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

[lalaland]

ok, here's a dues payment.

First, yesterday two things happened to the hoop coop before I got the chicks (thankfully):

a critter dug a hole under and into the coop even though we laid a fence apron of welded wire fencing 2"x4" :


so a run to the feed store and 100 feet of hardware cloth (ouch) and installation in the dusk. While the feed store run was happening, up came a storm and away went the tarps. See why I am so glad the chicks weren't there yet?

Here's the hoop coop - the billboard tarp turned out to be half the length promised, so making do with an old leaky brown tarp:


last night, worried about the chicks getting trapped into the grate somehow, so found some fabric and wrapped the whole 4 foot long grate with pad and used clothespins and bungee cords. ONly trouble is, I will have to unwrap the whole thing to adjust the bolts for height...

You can see teeny feet under the MHP :



and yes, with 4 feet there should be enough room for the 25 chicks. The pic was taken about an hour after I put them in the brooder. Some of the chicks still have their egg tooth, some are starting wing feathers.....


and here is a pic from overhead:


the base of the brooder is a 4x4 maple sugaring pan. Because the grate used for the MHP is also 4', I had to put it at a diagonal to fit it in. There are feeders and waters on both sides of the MHP .


Only thing is, I can't see all the chicks no matter what. About an hour after putting them all in, they were all under at the same time for about 2 minutes. I spent the first hours putting any sleepy chicks back under because I wasn't sure they all understood it was warm under there. I've seen some go in and out on their own. Eating and drinking and sleeping - happy chicks!

Thanks to everyone for all the posts, comments, suggestions, etc.

 

[Blooie]

Thanks! She's doing pretty well this morning. The night nurse told the kids that the only time she seemed to get agitated during the night was if she "lost' her cowboy hat. She'd rouse enough to pat the bed all around her looking for it. At first they thought she was restless because she was in pain, but when one of them went in to check on her elevated vitals she inadvertently pushed the cowboy hat close to Kendra's hand and Kendra felt it. She pulled it up to her face and went right back to sleep and her vitals returned to acceptable levels. So she said they spent the evening checking for drainage and putting a little girl's cowboy hat back on. She captured every one of their hearts last night.

@Victoria-nola You are so very welcome, but it sure ain't me! I copied the idea from Patrice Lopatin, @Beekissed and then studied @aart 's refinements. Then all these fantastic other people jumped on the MHP band wagon and they have been innovative and so willing to share what problems they've had and what successes they've enjoyed. I"ve "borrowed" ideas from many of them, one of my favorites being the portal doors in the outside brooder that @azygous uses.This thread is a group effort, and that's why it works! Won't be long and you'll be one of the advisors too!

 

[aart]

.......Only thing is, I can't see all the chicks no matter what......

That's the one thing I don't like about an MHP, hard to check on them without the whole thing coming apart.
My next iteration will allow me to easily tip the whole thing up and back for a quick look with no reassembly.

Love that you went 12 x 48, hope you can snap a pic of it's assembly at some point.
Awesome hoop coop....I'm building one as a tractor now.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

So I am using my emergency MHP for a different baby today. This little girl is a runt and i am afraid Mama cat has seemed to give up on her. I thought she was dead when i found her, but turns out she is still fighting. If i can keep her alive she will probably earn herself a name (Lucky? Or maybe Phoenix). She ate a bit, got a warm bath and is now sleeping soundly.
This MHP has brought several chicks back to life, hopefully it works as well for kittens.

 

[lazy gardener]

Hey Aart, how bout a strong flash light, and a mirror mounted on a swivel stick????

 

[perchie.girl]

Hey Aart, how bout a strong flash light, and a mirror mounted on a swivel stick????

or chick cam installed in the MHP with a little LED light ....

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Thanks! She's doing pretty well this morning. The night nurse told the kids that the only time she seemed to get agitated during the night was if she "lost' her cowboy hat. She'd rouse enough to pat the bed all around her looking for it. At first they thought she was restless because she was in pain, but when one of them went in to check on her elevated vitals she inadvertently pushed the cowboy hat close to Kendra's hand and Kendra felt it. She pulled it up to her face and went right back to sleep and her vitals returned to acceptable levels. So she said they spent the evening checking for drainage and putting a little girl's cowboy hat back on. She captured every one of their hearts last night.

Awesome news about Kendra... sorry to say I am only reading every few days... and missed her impending surgery. I am assuming this is the one you talked about a while back so she can live a more normal life?

 

[aart]

Hey Aart, how bout a strong flash light, and a mirror mounted on a swivel stick????

Quote: I actually used my swivel body digital camera and a flashlight last time, but you still can't see beyond the first row of chicks.
Thin plexiglass on bottom of rack would be ideal, lift pad and you can see everything without squishing chicks when lowering MHP back down....would keep them from getting stuck in the rack too.
Not sure about the heat and plastic combo tho...both heat transfer and possible fumes.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: I actually used my swivel body digital camera and a flashlight last time, but you still can't see beyond the first row of chicks.
Thin plexiglass on bottom of rack would be ideal, lift pad and you can see everything without squishing chicks when lowering MHP back down....would keep them from getting stuck in the rack too.
Not sure about the heat and plastic combo tho...both heat transfer and possible fumes.

lexan would work... heat forming for it is around 180-190 C....356-374 F.... I think we wont be getting that hot....

for what its worth Lexan is also called Polycarbonate.... and the stuff that deflects bullets.... its tough. you can drill it and tap it and screw it to stuff.

deb

 

[Jensownzoo]

So I am using my emergency MHP for a different baby today. This little girl is a runt and i am afraid Mama cat has seemed to give up on her. I thought she was dead when i found her, but turns out she is still fighting. If i can keep her alive she will probably earn herself a name (Lucky? Or maybe Phoenix). She ate a bit, got a warm bath and is now sleeping soundly.
This MHP has brought several chicks back to life, hopefully it works as well for kittens.

I raised lots of kitten orphans on the heating pads before I ever thought about making an MHP for chicks out of it. Just make sure that kitty can crawl off of it if she gets too hot and you'll have that aspect covered. Good luck!