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

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Blooie said:
Photos...we demand photos!  I kinda consider them like dues for joining the Mama Heating Pad Brigade!  :lau
Click to expand...

Ok I promise! I posted a few months ago because I found this U-shaped metal grate and it was the perfect frame for the cave. I cleaned it and spray painted it back in June. But got lazy and didn't get the heating pad. So I'm off to Walmart for press & seal and the pad. I'll definitely post pics when it's all set up!! I'm having a hard time getting my juveniles to go out to the coop without running an extension cord & light out there. I think this will solve that!
 
Quick question...do you wrap the towel around the heating pad all the way and then wrap in press and seal? Or just cover the press and seal over the towel and lay the towel over the heating pad, so the bottom of the heating pad is uncovered and making contact with the frame?
 
You might try a pillow case so the covering over the heating pad is as thin as you can get it so you get better heat transfer. Unless, of course, you used paper thin towels like Miss Blooie did.
big_smile.png
 
And boy, those towels were paper thin - when I hung the on the clothesline I could see the neighbor's house through them!
lau.gif
What I did, RubyNala97, was cover the towel in Press 'n Seal - just the top and over the fringes and frays on the edges. I just draped the heating pad over the wire frame, then draped the towel down over it, tucking the excess just under the edge of the frame. Bee does it differently - and I'm beginning to think better - by tucking the entire pad covered frame inside a flannel pillowcase. She uses bungie cords to hold it in place. She's been doing this method longer than I have and it's worked very well for her. A couple of people have had chicks get caught up in the inside of the wire frame doing it my way. So it's up to you. I'll see if I can find her post with the photo of how she does hers. Be right back.
 
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Success! We all made it through the first night and it was chilly and rainy. My babies were warm an toasty in their MHP cave. I am happy to report that they are coming out to drink and eat and then snuggling back in. And a promised pictures!






Louise is the Buff Orpington and Harriet is a Golden Buff/Comet.
 
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Blooie said:
Naturally I've scrolled and wandered back and forth through the pages and can't find the picture Bee posted of how she does MHP......Bee, HELP?????

Never mind....found it finally.  Best I can do is a link to the page on this thread that shows Bee's setup.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update/450
Click to expand...

Very helpful! As I think my frame is too high. I have a thermometer under the cave and it's only reading 88!! What temps are you getting under there? Here's a pic. Do you think it's too high?
400

I haven't finished wrapping or covering it. Still in test mode.
 

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