How low is too low for Mama Heating Pad?

[we3ernes]

Mainly looking for reassurance.

My chicks are two weeks old today, their coop will be ready for occupancy Thursday morning (allowing time for the paint to cure and finish off-gassing). I’ve built them an insulated huddle box that will hold the mama heating pad. Any concerns with letting them go out then?

This is what our temps look like for the next 10 days:

 

[moniquem]

I put mine out in their coop at 3 weeks along with their MHP (mamma heating pad). But before that they were in the bathroom with no heat other than MHP and I kept the window opened all day and night. Temps last April were about 30 at night 40-50 in the day. They had a bunch of feathers at that age which they will need to keep warm.
After a week of the MHP I removed it altogether.

 

[IamRainey]

I think the trick is to make a "cave" that's higher on the front and low in the back and at the sides with a scrap of hardware cloth. Make it as wide as possible. Lay the heating pad over that. Then the chicks can pick the spot that suits them and be there as long as they feel necessary before they venture out for food and water, retreating back again when they want warming.

They'll know best what's right for them.

 

[Notaneggspurt]

Can you please post a pic of the huddle box? I don't think I'd use in to cover the MHP. The heating pad would remain a constant temp. If you put it inside something it would also heat the air inside the huddle box and could actually make it hotter.

 

[we3ernes]

I put mine out in their coop at 3 weeks along with their MHP (mamma heating pad). But before that they were in the bathroom with no heat other than MHP and I kept the window opened all day and night. Temps last April were about 30 at night 40-50 in the day. They had a bunch of feathers at that age which they will need to keep warm.
After a week of the MHP I removed it altogether.

Unfortunately I don’t have a location where I can acclimate them. No rooms that I can shut off from the rest of the house and open the windows, no basement, no garage. That’s one reason I’m concerned.

I have been lowering the temperature on their MHP in the brooder and they spend very little time under it now. My thought was that I could get them down to 1 on the MHP (it has a levels 1-6) by Thursday morning in our 67 degree house. Then I could bump it’s levels back up to 6 when they move out to the coop.

 

[we3ernes]

Can you please post a pic of the huddle box? I don't think I'd use in to cover the MHP. The heating pad would remain a constant temp. If you put it inside something it would also heat the air inside the huddle box and could actually make it hotter.

I can tomorrow, it is out in my shop right now drying. It is basically a box with the front and top removed. The underside of the bottom of the box has insulation (where they can’t reach it) and it goes in a corner of the brooder area of my new coop that has been insulated. I have a “shelf” in the box that is lower in the back, taller in the front from which the MHP will be suspended (using a method similar to @aart ‘s bungees). The shelf is adjustable so I can raise it as they grow.

 

[we3ernes]

I think the trick is to make a "cave" that's higher on the front and low in the back and at the sides with a scrap of hardware cloth. Make it as wide as possible. Lay the heating pad over that. Then the chicks can pick the spot that suits them and be there as long as they feel necessary before they venture out for food and water, retreating back again when they want warming.

They'll know best what's right for them.

Thanks, I’ve got the MHP cave built, I just haven’t read any documentation about using it when the lows are in the 30’s...

 

[Notaneggspurt]

I can tomorrow, it is out in my shop right now drying. It is basically a box with the front and top removed. The underside of the bottom of the box has insulation (where they can’t reach it) and it goes in a corner of the brooder area of my new coop that has been insulated. I have a “shelf” in the box that is lower in the back, taller in the front from which the MHP will be suspended (using a method similar to @aart ‘s bungees). The shelf is adjustable so I can raise it as they grow.

Ok I can picture that. I originally thought it was more enclosed.

 

[Doc7]

Certainly temps way lower than the ones In Your screenshot. MHP will thrive in those temps and you will have hardy, feathered out chicks!

Pictures people post of their 4 week old heat lamp chicks will make you shudder when you compare to yours next month!

Edit : sorry, didn’t realize yours were 2 weeks old. You might not quite get that 4 week comparison I mentioned. Those temps are at least 10-15 degrees warmer than a 1 day old chick could handle with an MHP.

 

[Doc7]

Thanks, I’ve got the MHP cave built, I just haven’t read any documentation about using it when the lows are in the 30’s...

There’s tons of it on this site. I would be confident using day old chicks and an MHP at least as low as 20F overnights. Chicks are born in spring with a real mama in those temps in many parts of this country.