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

[segeine]

Ok, I've read through this thread over the past few days, and I"m ready to go all-in with my chicks who will be shipping to me on May 11th. (9 new fuzzballs! I'm so excited!)
However, the husband thinks the whole thing is insane. Our first batch (last year) did fine with the lamp, so why change? I don't like the light - it kind of scares me, and I do like the idea that the MHP is so much more natural. I have ducklings in the basement with a light, but I really don't think a MHP would work with them - they are so darned messy - they shake water everywhere. My fuzzballs will live in the garage with "Mama" for a few weeks, then move outside. I think that's what's selling him - no chickens in the house.

Thanks for starting this thread, Blooie! I have my old wire crate all cleaned up and I just need to go get a heating pad and a roll of press n seal. Then Fuzzballs incoming!!

I'm more nervous about them getting shipped than about the MHP system, which I think is going to be completely awesome.

--Segeine

 

[alibabba]

To scare newbies....

Ha! That's it, and sell things you do not need....like bedding? Why? It just turns into a wet poopy mess in minutes. No bedding. Clean up poop only. It's easy to sweep up. I switched out last nights pad cover to newspaper....today instead of removing I turned 2 pages. I'll give them fresh tomorrow. (They walk on 100 sq ft of grass, the newspaper just covered their ziplocked heating pad)

I like the landscape fabric though. I have a ton on hand, I could through it away....or drape it over the fence and let God clean it. God cleans many nasty messes for me....

 

[Beekissed]

Or just scratch up some leaves and put down, then put down more when those get pooed on, letting it slowly mount up into....deep litter! No cleaning at all, just adding to.

 

[alibabba]

nice!!!!

I have a job of raking up pine needles out front anyway.... Would they be dangerous, just in the coop, not in the run? They spend all day out there, only one or two bop in and out of the coop at a time. It's been very nice 70+ weather though.

 

[drumstick diva]

newspaper is slippery and can bring about foot problems. Also when wet the ink comes off on everything. Yuck.

 

[aart]

..... I switched out last nights pad cover to newspaper....today instead of removing I turned 2 pages. I'll give them fresh tomorrow. (They walk on 100 sq ft of grass, the newspaper just covered their ziplocked heating pad)
.....

You have your heating pad in a plastic ziplock bag?

 

[perilloux5]

Yay! Glad no one freaked out!

I had a scare, caught a glimpse of a still black lump at the back of the little house.... I sighed and I went to get a dead chick....

It was a lump of landscape fabric! Whew!

This is the bestest! They have perches and fly around. Worm chases on! They are more curious about me and pecked my toes yesterday. Next batch is going outside day 1. So much more manageable and less stress. I'll put in some more pics in a bit.

I did get the inside/ outside thermometer at TSC for 9.99. I know it was down in the low 50's both nights. They went to bed themselves both nights about 7:30, same as the big girls, and were peeping for out at 7 am.

One looks like its missing tail feathers but is the right size and seems to be doing the same things as everyone else... and its wings are feathering a little differently, could it be a boy? Thats a search for another thread...

Where did the heat lamp and hot temperatures come from? Why do they sell Brooder thermometers with all of the "critical" temps and weeks printed in red?

Yes, if you have one that is not getting tail feathers and the rest are there is a good possiblilty that you have a boy. I have 4 Australops that are about a week and a half old and I noticed that 3 are already have small tailfeathers and one does not, so I will have to wait and see, but I am guessing that I got a boy also.

I already have 12 boys that they shipped as peanuts and was not looking forward to one of the females I ordered being a boy, but sexing is not 100%. So now I have a bunch destined for freezer camp in a couple months.

 

[perilloux5]

Ha! That's it, and sell things you do not need....like bedding? Why? It just turns into a wet poopy mess in minutes. No bedding. Clean up poop only. It's easy to sweep up. I switched out last nights pad cover to newspaper....today instead of removing I turned 2 pages. I'll give them fresh tomorrow. (They walk on 100 sq ft of grass, the newspaper just covered their ziplocked heating pad)

I like the landscape fabric though. I have a ton on hand, I could through it away....or drape it over the fence and let God clean it. God cleans many nasty messes for me....

The landscape fabric will probably be ok, but newspaper is slippery and can cause leg problems, they need something that is not slick until their legs build up.

 

[Dandelioness]

The people on this thread never leave anyone hanging!  Bee, as always you are a pearl!  I think when I'm explaining this I need to do a better job of stressing just what you stressed - bringing that pad down to the chicks and then adjusting it by bending the frame as they grow.  I thought I had done that when I initially started the thread. I deliberately make my frame lower in the back than in the front - those that want a little extra heat get it by going to the back of the cave up against the top of the cave, those that are fine with less tend to stay to the front where the pad is a little further away from them.  On the other hand I hate to discourage a little innovation and using what's on hand.  I would still be using a heat lamp and brooding chicks for 8 weeks the house otherwise if I'd been easily discouraged and dissuaded.

I also have to be firm enough to say, "That simply will not work" when I know it won't.   

So onward and upward.....Dandilioness, let's see those babies in their new cave! And good for you for being receptive to corrections and suggestions!  

Here's a photo of how I set up & two of the four chicks that hatched. The dark one is just behind the lighter one. I exposed the kids to an excellent western recently, and they want to name them Angel Eyes & Blondie. Tuco didn't make it but it was my first ever hatch.

This is a storage tote like you'd store clothes in for the winter. It's small, but they were cozy even when I left the window open by mistake one night (!). I grafted them onto a broody silkie last night. When I made my feeding noise, they poked their heads up from between her feathers but stayed with her. It appears she has accepted them!

The next set of eggs are in the bator, so I will be using my mama heating pad again in three weeks. It seems quiet in the house now that they're out with her!

 

[COChix]

Hello Blooie! Thanks for starting this thread, I saw this when you posted on the DIY thread and put it in the back of my mind until now. We just hatched 15 from our flock and they will be a week old on Wed. Anyway, I have them set up in a tub in the bathroom with a heat lamp. I am trying to formulate a plan to get them out to the smaller coop we have In our enclosed run, aasap. We have no space for a brooder indoors for weeks, we can do it a couple weeks. I am assuming that since it is not winter anymore here that they could be moved to the smaller coop sooner rather than later.

Did you all do anything to help build the littles immunities before putting them out or even near the the big girls?