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

[aart]

hey, thanks for the mention.

Ha, there you are!!
Just found you in another thread...
could not remember your handle,
but recognized it in the other thread,
or the thread name close enough for a successful search.
Here it is:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ons-of-suburban-meat-bird-production.1115689/

for some reason I'm not able to make it an active link in my signature.

You've got to have a 'Premium Membership' to put links in siggy...but you can put it in as text(non-linked URL) and the savvy can copy and paste to browser.

For those of you who have raised (and eaten) Cornish X and a "ranger" type bird- other than size and speed of growth, how would you compare flavour? Do you have a preference? Has any one raised and tried Coucou Malines?

There's a ton of comparisons in the meat bird forum:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/se...t=post&o=relevance&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=21

 

[bruceha2000]

they are in freezer camp by 8-9 weeks, 7 lbs dressed.

Which is just crazy, the poor birds.

 

[JShepherd]

I was thinking about turning my older prefab coop into an outdoor brooder using the mama heating pad method. Has anyone ever done anything like that? I can't seem to find anything on the internet about it, but seems to be an easy solution.

 

[bruceha2000]

Should be fine. It is a coop right? Plenty of us brood chicks out in a coop rather than indoors.

 

[coopadoop]

Is anyone else having problems getting the Sunbeam heating pad to get warm enough? Even on level 6, we're only getting up to 76 degrees under the MHP! And we've tried 2 heating pads of the one recommended! Help!

 

[bruceha2000]

Don't measure the air temp in the cave, it doesn't matter and will just drive you nuts. What matters is that the chicks can snuggle their backs up against the pad.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Don't measure the air temp in the cave, it doesn't matter and will just drive you nuts. What matters is that the chicks can snuggle their backs up against the pad.

This! One of the hardest" leaps" for folks to make in changing the heat method from a light, etc to direct contact heat like a plate or mhp is letting go of the idea of the temperature of the air under the heat. Think of a broody hen...the air under her won't be 90 degrees plus, but the chicks warm themselves by direct contact with her body.

 

[Minky]

Has anyone ever tried putting a baby chick under a hen (a hen who wasnt broody, but has been in the past)??

 

[Molpet]

Is anyone else having problems getting the Sunbeam heating pad to get warm enough? Even on level 6, we're only getting up to 76 degrees under the MHP! And we've tried 2 heating pads of the one recommended! Help!

it works by chicks contacting the pad, not heating the air.. also the side w/writing on it is warmer

 

[Molpet]

Has anyone ever tried putting a baby chick under a hen (a hen who wasnt broody, but has been in the past)??

most are not nice to a stray chick, but some people have had a hen that adopts them... I have one that picks them up and shakes them like a mouse