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

[aart]

Quote: I used pads for the first day or two once, didn't get any tangling or tearing up.....
......but chick tried scratching caught good purchase with toe nail gave a mighty lunge and flipped itself right over!!!
Was funny.

 

[junebuggena]

I used pads for the first day or two once, didn't get any tangling or tearing up.....
......but chick tried scratching caught good purchase with toe nail gave a mighty lunge and flipped itself right over!!!
Was funny.

I've had batches of chicks that didn't harm the pads at all, and I've had batches that destroyed them in seconds. It's just something that people need to be aware of. Chicks are ingenious at devising ways to kill themselves. Even the safest setups have their dangers.

 

[aart]

Quote: True Dat

I only used them on my very first chicks cause someone gave them to me.....
....I wasn't that impressed with them, and too expensive and wasteful for my purse, as if their nail tips sticking in them isn't reason enough not to use them.
That just chick flip just really stuck in my mind so funny,
funnier than them pecking at legs bands and pulling their own leg out from under them.

I've used sand/pdz in brooder ever since....
.....and now only for a week or so, then they go to coop on shavings.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Yes they are putting out heat and with that many of them I suspect it can add up. You have all 38? I would be concerned about some of them getting trapped unless you have the back of the cave open as well as the front.

What size pad and do you have multiple caves? Others have found that the flocking instinct is stronger than the "room to get out" instinct and they may all try to be in a single cave. Having 1 long cave (2 pads wide, short side abutting short side, with long sides of each being the front and back) works better than multiples.

Good luck with the minis! They are very cute but I'm not sure why someone would want a chicken that is only going to live a year or less.

Yup, all 38

I've done 50 once, several batches/breeds from the breeder, I have two brooder in the patio that were tables that I enclosed but this was before I learned of MHP. Raise in the house in bins for 2 - 4 wks, Hubby very patient with me

I'm using a box with 3 sides & MHP over the top in a plastic bin with disposable pad....The pad is 12 x 24 (Sunbeam 732-500). I have 2 heights (3" & 4") wire skeleton for regular sized chicks but made this one special for these guys 1 1/2 - 2". My cave is wider than longer (15 x 12) to fit in the bin but once they move out (2 - 4wks) I can make it wider by raising the height of the box cave. I get boxes at the market to fit my needs.

I agree with you, when I read they don't live long no sense to me. They are cute but this tiny & delicate, don't think I'll be doing Micros anymore, nerve wrecking. They were so quiet last night, scared me but they were up noisy and eating/drinking. There's so many I just sprinkle the feed on the paper, quail sized water "too deep" for them so added tiny pebbles in to raise the water & no one drowns.

Micros are not for me but I agreed to raise so I could see how they are with MHP. The two batches (regular sized, 9 & 11) I first tried MHP with the chicks were quiet & very calm.

 

[GardenNut]

Hey MHPers! I'm looking for a sanity check. I'm considering ordering a "homestead mix" offered by a mail order hatchery: 10 chicks, 2 ducks, 2 geese, and 2 turkeys. I'd like to use MHP, but I seriously doubt I can use only one. Maybe the chicks in one, the ducks and geese in another, and the turkeys in a third? That's 3 MHPs! I'd like to only have 2 MHPs going. I'm also wondering if such a mix will be difficult to brood and grow out, and thus may be a waste of money. But it's one way for me to get a small number of ducks, geese, and turkeys without ordering the usual minimum of like 15-25!

Thoughts?

 

[junebuggena]

Hey MHPers! I'm looking for a sanity check. I'm considering ordering a "homestead mix" offered by a mail order hatchery: 10 chicks, 2 ducks, 2 geese, and 2 turkeys. I'd like to use MHP, but I seriously doubt I can use only one. Maybe the chicks in one, the ducks and geese in another, and the turkeys in a third? That's 3 MHPs! I'd like to only have 2 MHPs going. I'm also wondering if such a mix will be difficult to brood and grow out, and thus may be a waste of money. But it's one way for me to get a small number of ducks, geese, and turkeys without ordering the usual minimum of like 15-25!

Thoughts?

I'd group them by similar growth rate. The smaller sized birds will need the heating pad lower. The taller/larger birds will need it higher. If you set the heating pad to the right height for the goslings, the ducklings won't be able to warm themselves properly. Ducks and chicks together, geese and turkeys together.

 

[GardenNut]

Thanks @junebuggena! I was hoping I could do something like that.

 

[Blooie]

Yep.

Sorry, day late and a dollar short again. <sigh>

 

[Molpet]

I had 6 chicks and 2 poults together...they say turkeys need higher temps so the height was still warm enough for the chicks. I know my turkeys used the MHP longer than the chicks... by the time they needed the height the chicks were on top... in a basement ...
when they stood up the mhp rose up lol .. it is amazing how they can scrunch down, they are all legs

 

[ChickNanny13]

UPDATE on Micro (38, 1wk old)....The bin got crowded plus no MHP was needed with all that body heat. Today they moved out into the brooder (4 x 8) in the patio. I partitioned off half added artificial light (LED), it's still warm enough (78 - 80) late morning that I can keep the MHP off. In the evening (5 - 6pm) will turn it on, turn the light off....It will be their first night, so I'll probably be checking on them several times.