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

[Blooie]

Nope. No reports. And there have been a lot of people posting anything and everything about issues they may have had, so they darn sure would have come in and yelled at us. As I tell folks, my phone charger, coffee pot....anything that gets plugged in can cause a fire, and that’s especially true when the item being plugged in is a heat producing appliance. I imagine a Heating Pad could start a fire even 5 minutes after it’s turned on, being used in a person. Shoot, wiring can start a fire inside the walls even if nothing has been plugged into an outlet. So we take less of a risk using this than we do with heat lamps, and there HAS been a report, right here on this very thread, about chicks being burned with the Premier commercial heat plate.

We’re used to this. Remember that back in the day when folks were discovering the “miracle” of being able to plug in a heat lamp rather than using kerosene heaters in the brooder, those who were talking about the switch probably weren’t real popular, either!

If it bothers you, then feel free to use any method you can find that doesn’t get plugged in to produce heat. See what I mean?

 

[Minky]

I find that one of my 4 chicks only uses MHP at night. She is not the biggest, but certaninly the most active and flies a lot. Do different breeds behave differently as chicks? Im wondering if its a cream leg bar thing (not needing the heat, flying a lot).

I agree about the continuous use-thing..... I turn my MHP off a few times a day, when I let them out to poop all over the living room. Thank god for wood floors! LOL

 

[ash_en_em]

I know this is an old thread, but I used your model, except I used leftover chicken wire to form it. Just curious what setting you use? When auto- off is turned off, it gives the option of setting 1-6. I put it on 4. Thoughts? What do you use?

 

[Minky]

My 1 and 2 week old chicks seem happy with 3 during the day and 4 at night. In my house. (71F)

 

[Blooie]

I know this is an old thread, but I used your model, except I used leftover chicken wire to form it. Just curious what setting you use? When auto- off is turned off, it gives the option of setting 1-6. I put it on 4. Thoughts? What do you use?

Old, but has remained active since the very first day, thanks to a lot of very warm and helpful people!

Just a word of caution...last week here on the thread one of the Broody Brigade reported that the frame she’d made out of just chicken wire collapsed from the chicks sitting on top, killing the chicks underneath. I use a bit of welded wire fencing, lots of folks use cookie cooling racks....but it has to let the heat be down at the chicks’ backs and it has to give them some support when some of the chicks pile on top, as they love to do.

That said, we need a little more info to answer your questions. How many chicks, how old, inside the house or outside in a garage, coop, or shed, and your general temperatures. In most applications 4 is fine. If they seem cold...piling up at the back of the pad and staying put, turn it up a notch for a day or so. Sometimes even within an hour they’ve warmed up and started exploring. If they avoid it, or stay right at the entrance, it may be too hot. They’ll tell you, and you’ll learn to read them quicker than you think!

@Minky, I think she’s telling you she’s happy. Chicks have different personalities and comfort needs just like we do! As for turning the pad off, I didn’t. But if it eases your mind, then by all means, do what you are comfortable doing! It isn’t hurting anything for them not to under it all of the time, so whatever you’re doing is working for you!

 

[ash_en_em]

Old, but has remained active since the very first day, thanks to a lot of very warm and helpful people!

Just a word of caution...last week here on the thread one of the Broody Brigade reported that the frame she’d made out of just chicken wire collapsed from the chicks sitting on top, killing the chicks underneath. I use a bit of welded wire fencing, lots of folks use cookie cooling racks....but it has to let the heat be down at the chicks’ backs and it has to give them some support when some of the chicks pile on top, as they love to do.

That said, we need a little more info to answer your questions. How many chicks, how old, inside the house or outside in a garage, coop, or shed, and your general temperatures. In most applications 4 is fine. If they seem cold...piling up at the back of the pad and staying put, turn it up a notch for a day or so. Sometimes even within an hour they’ve warmed up and started exploring. If they avoid it, or stay right at the entrance, it may be too hot. They’ll tell you, and you’ll learn to read them quicker than you think!

@Minky, I think she’s telling you she’s happy. Chicks have different personalities and comfort needs just like we do! As for turning the pad off, I didn’t. But if it eases your mind, then by all means, do what you are comfortable doing! It isn’t hurting anything for them not to under it all of the time, so whatever you’re doing is working for you!

I have 3 chicks (Australorps if that makes any difference) who are days away from 4 weeks old. I put them in a garage a couple of days ago, but we're getting struck with a couple of 20° nights here in Ohio, so I brought them into the breezeway inside the house to get a bit more warmth. Two of the three have all wing feathers and tail feathers, and are getting the start of back feathers. The third (I believe to be a roo due to his larger size and comb) is just filling out his wings.

In the garage, the lowest (normally) is 40°, but I was keeping it at 60° with a lamp. I just don't like the idea of the increased fire hazard risk, or the thought of such brilliant light on their eyes 24/7. Typically though, the garage stays at 50° during the day (even if it's colder out, as long as the sun is shining this time of year.

Hope this was enough info, if you need more please let me know! Also, thank you for responding so quickly!

P.S. I will be making an H frame of sorts to put in there then this week. I don't want that falling in on the babes.

 

[bruceha2000]

last week here on the thread one of the Broody Brigade reported that the frame she’d made out of just chicken wire collapsed from the chicks sitting on top, killing the chicks underneath

IIRC it was 1/2 hardware cloth. Either way the important thing is that whatever is supporting the pad underneath also needs to be strong enough to not substantially deform when chicks get on top.

Question for y’all: I was sharing my delight with the MHP on Facebook and got this comment...

“Ok. My take on the heating pad momma hen fad: it is NOT safe. It gives a false sense of security because no one has had fires traced back to it *YET*. But this is only because it hasn’t been widely used very long. Just you wait. This is going to burn houses and coops down because heating pads are NOT designed for continuous use. At all, ever, period.

If you want a safe alternative option to heat bulbs, then get a sweeter heater or a heat plate.”

Have we ever had anyone report back any fire hazards with the MHP method?

Naysayers exist for all methods of all things. Some still think the world is flat.

CAN a heating pad start a fire? As has been said ANY electrical appliance can create a fire. People have burned down their houses when they had a "toaster garage" on the counter, closed the door with the toaster too far out, pushing the "start" handle down and holding it there.

But you'll find @Blooie admonishing to NOT use some old pad that has been folded, unfolded, stored, brought back out since all those actions can kink the wires and eventually they may break through.

My pad sat out in the barn for 4 weeks last April/May, on continually. It has been out in the community nest box set on 2 for the last several weeks. It does not get all that hot, in fact the eggs still feel cool, just not as cold as the ambient temp which has lately been down to 5°F to 20°F.

 

[Storybook Farm]

All this is reassuring to read. I just LOVE LOVE this method so much... but it did make sense to me that maybe these inexpensive heating pads were not meant to be on full time... I dunno. I WANT it to be foolproof... I KNOW that nothing on earth really is (gotta wait for Heaven for that)! It kinda bummed me out to have such a strong nay say, so I scuttled back here (under my MHP with my peeps) for warming reassurance.

And all my pads are brand new, so that’s good.

 

[ash_en_em]

All this is reassuring to read. I just LOVE LOVE this method so much... but it did make sense to me that maybe these inexpensive heating pads were not meant to be on full time... I dunno. I WANT it to be foolproof... I KNOW that nothing on earth really is (gotta wait for Heaven for that)! It kinda bummed me out to have such a strong nay say, so I scuttled back here (under my MHP with my peeps) for warming reassurance.

And all my pads are brand new, so that’s good.

Mine is new too, for the same reasons you said. I also didn't cheap out on it. I may end up getting one for myself because the peeps seem to like it so much

 

[BBZZZZTT]

Okay, okay. As a follow up to my previous post, my chicks (really now they're small chickens) are 5 weeks old now. For the past two nights I have herded them into the MHP at night since the temps are so cold at night still. They have been raised with no other heat source so they should know what it is. I also turned it down a click in case it was too warm.
Today three of them went to sleep on a perch and the other 4 in the corner again. I huddled them under the MHP and they're staying there. But I think if they still continue to sleep wherever tomorrow I'll just let them be? They have the idea now. I think at this point they're fully feathered and can keep themselves warm anyway, right? They seem well adjusted to the temps.
It's been consistently high 20s at night. Warm up coming next week though!