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

[Murphy212]

Wow! Thanks to ALL of you who took the time to respond to my questions so fast. Short answer to why I have the dog crate in the brooder box....."I don't know, it Seemed like a good idea" It just seemed to me that since I was setting up the MHP in the dog crate (small one 12X19) with solid bottom tray, press and seal the sides, etc. I was gonna let the babies live there for a week or so to get settled, then I would just move the whole thing to the box in the run. Rather than re-building the MHP. It would also keep their disruption to a minimum as well. The crate has 2 doors one on the end and a larger one on the side, I was just gonna open the side door and give them access to the bigger box area and they could get to the MHP as needed and at night. the box I plan to build is a simple 4' x 8' , 2x2 board, 1/2" hardware cloth, covered to keep out weather, No solid bottom, just wire lined with old feed bags, cardboard and shavings sitting on the ground. I think my thought was they would have a more secure, drier area within the dog crate MHP, but freedom to go out into the larger area if they wanted. I don't have room in my actual coop for a brooder box so it must go outside in the run. Also want to get 6 new chicks and want to give them plenty of room to grow.
Three years ago when I went into chicken raising for the first time, it seemed I was re-building, re-fixing, re-arranging something for those chickens every day!! I want to do it once and be done with it this time.
And Blooie, thanks for the link to brooding outdoors, I had read that but with all the information overload, I got confused. That article was the deciding factor in letting me know that outside brooding was the only way to go.it made total perfect sense! My hope is that having them outside with the big girls, the bigs will get to know them and make the total transition a bit easier. My little flock of 8 have been together with no disruptions for 3 years , so it may be a challenge for them to accept some OUTSIDERS/INTERLOPERS disguised as baby chicks. Want them to see each other for as long as possible before the littles are transitioned to the coop.
The information on feed makes perfect sense, I like putting the bigs on the same grower/starter for a while and let everyone eat the same thing. Keeping life with chickens simple as possible is my motto.
Oh and Ralphie....the Murphy law thing was started by my great great great granddaddy.....he was a bit of pill! It has plagued me all my whole 67 years too.
Thank you all again and if you have any other thoughts, please share
Murphy

 

[TexasLisa]

This one in the pic has vertical nipples underneath the bucket for the young birds and a side nipple cup for the older birds if they are so inclined. This makes a nice nipple bucket setup if you have a broody hen and chicks penned together.

Bee, where did you get the side nipple cup? I have not seen that before.

I DO like your set-up!!

 

[10AcreChick]

A hanging nipple bucket works great for chicks and I use them from day one but they learn easily enough later on...except for some of my adult birds. They acted like that was rocket science and couldn't grasp it for the world.

Here's a pic of some chicks drinking from a nipple bucket in the coop. You can position your other waterers far enough away from the coop so that the little ones won't be tempted to use them....my big water pan is about 40 yds from the coop.

This one in the pic has vertical nipples underneath the bucket for the young birds and a side nipple cup for the older birds if they are so inclined. This makes a nice nipple bucket setup if you have a broody hen and chicks penned together.




If you have a trough style feeder the littles can eat freely next to the bigs and there seems to be very little problem with this at my place.

What cute pictures!!!

 

[duluthralphie]

Bee, where did you get the side nipple cup? I have not seen that before.

I DO like your set-up!!

I use them all the time, I even use them with limited success during the summer.

I get mine from Amazon. Just be sure when you order them you get the ones with the springs in them. The others are a waste of money. I am actually going to be ordering some this afternoon for my new chick waterers.

 

[duluthralphie]

Bee, where did you get the side nipple cup? I have not seen that before.

I DO like your set-up!!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...gbase=toshiba-metro&tbId=8Pt9agia5uXLjKdSS312



That is the cup. The ones with the yellow doohickey ( technical word) are the ones with springs. The black doohickeys tend to leak I have a ton of them laying around here, from before I realized the yellow ones were worth the extra money. I am hoping to unload them on some unsuspecting person during a garage sale some year.


Or let my kids inherit them, I have not decided which for sure.

 

[bruceha2000]

Wow! Thanks to ALL of you who took the time to respond to my questions so fast. Short answer to why I have the dog crate in the brooder box....."I don't know, it Seemed like a good idea" It just seemed to me that since I was setting up the MHP in the dog crate (small one 12X19) with solid bottom tray, press and seal the sides, etc. I was gonna let the babies live there for a week or so to get settled, then I would just move the whole thing to the box in the run. Rather than re-building the MHP. It would also keep their disruption to a minimum as well. The crate has 2 doors one on the end and a larger one on the side, I was just gonna open the side door and give them access to the bigger box area and they could get to the MHP as needed and at night. the box I plan to build is a simple 4' x 8' , 2x2 board, 1/2" hardware cloth, covered to keep out weather, No solid bottom, just wire lined with old feed bags, cardboard and shavings sitting on the ground. I think my thought was they would have a more secure, drier area within the dog crate MHP, but freedom to go out into the larger area if they wanted. I don't have room in my actual coop for a brooder box so it must go outside in the run. Also want to get 6 new chicks and want to give them plenty of room to grow.
Three years ago when I went into chicken raising for the first time, it seemed I was re-building, re-fixing, re-arranging something for those chickens every day!! I want to do it once and be done with it this time.
And Blooie, thanks for the link to brooding outdoors, I had read that but with all the information overload, I got confused. That article was the deciding factor in letting me know that outside brooding was the only way to go.it made total perfect sense! My hope is that having them outside with the big girls, the bigs will get to know them and make the total transition a bit easier. My little flock of 8 have been together with no disruptions for 3 years , so it may be a challenge for them to accept some OUTSIDERS/INTERLOPERS disguised as baby chicks. Want them to see each other for as long as possible before the littles are transitioned to the coop.
The information on feed makes perfect sense, I like putting the bigs on the same grower/starter for a while and let everyone eat the same thing. Keeping life with chickens simple as possible is my motto.
Oh and Ralphie....the Murphy law thing was started by my great great great granddaddy.....he was a bit of pill! It has plagued me all my whole 67 years too.
Thank you all again and if you have any other thoughts, please share
Murphy

As far as integration, the only time my now 9 month old birds seem to get trouble from the almost 4 year old birds is at morning BOSS and evening scratch time. When it comes to chicken "crack" they really don't want to share. The layer feed is out all day so if any of the older girls get pissy, the younger ones can come back in a few minutes.

The WORST older offender is Peep. She is a Cubalaya, about 2/3 the size of the rest of the birds (younger ones included). But the younger ones will still run if she pecks at them eating "her" treats, even though there is plenty right under her beak and she goes out of her way to chase off a nearby "little". I'm pretty sure she gets LESS in the way of treats because all the other birds are chowing down while she is chasing off a younger (but larger) bird. Chickens are stupid

 

[TexasLisa]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...gbase=toshiba-metro&tbId=8Pt9agia5uXLjKdSS312



That is the cup. The ones with the yellow doohickey ( technical word) are the ones with springs. The black doohickeys tend to leak I have a ton of them laying around here, from before I realized the yellow ones were worth the extra money. I am hoping to unload them on some unsuspecting person during a garage sale some year.


Or let my kids inherit them, I have not decided which for sure.

Thank you Sir! I will definitely order the yellow doohickey! I am just glad they didn't have the whatchamacallit!!

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, where did you get the side nipple cup? I have not seen that before.

I DO like your set-up!!

Lisa, it seems like I got them on Amazon, but they weren't as expensive as these in the link.....I got mine a few years back, so maybe the price has raised some? I bet if you looked around some on the net you could maybe find them cheaper. I really like these cups, though, as my older flock couldn't seem to understand how to use the vertical or the horizontal nipples but they sure can use these cup drinkers.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B015BO6B6Q/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

 

[circlehouse]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B6EINLQ?ref_=mtr_p_toshiba-metro_dp_f&tag=toshiba-metro-us-20&tagbase=toshiba-metro&tbId=8Pt9agia5uXLjKdSS312



That is the cup. The ones with the yellow doohickey  ( technical word)  are the ones with springs. The black doohickeys tend to leak I have a ton of them laying around here, from before I realized the yellow ones were worth the extra money.  I am hoping to unload them on some unsuspecting person during a garage sale some year.


Or let my kids inherit them, I have not decided which for sure.

Do you think these would work for new chicks? And is freezing a problem in the winter?

 

[duluthralphie]

Do you think these would work for new chicks? And is freezing a problem in the winter?

Yes they work for chicks. I use them on them. I would not use them in first week or two though.

I have those cups on 35 gallon plastic barrels. I use an O ring to make sure they do not leak at the barrel. I also thread the barrel.

I put a little ACV in each barrel and I can go 2 weeks without cleaning them. I use a toilet brush to clean the barrels every two weeks, I have them set up all over my yard so the birds are never far from water. It also gives my wife something to complain about so she ignores the really bad things I do....

As for winter. They are not great. I used them in my coop but when it was below -10 the throats froze up. I put the 35 gallon barrel inside a 55 gallon barrel insulated it and dropped a livestock heater into the bottom of the 35 gallon barrels... Did that make any sense?


I wrapped the whole thing with that shiny silver insulation that is basically aluminum foil covered bubble wrap. I cut holes for the water cups to slide through. I had to point a heat lamp at them 4-5 hours a day to get a days water from them. They tend to freeze right in the throat of the cup.

I am using them now with no trouble, my spring is about like the rest of the worlds winters. So they may work for you. For me I am going back to double walled steel founts on those heated bases and carry water all winter.....sigh...