Help, my chicks don’t go back to the mama heating pad when they’re cold.

[jreardon1918]

Glad you turned it down. The average temperature under the cave, measured at the floor, is between 82.5 and 86 degrees so I think you may have solved your main issue. 95 degrees is way too warm under there when you factor in how closely they lay together and their shared body warmth. It may take the Fussy Four a day to be willing to start using it again. They don’t trust it to be comfy now. Keep trying! You’ve got this!

MHP rocks. As does @Blooie's advice. If the heating pad is warm to the touch it is warm enough. I posted a small article last week. We showed a couple pictures of the temp of the pad on medium and the temp a few inches lower. Last year was our first year using MHP. It never occured to me to even measure the temperature.

MHP in March outdoors

 

[Blooie]

TerMHP rocks. As does @Blooie's advice. If the heating pad is warm to the touch it is warm enough. I posted a small article last week. We showed a couple pictures of the temp of the pad on medium and the temp a few inches lower. Last year was our first year using MHP. It never occured to me to even measure the temperature.

MHP in March outdoors

Glad it’s working for you!! I didn’t measure the temperature at first either. Scout had done well under his, so I figured the new chicks would too. They did. A little over a week after I’d started the thread, @azygous asked me what the temperature was. Shoot, I didn’t know! I put a temperature transmitter under there to check and just about didn’t believe it. It read 82.5 in a 69 degree room……my chicks were supposed to be dead, according to conventional wisdom. After that several other people checked. The averages were 82.5 to 86.

Just checked out your link. Very helpful!!

 

[Yanisay]

I decided I was going to brood my chicks in the 10’ x 20’ enclosed chicken run, so I built a 2’ x 4’ brooder box (open on 2 sides) and a mama heating pad assembly. We got chicks via mail yesterday, which went right into the box. Yesterday, it was about 73 outside and 80 in the run and everything was great. It was actually so warm inside the run I ran out and bought another fan (the run is enclosed in greenhouse plastic, so when the sun is out, it’s much warmer inside than out).

My problems began when the temps started dropping. The adult chickens had already gone in to roost when I went out to check on the chicks, but I found all 4 of them in a corner of the brooder completely away from their heating cave and chirping like they were very cold. I moved all of them to the mama pad, the chirping stopped, but an hour later I went out to check and one of them was in that same corner, chirping her little heart out. It all stopped when I put her back, and they didn’t come out again until this morning.

This morning though, all 4 of them were in a different corner, cold, and very vocally letting me know about it. They all, once again, immediately quit cheeping once they were inside the mama pad.

They’ve done this a couple of times so far, always calming down once under the pad, but persistently standing out in the colder air (it’s 43 degrees today, much colder than yesterday) when they get out from under. I did see one of them voluntarily return to the pad by herself, so there’s hope. So far, I put a little space heater by the cage to warm up the air inside and curtained off about 1/2 of the box so they can’t wander as far.

Is there anything I can do to encourage them to return to the mama pad? I checked, and the temp is perfectly fine for them, they all survived the night and didn’t leave until it was light again. Are they waiting for mama to push them back under her when they cheep or is there something else I’m missing? They’ve been eating and drinking normally and seem pretty healthy. They just can’t figure out the concept of coming in from the cold. Any help would be appreciated.

Is there older chickens that can reach them?

 

[sandburRanch]

A Infrared Thermometer is a useful all around tool for the home . An in-expensive one is good nuff for a homeowner . They were $17 bucks now $27 bucks . It will even tell you which cylinder is not firing on the old car/truck .

 

[Jester57]

Is there older chickens that can reach them?

Yes , I’m brooding them in the coop with the rest of the flock. Doing fine now , the adults pretty much ignore them. They are enclosed so nothing can reach them directly.

 

[Yanisay]

Yes , I’m brooding them in the coop with the rest of the flock. Doing fine now , the adults pretty much ignore them. They are enclosed so nothing can reach them directly.

My theory was that the roosters flee them away from the heating pad,you can try building a very small wall around them so they will learn how to get back to the pad on theirself ,if they still had a problem just switch to a heat lamp insted

 

[Blooie]

My theory was that the roosters flee them away from the heating pad,you can try building a very small wall around them so they will learn how to get back to the pad on theirself ,if they still had a problem just switch to a heat lamp insted

I have an old dog x-pen left over from my dog showing days. We ran hardware cloth up about 2 feet so the little stinkers couldn’t squirt out and then put in portal doors….little doors that the chicks can get through but the adults can’t follow. We framed them in scraps of plywood, both to make them easy for chicks to locate and so that we had something hook the plywood door flap to when we opened them. Doing this allowed me to mingle them with the adults (under supervision) at 2 weeks old, let them out all day and lock them in at night after they figured it all out, and keep them open all the time after that. By 4 weeks we had complete and peaceful integration and the brooder pen was removed altogether. This is our Light Brahma, Tank, greeting our Silkie chicks as they came out for the morning. Right after I took this and did a short video, the brooder pen was removed.

We never lost a chick to cold using just Mama Heating Pad, or to roosters and hens, and we never had a single case of Coccidia putting our newly hatched chicks outside.

 

[Jester57]

I have an old dog x-pen left over from my dog showing days. We ran hardware cloth up about 2 feet so the little stinkers couldn’t squirt out and then put in portal doors….little doors that the chicks can get through but the adults can’t follow. We framed them in scraps of plywood, both to make them easy for chicks to locate and so that we had something hook the plywood door flap to when we opened them. Doing this allowed me to mingle them with the adults (under supervision) at 2 weeks old, let them out all day and lock them in at night after they figured it all out, and keep them open all the time after that. By 4 weeks we had complete and peaceful integration and the brooder pen was removed altogether. This is our Light Brahma, Tank, greeting our Silkie chicks as they came out for the morning. Right after I took this and did a short video, the brooder pen was removed.

We never lost a chick to cold using just Mama Heating Pad, or to roosters and hens, and we never had a single case of Coccidia putting our newly hatched chicks outside. View attachment 3034805

Mine are a week old today, doing fine in the cold temperatures we’re experiencing. So you started the intros during the 2nd week?

 

[Blooie]

I did. I carried a long bamboo planting stake and if one of the adults got a little aggressive, he or she got a firm tap on the noggin A broody hen would deliver a swift peck on the big gun in just the same way if she was protecting her chicks. I’m just taking her place. I had hiding places for the chicks so if they were too far away from the brooder they could still get away if they needed to.

 

[Jester57]

It’s been almost 3 weeks now, and, this being Missouri, the temps have gone from 80 to 25 and they’re doing just fine. I’ve been introducing them to the rest of the flock and they’re getting pecked at a bit, but they’re ignored more than anything. Anyway, I wanted to do an update and post pictures. BTW, my carpentry skills are less than stellar, so I’m proud of anything I make that doesn’t immediately fall down. The girls are still getting used to life beyond the brooder box, but are getting more adventurous every day.