MAMA Heating Pad....I'm getting cold feet!

[JordanFarm]

I created a MHP setup in a box for the 6 chicks arriving tomorrow/Friday. They said they are hatching today, so they will be pretty tiny. In my 60-65 degree house, underneath the cave is only reaching 75/80 when the probe is on the floor of the box (paper + shavings). I bought the Sunbeam heating pad recommended here and set it as high as it would go. If I set the probe on top of the pad it's 120. Spring is taking her sweet time getting here. It is currently in the 40s, maybe 50s outdoors during the day, 30s at night. It will be in the 60s over the weekend.

Is this enough indoors? Would it be enough outdoors? I had really hoped they didn't need to live in the house. I do not have a heated garage - it's house or barn.

 

[aart]

I created a MHP setup in a box for the 6 chicks arriving tomorrow/Friday. They said they are hatching today, so they will be pretty tiny. In my 60-65 degree house, underneath the cave is only reaching 75/80 when the probe is on the floor of the box (paper + shavings). I bought the Sunbeam heating pad recommended here and set it as high as it would go. If I set the probe on top of the pad it's 120. Spring is taking her sweet time getting here. It is currently in the 40s, maybe 50s outdoors during the day, 30s at night. It will be in the 60s over the weekend.

Is this enough indoors? Would it be enough outdoors? I had really hoped they didn't need to live in the house. I do not have a heated garage - it's house or barn.

You don't measure heat on the floor under the pad,
the chicks need to be able to touch their backs to the pad.
It's why having adjustable legs on the pad rack is so helpful.

 

[JordanFarm]

Got it! I am using a cookie cooling rack to hold up the pad and will adjust when I see how big they are.

 

[Rose Quartz]

Hi there,
I've been researching the Mama Heating Pad and convinced myself that was the way I wanted to go this time around with raising my chicks.
I built it today...and I think it's working the way it should. I'll be getting my chicks in 2 days. The only thing is..I'm getting a little bit nervous about
1. the safety of using it
2. actually starting them out in the coop when it's still so cold out (might snow on Thursday night!).

Are they really much safer than heating lamps? I think all the warnings on the sunbeam heating pad I opened today "do not sleep with, do not use with animals, do not use with metal clips!" freaked me out a bit. Also, I've never been comfortable using an extension cord from the house out to my coop...even though, people do it, right?!

and #2...have you all started them out in your coops in such cold weather (in the 30s at night) and they've been ok?

Really excited...just...nervous.

Any advice from the pros is appreciated.

thanks,
Val

Your weather sounds the same as mine. Ive used the sunbeam heating pad a few times now. (Ive fallen asleep using it myself actually with the auto off funtion turned off and it under me with no burns) i have used an extension cord before but i made sure all connecting ends were out of the rain.

I have not used the MHP outside.but my sisters hen hatched and raised a chick in february last year. So i guess its doable.

 

[cholland]

Last spring I put day old chicks in a brooder in an un-heated RV trailer next to the house. MHP worked great. Night time temps were in the 30s. They figure it out pretty quick.
They sleep all night. And come out from under the cave often to eat/drink and venture around when it's light.
I had 12+ hatch yesterday and will probably move the brooder out to the new coop in a day or two.

MHP is the way to go and works just fine in cold temps.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Got it! I am using a cookie cooling rack to hold up the pad and will adjust when I see how big they are.

I, too, use a cookie cooling rack for my MHP. I find using threded rod, washer's, and nuts a super easy way to put "legs" on it. Having a nut and washer both above and below the cookie rack creates stability and having this on threded rod makes for easy adjustment as I simply move either the upper or lower set 1st to either raise or lower the overall set up. This also allows for varying the height from front to back or side to side depending on how I have my set up oriented. This allows for birds of different height , or ages, to brood together and fir the chicks to have more control in self regulating the amount of heat they want/need.

Regarding the question of if it is enough, I have used this set up in and outside unheated co-op in temperatures similar to and higher/lower with more variance than what you are expecting.

 

[Blooie]

^------- See that post up there from @lazy gardener? In all the time I've been doing this, there was no "new user" I was more antsy about. Here I was trying to reassure her that it was all going to work well for her, and because we'd been friends before Mama Heating Pad was ever used for my flock, she was probably the one I most worried about. She'd been waiting so long for this hatch, and was so nervous. She is now a staunch supporter!

Mine are always in the house for the first day or so. I want to make sure they aren't suffering any shipping stress (although I know that can show up days after they arrive) or hatching stress. I want to make sure they understand how to use MHP for warmth, and that they are eating and drinking. Then out they go.

I understand that using MHP is a huge leap of faith. It was for me. When I started the thread, I wasn't trying to "instruct" - I started out just trying to document what I was doing as I went along. And brooding outdoors with it is scary as all get out! I understand that too. But I haven't had any issues at all. Is it infallible? Nope. But then nothing is - chicks die under heat lamps, under commercial brooding plates, and even under broody hens.

Safety is a legitimate concern. That's why I always tell people never, EVER to use a older heating pad that's been rolled or folded and stuffed in the back of a closet somewhere. Rolling and/or folding can cause teeny breaks or weak spots in the heating element wires, and that can cause shorting out. Make sure that cords are firmly attached and go one step further and cover the connections, either with electrical tape or those special clam shell connection protectors. Anything electrical is a fire risk, from a cell phone charger to a coffee pot. Shoot, wires within walls can start a fire even with nothing plugged into them. The key is using common sense and making sure that you've done everything you can to use an appliance safely, in the proper outlets, and check things as you go along.

A heating pad isn't designed to do anything but soothe aches and pains on humans, and we are doing something totally different with it. BUT it's also designed to come into contact with fabric - it can be used on upholstered furniture and right up against our bodies. Touch a running heating pad. Now touch a running heat lamp. Yeah, like that. The precautions against falling asleep with it on us or under us make total sense. That's the reason so many manufactures went to putting in a safety shut off switch - to prevent that by having the pad automatically shut itself off after a couple of hours. And the elderly, disabled, or otherwise infirm can't always get away from a heating pad that is running continually. The pad in this application is on a frame with air circulation around it. And goodness knows chicks are anything but sedentary! The reason I push so hard for the Sunbeam x-Press heat is that it is designed to be able to bypass that automatic shutoff....there's a "Stay On" switch right on the control. And by taking the power cord off, it's 100% machine washable. When I take mine down after raising a batch of chicks, I wash it in the machine, then lay it flat to dry and store it flat after that.

As for safe temperatures, I've had chicks out there in temps that were in the twenties, dipping into the teens. Not always advisable, of course, but by the time real springtime chick season rolls around those are still our temps, often with snow and howling winds. My first year with chicks we got our last snowfall on June 6th. MHP allows the chicks to regulate their own comfort levels. By 3-4 weeks, they don't even need the heat at all anymore, because they are so well acclimated to ambient temperatures. MHP will NOT heat their entire space. Lay a running heating pad down on the couch for half an hour or so. Then go back and lift it up to feel the couch under the pad. Nice and warm. Move your hand a couple of inches and there is no warmth. You'll never reach that golden "95 degrees the first week, 90 the second....." wisdom with MHP. Temps underneath on the floor of the cave average between 82 and 86. But that's okay...the chicks warm themselves by having the level of the heat right at their backs, and when you add in their own combined body heat under there they are nice and cozy.

Is MHP perfect? Nope. Nothing is when we're dealing with living little critters. But it's as close to a broody hen as we can get with artificial brooding, and that's good enough for me. I figure if a two pound hen can do it with no charts, no books and no experts, why do we do it so differently and think we're doing it better? I just feel better knowing that I am duplicating her skill and instincts as closely as possible.

 

[Crow Mountain Chickens]

I'm about to get some chicks in the mail. I have a heat lamp with 150w ceramic bulb and automatic shutoff. I have to get it pretty low to get to the 95 degree mark. But there is plenty of room for the chicks to get under safely. My question is, will having food and water on the cool side hurt anything in these first few days?

 

[Blooie]

Not at all. They actually need cooler places to go to in order to self-regulate, and having food and water on the opposite side from the heat encourages that.

 

[aart]

I'm about to get some chicks in the mail. I have a heat lamp with 150w ceramic bulb and automatic shutoff. I have to get it pretty low to get to the 95 degree mark. But there is plenty of room for the chicks to get under safely. My question is, will having food and water on the cool side hurt anything in these first few days?

Be careful that they cannot touch the ceramic element.


Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:
They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.


The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
-If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
-If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
-If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.


Or you could go with a heat plate, commercially made or DIY: http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate