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

[aart]

Quote: Gonna leave it flat on the ground or go back to above them?

 

[aart]

Quote: Oh they're only in a 4x6 space.....not room for a landing net.
But....hmmmm....maybe the aquarium net<shrugs> lol

 

[tenman78]

Gonna leave it flat on the ground or go back to above them?

Ill try above first, if they just sleep and warm themselves on top,guess ill flatten it.

 

[lalaland]

COChix, how old were your 15 chick when they got too big to fit into the mhp?


And....the sunbeam pad that does have an on/off switch, but only three heating levels will work, won't it?

 

[AllynTal]

...And....the sunbeam pad that does have an on/off switch, but only three heating levels will work, won't it?

I hope so. Someone in this thread linked this heating pad that it's the one they use and I got it, too. Doesn't say anything in the documentation that it has auto-shutoff.

 

[dyorto]

The leaders of my pack.

The chicks will 4 weeks tomorrow. I'm ready to move them out of the house. The MHP has been set at 1 recently. But I'm going to send them to the garage for a bit before the coop since the coop won't fit the MHP. The highs the next few days will be mid 50s and 60s and the lows still in the 30s. What would you recommend I do with the heating pad? Turn it up a few notches?

 

[aart]

Quote: Not all pads have an autooff......and yes, the simpler hi-med-lo pads should work fine, that's what I used at first, d@mn near an antique.

 

[TerryH]

Ok, you guys have to bear with me on this but I can't resist sharing this. We moved my mom, who will soon be 89 onto our street 7 years ago. We always had chickens and such growing up, She loved, loved, loved her chickens. I went and got her so she could check out the new babies. It was so fun to see her enjoying them!!

Here are a few pics...

Cheryl helping her with one of the Black Astrolorps...

I was a little misty eyed at her snuggling with the chick.

Here she is checking out the MHP. She thought it was a very cool idea. She just calls it their momma.

Who knows how long we have left with her. It seems she gets more fragile every day. It was so cool to see her so happy over a few little chickens.

 

[dpenning]

No apologies needed at all....BYC exists to share information and learn, learn, learn....we just got a little too far off and I was afraid it might be confusing to new folks coming in, that's all! IF htey were looking for heating pad stuff and seeing page after page of everything but, they might not get their concerns addressed. I've done my share of hijacking!

If you have the pad more toward the back and leave a space at the front without heat, like I did on page one of the thread, the towel or whatever you use coming down in front will form an awning and still help hold heat in. Don't go all the way to the ground with it...just an awning. The only thing I'd worry about then is them falling through the towel because the supporting wires are so far apart on a tomato cage, but I know lots of people have used them with great success. Or you can always cut the back off a bit until the pad is closer to fitting the way you want it to. I think @COChix used a tomato cage and liked it, so she might have more ideas than I do.

Thanks for the support. I'm not normally grouchy. But today is my one-month-no-smoking anniversary after 52 years of smoking, it's been a particularly bad one, and if those who precipitated this little rant had been peeking in the windows they couldn't have picked a worse day. And actually it's been that way for the last 3 - 4 days, so maybe I over-reacted a bit. I don't know.

I have a hard time keeping up with this thread now but wanted to say ^5 on the smoking anniversary. It's your thread, you can be as grouchy or happy as you want to be. It always amazes me when people start getting snarky on a forum, but it happens on all of them. Be a duck and let the water roll off your back. Love ya Blooie!

 

[Blooie]

As long as the heating pad can stay on continuously without turning itself off every hour or two, it's good. I prefer the one with the digital settings 1-6, but that's because my chicks are outside from the get-go and I like having the ability to "fine tune" it in the more fluctuating ambient temps out there. High, med, lows are just fine.

Tsk tsk, @aart - Ken would have chewed me a new, um, well - he'd have scolded me for using an older pad we had laying around the house. After enough time passes, the wires that conduct the heat through the pad can get a little brittle and might - the key word here is MIGHT - short out when it's suddenly left on 24/7 for weeks at a time. But if it worked for you, then we just won't tell Mr. Bossy Electrician!

@dyorto If they are moving out, do yourself and them a favor and turn the pad to 2. They'll suddenly be a whole new environment so they will most likely huddle, but it'll be more for security than for warmth. The world is a big scary place and like adult chickens, chicks don't like change. I tell people to put a big new something in the chicken coop with adults and watch. First they'll run like crazy to get away from it - or they'll freeze in place and stare at it, waiting for it to come and get them. But whichever one they do, they'll do it as close together as they can. Chicks in the confinement of a brooder don't have anyplace to run, so they huddle. And they are nicely feathered by now but that heat will still be welcome when they are suddenly in 30 degrees. They'll most likely pile on top of it...that's okay. The other thing I'd do if you can is raise the frame higher. By 4 weeks they are much taller, and might not even think to go under if it's too low to the ground. Remember that by 4 weeks they'd be sleeping more beside Mom - some moms even teach them to roost at this age - because they all won't fit under her anymore anyway. It's still nice for the first few days to give them the option.

Good luck, pour yourself a glass of wine, and keep us posted on how they do. Bet you go out tomorrow morning and they are all rarin' to go!

@lalaland My 15 were still using MHP at 3 weeks, and mostly on top by 4 weeks. Hope that helps.