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

[Blooie]

Ok, friend. You can't just drop a bomb like that without providing details. What kind of eggs, how many? Are you buying a bator, using a HP broody, or hoping for a broody hen?

I got Carolina Blue Sex-linked EEs...you know I have to have EEs in my flock!

I'm hoping that by then Agatha (or one of the other girls) will be broody. She tends to go in March or April and again in October or November if she holds to her usual pattern, but I'll have a 'bater in hot running standby just in case. I only ordered 9 - I'm second guessing that decision already. I think if I was smart I'd have ordered some less expensive eggs for the month before and used them to fine tune the incubator hatching, but we haven't finished culling the older, less reliable girls out there yet and I don't want to make the mistake of over-loading the coop and run ever again! Besides, winter is no time to be hatching here. But I have a lady here who wants to buy 4 of the CC chicks after hatching, leaving me with 5...that's assuming a 100% hatch/survival scenario, which we both know isn't likely.

 

[Percheron chick]

Just bought the king size pad with the auto off shut off.

wrong pad. It needs to stay on 24/7.

 

[circlehouse]

wrong pad. It needs to stay on 24/7.

It will stay on. It's the same model blooie uses. It has a button to turn the auto shut off off. Sorry if I phrased it in a weird way!

 

[Blooie]

It will stay on. It's the same model blooie uses. It has a button to turn the auto shut off off. Sorry if I phrased it in a weird way!

I had such a hard time with that too!

 

[circlehouse]

 

[lazy gardener]

I got Carolina Blue Sex-linked EEs...you know I have to have EEs in my flock!

I'm hoping that by then Agatha (or one of the other girls) will be broody. She tends to go in March or April and again in October or November if she holds to her usual pattern, but I'll have a 'bater in hot running standby just in case. I only ordered 9 - I'm second guessing that decision already. I think if I was smart I'd have ordered some less expensive eggs for the month before and used them to fine tune the incubator hatching, but we haven't finished culling the older, less reliable girls out there yet and I don't want to make the mistake of over-loading the coop and run ever again! Besides, winter is no time to be hatching here. But I have a lady here who wants to buy 4 of the CC chicks after hatching, leaving me with 5...that's assuming a 100% hatch/survival scenario, which we both know isn't likely.

What you using for a bator? Ken and you can whip one together for about $25. It would be a great project for you and the kiddos! Most of the supplies can be found laying around the house. You can get a styrofoam box from pet store, pharmacy, or any place that deals with shipped meat... or make your own box. Thermostat: digital STC 1000. 2 light bulbs and sockets, piece of window glass, computer fan, 12 V phone charger, duct tape, silicone... and you're in business. There's gotta be some one near you who has a BYF with a rooster. Perhaps you could get a few eggs to trial before your shipped eggs come in. Better yet: get that bator made, up and running for a couple of weeks with just a couple of water bottles in it to = the mass of eggs you anticipate you'll have. Let it run, to be sure you have a handle on the temp and humidity without committing to eggs. Be sure your thermometer and hygrometer are calibrated. Then, set your shipped eggs along with some back yard flock eggs the same day. You'll have all the tweaks out of your temp control, and even if the shipped eggs don't do well, you'll have something to show for your effort with the BYF chicks.

 

[Blooie]

True to my usual nature, I haven't gotten as far as the incubator yet. Got the chicks before we planned the coop, now ordered the eggs before I got the 'bator. <sigh> What's that they say about the definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result? Anyway, I haven't decided what I'm going to do there yet. A friend has offered to give me her incubator (would that make her a surrogate mother?) but I haven't been given any details yet about what kind it is or how it well it works. Do the homemade ones work well? How do you handle the humidity issue in them? Inquiring minds.....

 

[bruceha2000]

The inside dimensions of the portals are 5x7inches. That's just the right size to keep the adult chickens from squeezing through, and large enough that the chicks can use them until they're about three months old. I've watched to see at what age the chicks start having a struggle getting their bodies to go through, and it's right around 12 weeks.

I like to incorporate hinged covers for the portals so I can close them off at will, kind of like having a lock down in case of emergency.

Unless you have Cubalayas in your flock

Thanks for the sizing azygous....no doubt a door/portal should be able to be closed off

I made some sliding doors in my temp partition wall last spring,
but they weren't really the right size and shape and other issues didn't get the chicks outside until too late anyway.
Hope to get them out sooner this next go round....and have better 'respite portals'.

Me too, made it from 1/4" plywood. I didn't need it until Zorra moved the chicks from the brooding pen to the nest at 2 week of age and I wanted them to be able to get to their food. I figured I could keep it open only far enough for the chicks to get in and keep the Cubalayas out. Open a bit more as the chicks grew. The !@#$%^&* woodchucks chewed right through the door. I ended up having to use a piece of sheet metal (edges carefully smoothed) but after a week or so the chicks were eating out of the adults' hanging feeder anyway and at least half the chick started I bought ended up being mixed in with the layer pellets.

True to my usual nature, I haven't gotten as far as the incubator yet. Got the chicks before we planned the coop, now ordered the eggs before I got the 'bator. <sigh> What's that they say about the definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result? Anyway, I haven't decided what I'm going to do there yet. A friend has offered to give me her incubator (would that make her a surrogate mother?) but I haven't been given any details yet about what kind it is or how it well it works. Do the homemade ones work well? How do you handle the humidity issue in them? Inquiring minds.....

Ah Blooie, it ISN'T the SAME thing done over again!

 

[Chickie Baby]

I'm so fascinated by this thread and I'm glad I'm ran across it last night.

I'm getting 25 chicks from Privett to be delivered on Jan 8th and was wondering if one Sunbeam king size heating pad would be sufficient? I don't want to have to buy 2 if it's not necessary. Blooie, what are your thoughts on 25 chicks to one pad? I have used the awful heat lamp with all of my other babies, but I'm so paranoid about it starting a fire that I just feel this is the way for me to go. I know I'll feel much better leaving the house with a heating pad on than a heat lamp. Its hard to go 4 weeks worried about the heat lamp causing a fire.

I'm in central Mississippi and our weather is usually warm during the day (50+) and can get down to freezing at night, but it's not often that it does. I planned to keep the babies in my garage at least a few weeks and then take them to the coop. I have a separate area for my little ones build on to my coop. Will need to make some minor adjustments to accommodate the 25. I've never had more than 12 in my chick area at once. I don't have electricity at my coop, but I can run an extension cord for the heating pad. One or two heating pads... that's the question

 

[bruceha2000]

I'm so fascinated by this thread and I'm glad I'm ran across it last night.

I'm getting 25 chicks from Privett to be delivered on Jan 8th and was wondering if one Sunbeam king size heating pad would be sufficient? I don't want to have to buy 2 if it's not necessary. Blooie, what are your thoughts on 25 chicks to one pad? I have used the awful heat lamp with all of my other babies, but I'm so paranoid about it starting a fire that I just feel this is the way for me to go. I know I'll feel much better leaving the house with a heating pad on than a heat lamp. Its hard to go 4 weeks worried about the heat lamp causing a fire.

I'm in central Mississippi and our weather is usually warm during the day (50+) and can get down to freezing at night, but it's not often that it does. I planned to keep the babies in my garage at least a few weeks and then take them to the coop. I have a separate area for my little ones build on to my coop. Will need to make some minor adjustments to accommodate the 25. I've never had more than 12 in my chick area at once. I don't have electricity at my coop, but I can run an extension cord for the heating pad. One or two heating pads... that's the question

I'm not Blooie (obviously

) but I think 25 would be too many to get to fully feathered under a single large pad. But you could start with one and put on an annex in a week or so.