make sure there is NOT an automatic off. The older, cheaper ones are what you need. Amazon is full of them... under $15. Mine has three settings: H M L I've kept in on high so far but raised the front of the pad to bring the temp to 85-90

So far everything has worked great! The little girls learned to drink from the nipple right away. That was my biggest worry.

 

[azygous]

Cheers for MHP! Chicks are happy. Chick mom is happy!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Great idea about suspending the MHP!

I'm getting chicks in April and will be using similar crate (most likely) I have been haunting the threads looking at everyone's MHP ideas - I like this one

BTW - Cute Chicks!

 

[peeper89]

this is neat idea!

 

[Afred]

Great idea! Thank you for sharing!

 

[Afred]

Great idea! Thank you for sharing!

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard. ~Standing Bear

 

[cjschulz]

After about 3 weeks, we needed to give the girls a little more space. Luckily we had another dog crate to connect to the brooder. We made a "T" by opening one side door of the brooder to the end door of the additional. We wired the two together and it worked great!

A few days ago, at 6 weeks old, we moved the girls outside to their coop.

I will definitely be using the same brooder set up for our next batch of chicks. It worked like a charm!

 

[bbecca]

How did you set up your water? I am about to put our chicks in a dog crate tomorrow and was trying to figure out how to set water up on it. They've been making such a mess of it in their brooder