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

[perchie.girl]

My smaller pad (used until I get the large one Blooie uses) is on medium inside the house and varies about 80-86 degrees F. Probably only higher due to a chick sitting on the remote. Hope that helps.

As far as the great story about the roast and the pan, "argumentum ad antiquitatem", or appeal to antiquity, or appeal to common practice/tradition is a common fallacious argument! Well-called, my friend ("because we have always done it that way"), or similar to "50 million (or is it 60 now?) Frenchmen can't be wrong" (another fallacious argument having to do with "everyone else does it that way" aka argumentum ad populem)...yes, thinking outside the coop, or else where would we be (France? lol) thanks again Blooie!

When I used to design computer components there was something called inherited features. No one asked but because they were duplicating an existing bracket or component there would be something on the original no one knew what it was for.... So in order to assure interchangeability the feature was copied....

What they didnt know was those features in most cases were tooling aids specific to the machines that made the components. Not necssary for the component to work .

Tooling holes for progressive die machines are a prime example.... Used for the machine to progress the part through the machine process... NO other function.

Ok I will go back to my hole now.....

Used to be chick raising was either through a broody hen or some sort of heat source (there have been many iterations through the years from coal to electricity). But all in all industry has forced many to buy their products in order to raise a healthy chick use X in manner Y or your chicks will die. My product Guarantees this.

deb

 

[Blooie]

Would this one work? https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0...457463912&ref_=sr_1_cc_4&s=aps&sr=1-4-catcorr

Does the pad have to be numbers or can it be low med high?

If I buy a 5 lbs bag of chick starter food how many weeks will it last me? I am going to have 2 chicks?

I'll try to answer all of your questions in one spot. The pad you linked to would probably work, since the reviews indicate that it doesn't have the feature that turns it off after 2 hours or so. Now, that said, many of us on here can attest to the fact that the reviews are not always for the item pictured. We've run into that with the link to the heating pad that @henless uses.

The digital control isn't necessary. Many people are using pads with "hi, med, and low" settings successfully. Personally I like the digital control on mine because I brood my chicks outdoors and I want that ability to fine-tune as the ambient temperatures out there change.

And how long a 5 pound bag of chick starter will last depends on lots of things. I found that a bag of food lasted me longer because the chicks weren't up eating 24/7. At night they were under Mama Heating Pad sound asleep so they only ate during daylight hours. Even then they were too busy exploring to spend all of their time with their faces in the food dish because they had other stuff to occupy them as well. (Gosh, I should probably point that out when explaining the system to new folks who are asking about MHP, huh?)

How much food they go through also depends on how many times you have to dump out a large part of of their feeder because they've filled it with poop or other yucky stuff and how much they spill or scratch out. So your best bet is to monitor the food consumption over the time the bag lasts and make a determination from there on how much to pick up next time. Just too many variables to specifically say exactly that "5 pounds of food with 2 chicks should last 3 weeks."

 

[dragonthehunter]

I'm going to be using sand for bedding is this a good idea or???? and thank you all for all the help

oh and also medicated started or non medicated?

 

[perchie.girl]

I'm going to be using sand for bedding is this a good idea or???? and thank you all for all the help

oh and also medicated started or non medicated?

I plan on sand.... but at first till they know which is sand and which is food probably a good idea to put down paper towels... Just for the first couple of days

Oh and sand is wayyy different than a clump of dirt from the yard. They should have that asap for good bacteria.

I dont do medicated... Personal choice.
deb

 

[Blooie]

Both of those are totally personal choices. Some use sand in the brooder and like it very much. Others use pine shavings (not cedar!) and prefer that. I'm a whatever-is-on-the-floor-of-the-run-user myself. My chicks are brooded outside in the run so whatever is down is what they use. That means dried leaves, a little bit of shavings, some straw, chopped up corn stalks, just whatever. They do tend to have a lot of straw in their pen but that's because I stuff their cave with it, have some on top, and some behind and around the sides. They scratch and scatter it so it ends up pretty well distributed.

As for medicated good or not, again personal choice. You do some research and make that decision.

 

[Jensownzoo]

If I buy a 5 lbs bag of chick starter food how many weeks will it last me? I am going to have 2 chicks?

Rule of thumb is that it takes 10# of feed to take a chick to 10 weeks. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Jensownzoo]

I did one brooder with sand, scooping daily, and one brooder with low-dust pine shavings. After two weeks, I found that even using Sweet PDZ, the sand was still pretty smelly. The shavings were fine, smelling only of pine. I had been planning on using sand in my coop, so it was good to find this out in advance. Am now switching to either pine shavings or rice hulls/chopped straw.

 

[Blooie]

We crossed, Deb! Teehee!

 

[aart]

Quote: I don't do medicated either...but do have corid on hand in case.

I do use sand in brooder...and a tote lid for feed and water for first week or so.

 

[perchie.girl]

We crossed, Deb! Teehee!

double Blooied.....