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

[bruceha2000]

Do you all have ANY idea how hard it is to change the paper towels in the brooder box when the chicks refuse to get off the top of the MHP cave??

Move a couple off, go for a couple more, first ones jump back on. Start lifting the cave, they all stay on. Start tilting it so they will get off, they climb up the nearly vertical side to the top edge. Silly birds.

 

[trudyg]

first time with mhp, DH and I are both amazed--around 7 pm you can check and they're all underneath for the night. At 5:30 am out they come for breakfast. Barely a peep during the night, soft chirping if any sound at all. DH wants me to leave them in the garage another week so he can visit them--he can't walk out to the coop anymore due to copd, so I'll leave them until next weekend. They grow so fast, they'll have to move by then. They are 1 week old today and already getting wing feathers and a wispy looking tail.

 

[aart]

Moved the 1wo chicks out to the coop today.
Everything was 'strange' except for their MHP,
which looks like I adjusted a bit high to accommodate the new 'floor' under it.
Easily remedied later with a few twists of the bolts.

They got used to things quick and were soon mouthing off at the big birds peering thru the wall...this little guy was really pecking at the screen, of course I missed the shot, but it was funny.

 

[bruceha2000]

Claiming dominance right off the bat!

 

[aart]

Claiming dominance right off the bat!

Cocky little Cockerel!!
He's damn lucky that wall is there!

 

[bruceha2000]

Nah, he'll just run under their legs and they will flip on their backs when they throw their heads underneath themselves trying to get him

 

[Cayuga momma]

@bruceha2000
Ok I got alot of pics, so here we go.
First pic the hot water bottle I use:

2nd pic the crocheted cover for the hot water bottle:

3rd pic the hot water bottle in the crochet cover:

4th & 5th pics the inside and outside of the woolly. Basically a box with pom poms on the inside. Fleece strips on the outside:

There are two entrances to the box. A front and side entrance.

6th pic is the hot water bottle, in its cover, and wrapped in a paper towel.

The chicks immediately jump on it and check it out.
8th pic the woolly hen is placed on the hot water bottle (it's not exactly a beauty):

9th pic I tried to take a pic of the side entrance, Siggy wasn't feeling photogenic.

10th pic is a picture from the front entrance, that is Precious.

The last is of my 7 week old with the chicks. She snuck inside the brooder while I was taking the pics of the woolly hen outside.

Tomorrow they are getting a much larger brooder and I'm working on a bigger woolly hen. I already have a larger water bottle also for when they get bigger.

 

[bruceha2000]

Thanks for the pictures. You have been successful with the wooly mama hot water bottle brooder in the past? I assume this is indoors in a normally heated space.

 

[Cayuga momma]

This is my first try with it. I've taken other people's suggestions on theirs and made it my own. Yes, my house is heated usually between 65°F-70°F. I've seen others who were successful with just the woolly hen, outside, no hot water bottle, but they had alot more chicks and I'm just not willing to test that out right now.

 

[bruceha2000]

Now we need a side by side MHP/MWB brooder experiment.
6 chicks in each, same room, separate brooder boxes. Take notes on the chick behavior on things like sounds, how long they spend outside their "mama", activities