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

[micheleomal]

Chicken math took me from 6 to 26 in 3 yrs. I live in a farm community but right in town. No limits on # but 26 is my limit. The original girls are retired if they want to be but I have a 4 yr old BO and a 4 ye okd EE both laying every day! I sell eggs and have a loyal customer base. I sell at our farmers market in summer too. My sister needs to add to her old lady flock this year so she will get 4 of my 1 yr olds. I lost 2 over the winter so I can add 6 this year. Hoping to add several colors of LF Cochins and a light Brahma or 2. I will sell the extra pullets this early summer and give Roos away. Worked well for me last year. It is an addiction!!

 

[dpenning]

Mine is a new flock. I got my main egg-layers in January so they can get started early. I have a fairly large order coming from MPC in May with some of the breeds that they didn't have a good hatch rate on in January plus the fancier (but less productive) breeds and a couple roos. If I find any in the store that are particularly attractive, I can always modify that order. I have a 4.5 acre property in a mostly rural area, so have room for multiple coops.

I'm a vegetarian, but my dogs and cats aren't. If I find myself with too many cockerels and no one who wants a rooster, I'll kill it humanely and turn it into pet food. I figure the life that I'll give them is better than a commercial facility and if my dogs/cats eat mine then I am supporting a system that's a little better on the animal welfare scale. However, when my egg-layers are done laying, they get to join the retirement flock as a reward for their efforts.

I get that, I actually have a batch of meaties I'm raising right now to feed my dog with allergies. She eats raw meat with chicken as the primary base with some pork. I'm not raising pigs. LOL

Chicken math took me from 6 to 26 in 3 yrs. I live in a farm community but right in town. No limits on # but 26 is my limit. The original girls are retired if they want to be but I have a 4 yr old BO and a 4 ye okd EE both keying every day! I sell eggs and have a loyal customer base. I sell at our farmers market in summer too. My sister needs to add to her old lady flock this year so she will get 4 of my 1 yr olds. I lost 2 over the winter so I can add 6 this year. Hoping to add several colors of LF Cochins and a light Brahma or 2. I will sell the extra pullets this early summer and give Roos away. Worked well for me last year. It is an addiction!!

I guess that is where I'm at regarding setting my own limits. I"m just too lazy to sell eggs. I guess 7 laying birds is my limit because I'm too lazy to clean the coop after many more than that. Mine roost over a poop board with sweet pdz so my coop doesn't smell like a chicken coop but I do pooper scooper duty once a week and refresh their pellets and water. So when I read about folks with so many birds I just can't imagine the maintenance but maybe they are doing it differently!

 

[micheleomal]

The 3 chicks I got from the farm store a couple hours ago are sound asleep under MHP. I stuffed them under, left them there for 15 mins to warm from the car ride, scooped them out to show them their food and water, they ate, I put them back at the entrance of MHP and they have been sleeping ever since. I peek under and they trill at me but they don't come out. I think they are exhausted.

 

[aart]

So what do all you mathematicians do with all these birds? I get the chick addiction, really, I do and I wound up with 14 birds and by the time they all started laying I was overwhelmed with eggs and gave half of the birds to a neighbor. Do you do periodic subtraction from your laying flock?

I eat them.....or sell them. I have about 30 in spring and summer, only over winter about 15.

Feed Mill has a batch of chicks in, was not tempted..... as I have 22 eggs in bator and 6 EE on order via Mill in 3 weeks.

 

[bruceha2000]

So what do all you mathematicians do with all these birds? I get the chick addiction, really, I do and I wound up with 14 birds and by the time they all started laying I was overwhelmed with eggs and gave half of the birds to a neighbor. Do you do periodic subtraction from your laying flock?

What you will find is that they lay really well their first winter (assuming they weren't hatched so early in the year that they moult their first fall) and winter laying after that is spotty.

• My twelve 2012 girls laid 565 eggs their first winter (Nov through Feb). The first year (since first lay Nov 2012) was 1,970.
• 440 the next winter (half the birds laid no eggs until mid to late February), 1,340 for the year though I lost 2 girls (1 unknown in March, 1 to a fox late April but neither of them laid through the winter)
• 117 the next winter (most of them from 4 girls), 890 for the year (lost another one to a fox last April so only 9 layers half the period).
• This winter? 35 from nine 3.5 Y/O hens.

In contrast the 7 June 2015 girls came into production over time, starting mid Nov and laid 467 eggs through the end of February.

So while you might think you have too many layers their first winter, it gets real thin real fast after they have their first adult moult.

Those that do periodic subtraction cull the older or less productive birds and get new chicks in the spring if they want a fairly consistent amount of eggs through the winter every year.

 

[Blooie]

Do you still recommend covering the heating pad with a towel and press and seal wrap?

I do that if I have them in the house, @dyorto but when I brood them outside, which I do exclusively now, I don't bother with the Press 'n Seal. I just picked up a stack of threadbare towels from Goodwill (and my kids and buddies give me theirs when they replace towels) so I figure let 'em get poopy. I put so much straw on top of the towel anyway that each one usually lasts about a week then I just toss it, put a fresh one down, and replace the straw. They don't seem to leave the straw on for very long - they love to scratch it off the top - and if they didn't do that the towel would probably last a lot longer.

This year I'm changing things up and using @Beekissed system. She puts the entire frame assembly inside old pillowcases. Keeps chicks from getting trapped in the wire and keeps the pad cleaner since the towels sometimes slip. She posted these pictures of how she does it.

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

 

[micheleomal]

Quote: I'm weird. I enjoy the hour I spend every morning cleaning the coop. Mine poop over trays with shavings so I scoop them out every morning along with any other poops I find. The girls come in and talk to me while I work, look in the poop pail and are basically really curious. It's our time. Yeah, I'm weird.

 

[lazy gardener]

I've got big hatching plans. Have most of the components for a new coolerbator. Planning on setting 2 batches of shipped eggs next weekend. And some of my own eggs, perhaps some duck eggs from health food store... And local feed store has SLW coming in the same week I'll be hatching... I really don't even need to be hatching... let alone buying some feed store chicks. Somebody please stop me!

 

[micheleomal]

I don't foresee any group interventions any time soon.

 

[Blooie]

Nope, 'fraid not! Interventions mean self discipline - when it comes to chicks I ain't got that!

LG, Ken sat down at my computer and answered your electrical question on the other forum.