Homesteaders

[Beekissed]

Sometimes chicks get pasty butt due to high brooder temps and some breeds/chicks seem more susceptible to that.

 

[duluthralphie]

Sometimes chicks get pasty butt due to high brooder temps and some breeds/chicks seem more susceptible to that.

I am finding the MHP has removed pasty butt as a problem, or I have just gotten lucky lately.

 

[Beekissed]

It really lets them regulate their own body temps, that's for sure. Imagine you are in a desert....the sun(brooder lamp) is glaring down on you and you are a tender young thing that dehydrates quickly. The only moisture you have is the waterer and the only defense against the never ending sunlight. You drink a lot due to the heat and humidity you are losing....it causes you to have more liquid stool that gets caught in your fluffy down and dries there under the heat of that never ending sunlight from whence there is no shade nor escape.

What is commonly known as "pasty butt". I've never seen pasty butt in chicks raised underneath a broody hen and this is most likely why.

@ Paganrose...

 

[Paganrose]

I am using the MHP and only had one instance of pasty butt the day after they arrive, which is much less than I ever had with brooding with a heat lamp.

Although I do have to say I did have one hen that had pasty butt chicks- but this occurred in 90+ degree weather with nights lucky to reach a low of 80, plus humidity of 75% or more- everyone was miserable!

 

[Chicken girl 15]

@rancher hicks I was the "silver spoon baby" growing up. I never wanted for anything and never was told no when I asked for something. I was never made to clean, cook, do my laundry or any other self sufficient type thing. I come from a city life until age 24. The only country experience I had was one weekend a month with my aunt on her farm. At 18 I moved out and found that reality sucks. After losing a lot to stupidity I grew up.

Fast forward to 2006 I met my current husband and we moved to Binghamton. Yuck, it's to city. My kids were afraid to play outside and my dog turned vicious.

2013 we purchased, after many long years of working and saving and going without stuff for us adults. Now we own 9 acres with peace and quiet.

My point? Life changes daily. Never judge a person by their up bringing. A person isn't who they truly are until they have made mistakes and dug themselves back out of the rubble. I was spoiled @$$ rotten until the day I moved out of my childhood home. I fell flat on my face lost everything I had including my 1st husband to childish fun and games. Round 3 started the day I told my grandmother that everything was fine even though o was about to have car #2 repossessed. I decided , even though I was a single mother of a disabled 2 year old, it was time to do it on my own and make it work. So I hired a live in nanny worked 2 full-time jobs and came out on top of the manure pile. Now at 35 I rely on no one but my household. My kids have been taught if they won't work for it they can't have it.

I refuse to allow them to grow up like I did and realize to late that life isn't a game. When we pass the farm down to the kids (there are 4 that could potentially inherit it) it will only be split between the ones who choose to continue with our way of life. Otherwise we will sell when we are too old to run things here and travel .

Kids these days have a serious case of the " gimme gimme" syndrome and the reason is parents are afraid to say no. My kids hear "earn it" more than they hear "ok honey here you go".

Ok rant over. Yall have a great day. I'm off to lay another layer of paper in my garden. Its a soupy mess and my chickens are making it worse.

Oh hey!!! One last thing, happy leap day yall, hope the insanity ends soon.

 

[MoonShadows]

Cure for pasty butt...Brinsea EcoGlow 20 (or 50) chick brooder

Here are my chicks using it.



"Where did everyone go?"


"No one in here but us chicks"


"OK...we're warm; now we can play outside for a while."

 

[duluthralphie]

"OK...we're warm; now we can play outside for a while."

Not sure what that is, but it looks similar to the principle we use with our MHPs.

 

[Beekissed]

That's exactly how it goes with a mama hen....every once in awhile in her day, she'll cop a squat in the grass and the chicks huddle under her for awhile, then back to foraging. When that young they tire easily and finally get chilled, so that little rest and warm up seems to rejuvenate them. We are often amazed at how many miles those little legs run in a day's time to keep up with a foraging mother hen...seems like they'd burn up all their calories just in the pursuit of food.

 

[Loc20chick]

What is MHP?

 

[Beekissed]

What is MHP?

Mama Heating Pad...sort of the cheaper answer to the Eco brooders. Here's a thread on it: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update