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

[Grizdad]

Hey Grizdad I just noticed your post count.....

from the San Diego High desert

deb

Thanks Deb! Left the 760 one year ago and don't regret it one bit.

 

[Beekissed]

I sped up the process and moved them out today. They seem to like the new environment and took to the nipples in no time. I was kind of amazed but once the first girl hit it and figured it out, they all were getting drinks.

Next time try using the nipple bucket from day one and you will have a wonderful experience in the brooder! Clean water, no damp bedding, no wondering if they have water because they dumped theirs, no wet feet, pure bliss!

 

[Blooie]

Next time try using the nipple bucket from day one and you will have a wonderful experience in the brooder! Clean water, no damp bedding, no wondering if they have water because they dumped theirs, no wet feet, pure bliss!

And no whining to Bee because you're exhausted from trying to keep up with cleaning out that brooder! <memories, la-la-la-laa-la-dee-laaa>

 

[mickt42]

I just wanted to put in my vote... I've raised 3 batches of 25 chicks up to 3-4 weeks old with sunbeam xpress heatpads outside in the chicken coop and they are the healthiest chicks I have ever raised. Trick is to go out just before dark for the first few nights and make sure they are all under the pad. One I had a young one sleep outside the pad and in the morning he wasn't lookin good. I helped him drink and heat and stuck him under the pad for a few hours and he perked right up. I had zero losses.
I will never go back to heat lamps.

 

[katbriar]

I just wanted to put in my vote... I've raised 3 batches of 25 chicks up to 3-4 weeks old with sunbeam xpress heatpads outside in the chicken coop and they are the healthiest chicks I have ever raised. Trick is to go out just before dark for the first few nights and make sure they are all under the pad. One I had a young one sleep outside the pad and in the morning he wasn't lookin good. I helped him drink and heat and stuck him under the pad for a few hours and he perked right up. I had zero losses.
I will never go back to heat lamps.

How many/what size heating pads did you use? Right now I only have 2 barred rock chicks doing well under a spacious 11x16 in pad but will I be getting a batch of 25 cornish x this fall.

Any advice?

 

[Blooie]

@katbriar You might consider using two - a small and an extra large - and butt them together if you're really worried about them. That's kinda what the consensus was when LazyGardener was looking at having a lot of chicks at once. It would take a long frame to accommodate that, though. Your other option would be to use the x-tra large, put it just across the top of the frame, and then use the folded towel down the sides and back to hold in heat. They'll snuggle into a pile anyway, most likely toward the back closest to the heating pad, so I think you'll be fine. (Remember to have the frame lower toward the back than it is in the front.) The weather is getting warm enough where they won't need the heat for as long as they do in the cooler, early spring months, so it's not like you're fighting low temps. And as meat birds, they'll probably outgrow the height of the pad quicker than laying chickens so they'll gravitate to the top of the pad a little sooner.

I'm kinda learning this system as I go along, too. This is my first (and most assuredly NOT my last) year raising chicks this way, except for Scout in November and December. So if anyone has any ideas for you that make more sense I'm sure they'll chime in. This has become a "community project", which is really kinda neat!

The Tinys will be 4 weeks old tomorrow. Wow, has the month flown by! We are expecting some thunderstorms tonight, and we've already decided that if we lose power, we're not going to worry about it and race out there in the rain to turn the pad back on. They are so well feathered, and we rarely even see them on the side where the cave is, so I think they'll be fine. We did put up a piece of plywood on the outside of their brooder pen to block the wind that will be coming into the run from the west.

The Littles are now going into the coop on their own when the sun goes down. Yipppee! Almost chickens! They were 8 and 9 weeks old today.

 

[katbriar]

Thanks for the advice. I'm trying not to over think it, but the two scenarios I see in my mind for that number of chicks is:
1) not having enough room for everyone to be covered and cozy, and
2) having them pile in trapping some in the back that then smother.

So I appreciate hearing what's worked for others.

Cornish x seem to get so big so quickly and the last two batches I've had the birds pushed each other's around a lot. Having typed that, I'm now recalling a picture of Beekissed's birds happily asleep on a pile in the apple basket.

See? Overthinking.

 

[Blooie]

The MHP was much better than a heat lamp and has served its purpose. I highly recommend this for folks with new chicks. Thanks again Blooie!

I just wanted to put in my vote... I've raised 3 batches of 25 chicks up to 3-4 weeks old with sunbeam xpress heatpads outside in the chicken coop and they are the healthiest chicks I have ever raised. Trick is to go out just before dark for the first few nights and make sure they are all under the pad. One I had a young one sleep outside the pad and in the morning he wasn't lookin good. I helped him drink and heat and stuck him under the pad for a few hours and he perked right up. I had zero losses.
I will never go back to heat lamps.

Thank you both for having confidence in this system. I'm really happy that it worked out for your chicks. Now, that said, it wasn't my idea. But I've been awfully pleased with the results I've had using it, and it's great to see so many open-minded people wanting to try raising chicks almost as naturally as a broody does it. Now, I did say 'almost'! Nothing is as good as the real thing! But this way a heck of lot closer than a box heated to 95 degrees with a glaring heat lamp on 24/7, in my opinion.

Thanks for the advice. I'm trying not to over think it, but the two scenarios I see in my mind for that number of chicks is:
1) not having enough room for everyone to be covered and cozy, and
2) having them pile in trapping some in the back that then smother.

So I appreciate hearing what's worked for others.

Cornish x seem to get so big so quickly and the last two batches I've had the birds pushed each other's around a lot. Having typed that, I'm now recalling a picture of Beekissed's birds happily asleep on a pile in the apple basket.

See? Overthinking.

Oh, I so overthink most of the time! I also try to over-explain until what I was trying to say gets muddied up in the process. I've learned so much from Bee about tossing the book and using common sense!

 

[Beekissed]

Create your little brooder cave open on both ends. That way you won't have to worry about them crowding into a dead end and smothering. Also, meat chicks won't need it low down like regular chicks, so this gives them some air at the arch of the brooder as well. Since the HP has heat from both sides one could even create a double decker setup wherein they have heat above in one level and heat below in another, thereby getting more bang for your buck from a smaller heating pad. Meat chicks won't need it very long anyway...they will be up and gone from it before you can blink.

Another way of getting more heat from a smaller HP is to cover your cave in fleece...a piece of fleece is fabulously warm on its own, but add a heater to it and you have double the heat of the HP. This way you could spread out your total space by using a bigger wire frame than your size HP will actually cover and covering the whole thing in fleece on both upper and lower sides, leaving both ends open for good air flow and pass through for the babies. That way, chicks that are on the edge of the HP source can still snuggle against their neighbor and against the fleece, which will return their own body warmth right back to them. Meat chicks are not as needy as DP chicks for heat, so this will probably work.

 

[Blooie]