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

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This is an amazing idea and I am currently making it! My SunBeam has three settings. High, medium and low. How should I do that for 5 week olds.
 
Welcome, @nicschickens !! Nope, by 5 weeks old they are about over it! In fact, I put my first batch of chicks outside in the unfinished coop when they were 5.5 weeks old. That was on April 1st. I watched the temps go down, down, down all night long. I had a heat lamp out there for them, but every time I slipped my coat on over my jammies, put my boots on and ran out there to check on my poor babies, they were just fine - and I ain't gonna admit to how many times that was but hubby was getting real tired of my cold feet on him when I came back in. They were in a pile of beaks and feathers in the corner by the pop door, nowhere near the heat lamp, and I was freezing! Who's the bird brain? Yeah, that would be me.

Got down to the teens that first night. The second night was the same thing, except I only got out of bed once to check on them. Yep, still there, still fine. So the third morning I took the heat lamp out. If they weren't going to use it, I wasn't going to risk it. And of course, that night it snowed. We got our last snowfall on June 6th. And how were my little babies? Growing like crazy, feathering so fast I swore sometimes I could hear it, and getting strong and healthy. Like other, smarter people before me, I took that business of 95 the first week, 90 the second........ and I pitched it out the window. If I'd kept believing in that, my chicks would have been in the brooder laying eggs and I'd still think I was going to kill them if I put them outside! Spring and warm temps can sometimes be a long time coming in Northern Wyoming.

I now have eggs in the incubator. As soon as these little guys are dry and fluffy, OUT they'll go. They'll go outside to the brooder pen in the run under Mama Heating pad and begin their lives as they'll live their lives - out in the fresh air, (even if it's a little chilly at times) out in the sunshine, and watching the older birds so they can learn how to be chickens!

I'm not sure where you live, but if there's a real difference between the inside temps and where they are going to go, I'd just take them off all heat sources for a day or so to let them go without anything before you put them out. I did that with that first batch of chicks too....just turned off the lamp and let 'em get mad at me. I even cracked the window in there during the day. Took 2 or 3 days and then they were totally evicted. Now I raise my chicks outside from day one, and I'll never go back!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/yes-you-certainly-can-brood-chicks-outdoors
 
RooBeeC said:
I wonder if a heating pad like this would help with a chicken coop in the winter for grown chickens. Putting a heating lamp in the coop makes me cringe. I live in Wisconsin, so it can get pretty cold and I want to provide them with some sort of warmth on the very cold days.
Click to expand...

As others have said, adult chickens need no heat. It gets to -20F here though we had a mild winter this year, never went below -15F. And to prove they don't hunt the warmest possible spot, my coop is a converted stall in a pre Civil War barn. The back wall is solid, the sides and front are 4' high stud walls with plywood and 2x4 welded wire covered with 1/2" hardware cloth the 3' above that. There is plastic on one side wall (because I never got around to taking it down last spring). The front has always been open and I had plastic on the other side wall in past winters. I took that off last spring and didn't put it up this fall. There are two 12' parallel roosts along the back and a 2'x4' support shelf in front of them on the wall where the plastic is NOT. All at 4' high. Guess where 95% of my chickens roosted all winter. The only time it is warmer in the barn than outside is in the fall when the dirt floor has not yet yielded its stored heat. Now, in the spring, it is frequently colder in the coop and inside run (the barn alley) than it is outside. Eventually the ground will heat up and the cycle will begin anew.

What needs heat is their WATER when the temps go below freezing and frankly that is the thing that causes the most consternation. There are threads about winter water you will want to peruse BEFORE you need the info this fall
wink.png


Redufresne said:
Update: all 6 survived the cold, cold night, even though the electric outlet tripped in the rain (the high winds shredded the Press n Seal I'd secured over the outlet to prevent this), and the heating pads were off. Still cold out, but they very seriously wanted freedom when I checked on them after a day and night and a morning cooped up in the coop with lots of food, water, and ventilation. So I put the batteries into the auto door and allowed it to open. They seem to be darting in and out of the coop at will, probably running in to warm up before doing more exploring outside. I decided to leave them be, despite how cold it seems to me. This evening, I'll make sure they all are inside before the door shuts, as it is supposed to get below freezing tonight. @Blooie is so right (of course) that they are very tough beasts, even at only five weeks. I am very impressed with them.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you need a proper outdoor outlet with cover. Note how the cover latches while the cord is plugged in.

 
I'm sorry I'm not trying to start an argument but I know my birds. They do need/want the heat. I gave them a night without the heat and they almost froze to death. I came out the next morning and they were huddled together and the temp went down to 48 in the cage. Please do not take this the wrong way but I know my chickens. Tonight it is only going to be in the 60s but the rest of the week it is going to be in the 40s at night with rain. I am putting this in the coop for then just incase they want some extra heat.
 
nicschickens said:
I'm sorry I'm not trying to start an argument but I know my birds. They do need/want the heat. I gave them a night without the heat and they almost froze to death. I came out the next morning and they were huddled together and the temp went down to 48 in the cage. Please do not take this the wrong way but I know my chickens. Tonight it is only going to be in the 60s but the rest of the week it is going to be in the 40s at night with rain. I am putting this in the coop for then just incase they want some extra heat.
Click to expand...
It can depend on how warm you've kept them since chicks......
.....I start reducing their heat after about 3-4 days and keep the room they're in as cool as possible so when I move them outside it's not a large change in temperature.
Keeping them cooler helps grow out their feathers quicker and makes the transition outside much easier.

5 week old birds may be too large to fit under a heating pas set up...depending on how big a pad you have and how many birds you have.
 
nicschickens said:
I'm sorry I'm not trying to start an argument but I know my birds. They do need/want the heat. I gave them a night without the heat and they almost froze to death. I came out the next morning and they were huddled together and the temp went down to 48 in the cage. Please do not take this the wrong way but I know my chickens. Tonight it is only going to be in the 60s but the rest of the week it is going to be in the 40s at night with rain. I am putting this in the coop for then just incase they want some extra heat. yM
Click to expand...



My six week old birds still bundle into their cave to sleep. I said I would take it away when they quit using it but that hasn't happened yet.
 

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