Mama Heating Pad in the Brooder (Picture Heavy) - UPDATE

[kesrchicky16]

It's always below freezing outside right now. Days are currently low 40s or higher but about 2 weeks post hatch it is supposed to get low 30s durring the day and single digits at night for a couple weeks.

 

[lazy gardener]

Sorry, my error.

Silly girl. NO apology needed! Just clarifying that I am not the brilliant one here. Who ever went to the 12 x 48 was the forward thinker in this scenario.

 

[bruceha2000]

a lamp is suspended, a heating pad cave isn't, so it takes some floor space away from the chicks.

True but as you have noted on many occasions, it isn't long before the chicks are hanging out on top of the cave (just like they do on a hen) so there isn't really much loss of floor space


4 days old. Based on the coloring this is Oreo, she is an Exchequer Leghorn.


7 days old. Angel or Yuki up top, they are White Rocks. The other white one with a peachy head is Eos, she is an EE.

 

[kesrchicky16]

But, Aart, I did not use the 12 x 48. I tried L, then graduated to 24 x 28 with a 4" alley between the 2 pads.

@kerschicky16, you are posting on 2 threads. I'm gonna keep all my further posts over here.

Is there any way you can carve out more brooder space, perhaps move some furniture... move stuff up onto a card table, and put your brooder underneath? Perhaps pack some stuff into crates, and stack the crates while you are brooding? We live in a small house, so have had to get very creative at repurposing space.

It all depends on my mother. She owns the house and we live here out of convenience and personal choices. She also said "no chickens ever. They stink and are a mess and... " She bought the first 10 chickens!
If cuteness wins out they will be in the house and fine. If she sticks to her guns all of your help and info will go to making the chicks comfy to grow.

 

[Blooie]

After awhile it does get confusing who did what, doesn't it? This thread has become so big, but there are such absolute jewels of information scattered throughout that losing it and having to start over would be almost impossible! So we just hunt and peck through it when we don't remember something. Oh, how I miss the "search this thread" option the way it was!

 

[bruceha2000]

It's always below freezing outside right now. Days are currently low 40s or higher but about 2 weeks post hatch it is supposed to get low 30s durring the day and single digits at night for a couple weeks.

They will need to be able to get back to heat for about 4 weeks. If you have no power out in the coop they will need an alternate solution or (@Blooie don't tell DH) an extension cord. It MUST be plugged into an outlet in a building or one that is designed to be used with something plugged in, NOT the "outdoor outlet" that has flaps to cover the outlets when they are not in use! And if you HAVE to join two together, get one of the encapsulating devices meant for that purpose.

Chicks don't have to stink, change the bedding with some frequency. And with the MHP method, you won't even know there are chicks in the house at night. They sleep at night unlike heat lamp brooded chicks. Those poor things are as messed up as to the time of day as a person in a casino. 24 hour light means there IS no night.

 

[NNYchick]

Okay, I did find something that will get you started anyway. The poster in this section was asking about meat birds, and their heat requirements are a little different but that doesn't change the "hows" and "whys" of using MHP - they pretty much self adjust. These pages discuss how to set up multiple pads. The most I've used it for is 17 or 19 (can't remember which now) so I just used the large Sunbeam pad, which is 12X24. I think @lazy gardener has raised larger broods under MHP - maybe she'll pop in and offer her expertise. In the meantime, here's the link to those pages of the thread. It's a starting place, anyway.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/page-995

In answer to @NNYchick - and I apologize for missing your post before now - for 12 bantams I think what you have will be fine....pushing it a little maybe but they only really use it for a couple of weeks before they are spending more time on top than underneath. Personally I'd feel more comfortable using the larger pad longer term, but for the first few days the pad I use in the house is the smaller pad, the one you have. (I always keep them in the house for a day or so when they first hatch or arrive so I know they are eating, drinking, know where to get warm, and aren't suffering any shipping or hatching stress, then outside they go) For my first batch of Mama Heating Pad chicks, the smaller pad was all I had at the time, and they did just fine....I think there were 10 standard sized chicks.....

Thank you Blooie. In this instance I am counting my chicks before they hatch for prepping. I put 12 in the bator and on day 7 candle I had 12 wiggling little embryos. I have decided If by some odd chance I get all 12 through hatch I have an insistent broody that just keeps stealing eggs/ gulf balls it doesn't matter if its in the nest box she will sit on it. I may let her keep some gulf balls and give her a couple chicks. I just worry because she is young and a bit absent minded when it comes to remembering what nest she was in when she comes back from eating so I don't want to give her chicks only for her to abandon them. Although I noticed she has become more ornery towards the flock if they get near her or her nest box, she wasn't doing that before.
I am keeping them in the house for a few weeks anyways because my 4 year old daughter is so excited it would break her heart if I moved them right out to the coop, this is our "getting through the winter blues" project.

 

[lazy gardener]

Blooie, not gonna tell you how to manage your thread... but here's a suggestion: Why not set up an outline form, and either link pertinent post #'s to it, or take bullet points of the outline, and address them, one at a time. Then, in your signature link, include a reference to that one outline. Kind of like an article within this thread. Then, ask the mods to edit your first post with a big high lighted reference to your updated outline, covering the many pertinent important points. You could also include a cross reference to that outline in your article. That would help the newbies glean from the thread without reading for 3 months! It would also eliminate the "tried that and it didn't work" or some of the not so brilliant "reinvent the wheel" posts.

 

[aart]

Oh, how I miss the "search this thread" option the way it was!

.
Still works tho....I miss the 'view all images' more

 

[bruceha2000]

It will be harder to get the hen to take them at a few weeks of age than when they are a day or two old. That doesn't mean it can't happen but is less likely. If you stick the tinies under a hen in the pitch black of night, she wakes up and thinks she hatched her golf balls. At several weeks, she might take them but stuffing them under likely wouldn't work. My last batch were self raised to 3 weeks before my broody hen decided she would raise them. She raised the prior batch from the age of about 3 days and the 7 of them were a "night time hatch" of 3 plastic eggs.