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

[perchie.girl]

I used a wire shelf rack and also another style storage rack that attaches under a shelf, but turned upside down.

Our's are now sleeping in a pile in the nest box of their coop.


I sat in my Bronco chair in the run yesterday and I had visitors. They are super friendly and enjoy snuggles.




@azygous love the portals! Can you post an up close picture of the hinge? I am a visual person and having a hard time "seeing" it. I want to do something similar and was trying to figure our a way to make a hole in the wiring.

Not @azygous but I did a capture of the image for you




you can do several things for the hinge if you dont have one.... you can do a hinge out of canvas, Leather, even just wire run through a couple of drilled holes... or key rings.

deb

 

[dyorto]

a wire shelf

some welded wire mesh

chicken wire

one of those stacking letter sorters...  May have to be raised up a little

two planks of wood with dowels connecting them  Dowels support the heating pad

barbeque grill grate

Roasting pan Rack

Tomato cage  split and gently folded out

Go to the thrift store you can get most of those things there for 50 cents
tomato cage new i think is about two bucks.

deb

Thank you! All great ideas.

 

[katbriar]

Yes, the heating pad I use, without the auto off feature, will come back on after a power outage. The switch has three positions- low, medium, and high. So if you have the switch placed at one of those it's "on" and only needs power restored to start heating up again.

I don't have the packaging and can't find a model number on the switch. The rest is covered up right now.

If you are interested I would recommend calling the sunbeam customer service and asking. Models change and what were once the features under one model number have changed. Amazon is filled with heating pad reviewers who are disappointed with their purchases because they thought they were getting something else.

Go to the source and you'll know you're getting what you expect.

 

[RubyNala97]

The Azygous chicks are branching out into new territory! Three days ago I opened one of the portals from the grow-out pen into the small pen where Flo the lame hen hangs out. It was tense until Flo understood that the four tiny chickens that just invaded her space weren't there to beat her up, which is what she's been used to from the rest of the flock. It took all of one minute for Flo to calm her hackles down and get out of fight mode. The chicks have been making themselves at home in her pen ever since, and Flo is fine with it. So today I opened the rest of the portals from the grow-out pen into the rest of the run, and the chicks ventured out with confidence. They understood what those holes in the fence were for, and that they represented safety. I did it during a period when most of the feisty young hens were out free ranging, and just the older hens were hanging around the run loafing. Not only did the chicks explore the run outside their grow-out pen, but they also did a little vertical exploring. They made it up to the shelf under the big rear window in Flo's pen, and ended up back in their pen commandeering my cushion to rest up from all of their exploring. They're not quite three weeks old, so I closed all the portals except for the one into Flo's pen when I'm not there to keep an eye on the big girls. In the past, when my chicks are four weeks old, they usually have full access to the rest of the run. In another week these four will, too. Also on the agenda for next week - moving into their coop. Getting ready to enter the world of the big girls. This was the big deal? Looks the same from this side. Let's try it from this portal. Flo has a good perch in her pen. Let's see what's up there. Oooh! A view! Mom won't mind if we rest up from all that exploring on her cushion.

These pictures were great!!! Love to see them all looking at the view! And love their little access/escape doors you have!!

Facial massages! Oh yes! Even my bad-tempered GLW Irene grudgingly endures having her cheeks and ears stroked. My other somewhat standoffish hen, Geobett, a Speckled Sussex, will shut her eyes and go completely limp. Even the babies, especially Strawberry the Cream Legbar, adores having my fat, swollen finger stroke her tiny face and she always falls asleep during it. I would say that, besides food, facial massages are the most corrupting exercise you can engage in to endear yourself to your chickens.

I didn't know this!! My babies are extremely friendly (silkie chicks). They hop & peck all over me when I sit with them. I will try this cheek massage next time! Thanks!

 

[henless]

Yes, the heating pad I use, without the auto off feature, will come back on after a power outage. The switch has three positions- low, medium, and high. So if you have the switch placed at one of those it's "on" and only needs power restored to start heating up again.

I don't have the packaging and can't find a model number on the switch. The rest is covered up right now.

If you are interested I would recommend calling the sunbeam customer service and asking. Models change and what were once the features under one model number have changed. Amazon is filled with heating pad reviewers who are disappointed with their purchases because they thought they were getting something else.

Go to the source and you'll know you're getting what you expect.

Thank you! I'll give them a call and see what I can find. Hopefully they will still have some. I may not have to use it this year, but will have it for next year. Now I won't have to worry if the electricity goes off while I'm at work, since it will turn on when the electricity comes back on.

Bye any chance do you remember what you paid for it?

 

[COChix]

Not @azygous but I did a capture of the image for you you can do several things for the hinge if you dont have one.... you can do a hinge out of canvas, Leather, even just wire run through a couple of drilled holes... or key rings. deb

Thanks! This is great, I wish I had a secret portal door into another world, how fun! PS - discovered two pips under our broody around 6pm tonight.

 

[azygous]

Perchie! Thanks for working your photo magic on my portal hinge! I happened to have quarter inch plywood scraps lying around, but I thought of making them out of cardboard and duct tape. Anyone can cut out cardboard and use duct tape for a hinge. The objective is to make a door frame that's safe for a tender chick to race back and forth through without getting cut on raw poultry mesh and to make the hole easily recognizable to the chicks.

Mine spent all day today with the portals open, and only one hen went out of her way to be mean. It was the one I figured on, too. All the rest of the sixteen hens were cool with the chicks racing around, eating out of their troughs, and at one point, competing for raisins. A lot of progress in two days.

Now, I'd like a little input. I'm planning on transitioning my chicks from MHP to their coop. They will have the coop, or their side of it, to themselves. I'm wondering about how to do it. I'm inclined to put their MHP cave setup inside the coop at dusk, then put them in the coop just as they'd be crawling under the MHP.

In the past I've installed chicks in their coop early in the day to let them get accustomed to it. But that was straight from the brooder, not after living three weeks in the grow-out pen. This is all completely new territory for me. I would just be doing it from the top of my head, and if it didn't work, try something else. But I have all of my friends here to add their mental faculties and experience to this exercise so maybe I can get to an elegant resolution without it being too stressful on the chicks.

 

[lazy gardener]

Can you shut them in their side of the coop with the MHP? Your idea sounds good. Give them the MHP for security, even if you're no longer turning it on for them. My chicks are gravitating towards a cardboard box stuffed with hay, and a cat carrier stuffed with hay. So, what ever they consider to be home base, if you can put it in the coop with them, that will help them to settle.

Tonight, my 3.5 week old chicks are back on the MHP, and haven't been there for days, so I plugged it back in. It's going to be mid 40's and is damp and raw out, so, I gave them a bit of heat.

 

[azygous]

LG, yes, that would be the idea, using the cave setup inside the coop to give them a sense of security and using it as a tool to transition them to sleeping in the coop. Let them have the heating pad cave until they seem to no long need the heat, and then remove it when they begin sleeping outside of it.

I've been turning down the heat, now around "4", and they still sleep in it every night. But the run may be cooler than the coop will be, so they may quit using the cave much sooner after I move it into the coop.

I'm tempted to just go for it and move them in tonight and see what happens. These guys seem to be able to handle everything else I've thrown at them.

 

[lazy gardener]

Mine are a week older than yours, and they're doing great. But, not so good at integrating with the chicks that are 3.5 weeks older than them. Those chicks are bullies. I'm giving them 1 - 3 hours at a time with the bigger chicks. I need a sunny day to re-position the electronet around the big coop so it includes the old coop. Then, I can make one of your portals to allow the chicks in with the adult flock. Hoping that will help all 3 groups to mingle, but I have to be honest, I'm a bit nervous about that!