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

[bruceha2000]

Blooie thanks so much for being so detailed with your instructions. I set a heat pad over wire i.e. Mama heat pad style, but the heat temp only registered 89 at the highest. Once I turned off the light they all snuggled inside close together but I worried that 89 wasn't high enough. Is 95 an absolute, or is 89 close enough? I lost one chick yesterday but I don't know why- clear vent, clear eyes, it was active, and appeared to be sleeping. That's when I put the heat lamp back up. This is my first time ever with chicks, I brought home 6 from TSC. The heat lamp setup is giving me nightmares, but I'm worried about the heat pad being warm enough.

The "must be 95F for a week, then 90F for a week, then ..." is bull. Maybe they need that in big poultry operations where they are growing out layers or meat birds but you will NEVER EVER find a hen keeping the chicks at 95F 24x7 for a week then turning down her thermostat 5F every week.

7 chicks hatched Monday June 8, 2015 at Meyer Hatchery in Ohio. Arrived the Wednesday morning June 10th and went into a small brooder box with MHP in our bedroom. Tried putting them under the hen at "0 not quite dark thirty" Wednesday night but she didn't seem receptive and I was nervous she would hurt them. Planned to try again at "0 dark thirty" but a nasty T-storm whipped up so that was delayed. They spent Wed night and Thursday in their MHP equipped brooder in the bedroom. Not one peep overnight. Under the hen at "0 really dark thirty Thursday night".

This is them on Wednesday morning in their brooder. You can just see the edge of the pad in the back. Front row White Rock and EE. Back row EE and BA (non standard, they had yellow legs and feet. One now at 8 months old still has yellow foot bottoms and they both have black legs. Suggests to me someone threw a Jersey Giant in the gene pool sometime in the past):



And on Friday morning out in the coop. Day time temp 76F, overnight 61F. See how 4 day old chicks are NOT hiding under the hen? See how they do NOT need 95F or anywhere near that???

 

[jmdes]

Here is my MHP, it isn't fancy, not as nice as some I've seen here. It just looks like a towel, but under that towel is the nice warm heating pad, all turned on and ready for babies. I welcome any advice and comments and help. The sides of the pen enclosure are made from a dog X pen, and there is hardware cloth attached to it. that's about it. I have the waterer and feed dish here in the house for now.

 

[Beekissed]

Looks fine to me, though you might want to fasten that cloth on somehow...the chicks will soon have that thin of a cloth in disarray and maybe have it down off of there. Even a clothes pin or two would secure it so it doesn't shift.

Mine are never fancy either...fancy doesn't make it any more functional, IMO.

I've come to find that simple is often the best option.

 

[jmdes]

Thanks beekissed, I have some clothespins....I'll try it. I appreciate the suggestion !! Jan

 

[ShrekDawg]

Bungee cords could work too! Although I've heard some chicks managing to sqyeeze their way between them. Definitely second securing it somehow though because I didn't secure mine and like bee said, they'll have it off in no time. Mine constantly either knocked it off or knocked the folded part down (mine was big so had it folded over the top) and blocked the opening and they were too dumb to push through lol

 

[COChix]

I believe @azygous
 said hers were 5"x 8".  Someone jump in and correct me if I'm wrong.  I'll need to be making mine soon too, so it's probably a good thing to find out at this point!

That is what I recall. You can search the thread for "portal" and find all the posts related to them.

Nevermind, I am either moving slower than molasses or this thread is moving at lightening speed. Will be back sitting on my bucket in the corner.

 

[Beekissed]

Bungee cords could work too! Although I've heard some chicks managing to sqyeeze their way between them. Definitely second securing it somehow though because I didn't secure mine and like bee said, they'll have it off in no time. Mine constantly either knocked it off or knocked the folded part down (mine was big so had it folded over the top) and blocked the opening and they were too dumb to push through lol

There's no way a chick can work their way into a properly applied bungee cord...I can barely work a finger under one, so no way is a little chick going to do so, even by accident. That's human error all the way.

 

[ashleymroles]

Nicely done. Good pictures showing they both use it and sit on top, no other heat needed 

I see you have veg in there. If they are getting anything other than chick food, they also need grit.

I also see you have the "emergency back up plan" heat lamp clamp on the edge 

Thanks! Today was a bit chilly so they huddled under the MHP instead of on top.

The leafy green stuff is cabbage. I started giving them chick grit a few days ago so they could have crickets and grapes as treats. I limit the amount because they just go crazy for it and their gizzards get so huge they're scary! They get to have a bowl of grit for about 5 minutes a day.

The clamp for the heat lamp actually holds the tarp onto the side of the brooder so I can get in and out. The rest of the sides are nailed on. But it will be convenient for those few moments the heat lamp is more appropriate than the MHP. Like last week one of my girls was injured and the red light stopped her sisters' pecking at it.

I love the extra space in the brooder though. I sat in there for about an hour this evening while studying.

 

[ShrekDawg]

There's no way a chick can work their way into a properly applied bungee cord...I can barely work a finger under one, so no way is a little chick going to do so, even by accident.  That's human error all the way. 

Hmm, yeah that's probably true. I just thought that I had story about it happening but maybe I was mistaking that for another incident or maybe people were just worried it could happened and I just assumed that it already had. My bad. Although they definitely can get inside pillowcases because I've seen that happen a few times and it happened with mine but thankfully no casualties from that. But that's probably human error too because the pillowcase openings should be secured so that that can't happen or pillowcase shouldn't even be used maybe. The first time with mine it was hanging too low and also openings weren't secured. Second time there were a couple in there and it was a duct tape failure. That was pretty bad, two got caught on the duct tape and one just had a piece on her but was free. Had to very carefully work them free. The first one I just pulled, second one I thought of oil so no pain/feather loss and much faster. The feathers grew back though. But anyway, yeah bungee cords are probably pretty safe. And next time I get chicks (which probably won't be until these girls slow laying or earliest next year) I'm going to improve a ton of things. Think I may go with aart's method instead. I like the llate idea and also the wood to just scrape off. The towels and pillowcases got so gross.

 

[Beekissed]

Hmm, yeah that's probably true. I just thought that I had story about it happening but maybe I was mistaking that for another incident or maybe people were just worried it could happened and I just assumed that it already had. My bad. Although they definitely can get inside pillowcases because I've seen that happen a few times and it happened with mine but thankfully no casualties from that. But that's probably human error too because the pillowcase openings should be secured so that that can't happen or pillowcase shouldn't even be used maybe. The first time with mine it was hanging too low and also openings weren't secured. Second time there were a couple in there and it was a duct tape failure. That was pretty bad, two got caught on the duct tape and one just had a piece on her but was free. Had to very carefully work them free. The first one I just pulled, second one I thought of oil so no pain/feather loss and much faster. The feathers grew back though. But anyway, yeah bungee cords are probably pretty safe. And next time I get chicks (which probably won't be until these girls slow laying or earliest next year) I'm going to improve a ton of things. Think I may go with aart's method instead. I like the llate idea and also the wood to just scrape off. The towels and pillowcases got so gross.

I just tossed some bedding on top to cover the poop and that would get knocked down by the chicks...and the poop along with it. Just kept doing that twice a day until they finally stopped pooping up there as they aged and it was no longer needed. Then the heat of the pad just dried out the residue to be found there and it was no longer an issue. Just brushes right off after it's dried. Of course, I had a flannel pillow case, so that might make things a little different...a smooth pillow case might not react in the same manner, but the flannel tended to hold onto the litter/bedding I placed up there until it was forcefully knocked off by the chicks climbing up there, which removed the dried poo along with.

I never had any issue with using a pillow case....just secured it tightly around the frame with no openings at all available to the chicks. One thing to remember about these HPs...they are completely washable, so even if they get anything on them, they wash up great.