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

[perchie.girl]

Don't be silly Deb, they all veer off every now and then! No harm no fowl....

LOL

I am seriously an OTO (Off Topic Offender) and I know it. Someone want to sponsor me?

 

[Jacqdiva]

LOL     I am seriously an OTO   (Off Topic Offender)  and I know it.  Someone want to sponsor me?

Lol

I'm just greedy for info on this brooder topic. I probably should just buy a brinsea, but I am convinced I'll make one yet. I am going to try setting up a wooden box type, and confine heat to reduce wattage.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
brinsea makes a plate brooder.... an excellent option. pricy but just to get er done... do it.

i apologize for the OT... but I find often times people just might not realize a med kit is an easy thing to put together.
or even that its an option.

Hey my grandpa brooded chicks using blow sand from the desert shoveled in a box made from tin roofing on the bottom and wood sides..... Heated with Kerosine heaters that heated the sand from underneath.... all home built. So there are always options even if you don't have much.

As a mechanical designer i learned some things quite a while ago... its ok to make mistakes IF you learn from them... and overthinking something may just make you CRAZY.....

of if you arent there already

So if they Cheep Alot... they arent warm enough... If they pile away from the heat.... they are too warm.

deb

 

[henless]

Lol

I'm just greedy for info on this brooder topic. I probably should just buy a brinsea, but I am convinced I'll make one yet. I am going to try setting up a wooden box type, and confine heat to reduce wattage.

I have a Premier, which I love. It was cheaper than the Brinsea, and I use it outside in 20 - 30 degree weather and works great.

I have some Crested Legbars coming in August. My Premier will be too hot for them. I have ordered my heating pad and waiting on it's arrival. I'll be working on it over the next couple of weeks and will post my result.

 

[Jacqdiva]

brinsea makes a plate brooder....  an excellent option.  pricy  but just to get er done... do it.

i apologize for the OT...  but I find often times people just might not realize a med kit is an easy thing to put together.
or even that its an option.

Hey my grandpa brooded chicks using blow sand from the desert shoveled in a box made from tin roofing on the bottom and wood sides.....  Heated with Kerosine heaters that heated the sand from underneath....  all home built.  So there are always options even if you don't have much. 

As a mechanical designer i learned some things quite a while ago...  its ok to make mistakes IF you learn from them...  and overthinking something may just make you CRAZY.....    of if you arent there already 

So if they Cheep Alot... they arent warm enough...  If they pile away from the heat.... they are too warm. 

deb

I've had many batches of chicks through the brooder, and pretty good at chicken speak now. Lol! I'll trial my ideas and take temperature readings first, before any one goes under my brooder. I posted all the pics above. As for medical kit, I agree.

I just added some more to mine. When it's breeding season, I'll hopfuly be using way less electricity, but still with warm, fuzzy, little happy chicks. My outdoor brooder housing will have river sand in its tray, and a box style heating system, with a low wattage lamp. They will be 4 weeks by then and come out of the baby brooder.

 

[bruceha2000]

Lol

I'm just greedy for info on this brooder topic. I probably should just buy a brinsea, but I am convinced I'll make one yet. I am going to try setting up a wooden box type, and confine heat to reduce wattage.

Obviously you can buy the Brinsea but the large size MHP is half the price of the small EcoGlow (and how many days can you REALLY have 20 chicks in an 8" x 12" area, the size of a standard piece of paper? Sounds a lot like the "fits 4x the number of chickens it can" coops. The EcoGlow that is the equivalent size of the large heating pad is $130 more than the pad.

A MHP brooder is REALLY easy to make in many forms and the pad has uses beyond rearing chicks - something most of us do not do on a regular basis. For most of us that pricy Brinsea would be packed in the back of a closet except for the 1 month a year (or 2 or 3 years) that we brood chicks. Besides that a MHPB "cave" is a lot more like being under a hen than the "open on all sides" Brinsea.

Just my opinion of course

 

[marcyflock]

...

That really surprises me.  I had eleven 1 week old chicks and four 1 day old chicks outside and it was 23 degrees.  They are now almost 3 weeks and almost 2 weeks old, respectively, and still doing absolutely great.  I feel so bad that it didn't work for you.

The heating pad NEEDS the auto off button or it shuts itself off after a couple hours.

 

[mojavemike1]

First day at the Momma Cave Inn

They didn't go in until I shooed them in...now they are in and out all the time.

 

[perchie.girl]

First day at the Momma Cave Inn

They didn't go in until I shooed them in...now they are in and out all the time.

OH such Cuteness.... and success.....

deb

 

[Jacqdiva]

These companies just make to much money for things like this. There are so many people doing wonderful innovative things. I prefer to be one of them. For myself (because I'm a nut) it's a cop out to just run with the herd mentality. Plus I love pottering and pondering over these things.