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

[aart]

Thank you, kind folks, I am on my way out to the barn to set up a broody cage in the coop. I have a large wire dog crate already covered in hardware cloth so the chicks will be utterly protected. I just wanted to make sure I would be doing the right thing, and it sounds like definitely. I'll move her tonight. Again, many thanks for your timely responses.

I agree moving them so separated by wire from the flock is simpler in the long run.
I've only had one broody I let hatch, but read a bunch.
Moving them can be tricky tho.
I moved mine and she was NOT happy, but I had just fake eggs in her new nest.
It took her a good 6-8 hours to settle back onto that nest.
After she stuck there for a couple days, then I gave her fresh fertile eggs.

 

[Victoria-nola]

Quote:
I can see that would be a good idea. I do have a good supply of non-refrigerated eggs, but they would be 4-5 days old (sitting at ~70 degreesF), vs. the 11 she's currently setting from Fri and Sat. And that raises another question-- how many eggs are ok for her to set on? For size, she's an Easter Egger or Ameracauna (some say those are the same thing, others say they are different).

Thank you.

 

[aart]

Quote:
I can see that would be a good idea. I do have a good supply of non-refrigerated eggs, but they would be 4-5 days old (sitting at ~70 degreesF), vs. the 11 she's currently setting from Fri and Sat. And that raises another question-- how many eggs are ok for her to set on? For size, she's an Easter Egger or Ameracauna (some say those are the same thing, others say they are different).

Thank you.
Am and EE are diffrerent, one's pure, ones an Am cross.

As many as she can keep under her, none sticking out from under.
You can try to move the ones she's on now, but she might stay off them too long if she rebels against the move.

 

[Victoria-nola]

Am and EE are diffrerent, one's pure, ones an Am cross.

As many as she can keep under her, none sticking out from under.
You can try to move the ones she's on now, but she might stay off them too long if she rebels against the move.

Success! I went in several hours after dark, using my red-bulb headlamp. I go in every night to count them and make sure everything is closed up, etc., so they are used to that.Anyway she pecked at me a little but nothing painful. I moved her, then moved the eggs in two batches and she stayed settled immediately, started making little happy soft chirps once she realized the eggs were under her again. She was in the batch that was raised in the separate brooder in that same spot last spring, so she may have recognized the idea of "safe space" being there when I brought in the crate and set it up this afternoon.

Thank you all so VERY VERY much. I'm really glad I did this, I feel so much safer with her safer.

 

[Blooie]

Good job! Keep us posted!

 

[Dmontgomery]

The Sunbeam Xpressheat pad is on sale today on Amazon. $28 which is supposed to be 30% off.

 

[myfivegirls]

If it worked it is fine 
I did check that one and saw it has no auto-off. That or the ability to defeat it is key.

I am planning on brooding my first checks this spring and had hoped to buy a king-size sunbeam heating pad without an "auto off" feature, as the power to our house is interrupted somewhat frequently but almost always comes back on within a few seconds, so I would like to have a pad that turns back on automatically after the power is out. I thought I had found the appropriate pad on Amazon, but when I looked more closely at responses to the question on Amazon regarding this, I found that while replies from two or three years ago said the heating pad did not have an auto off feature, more recent replies contradicted this. So I posed the question through a chat on the sunbeam website and was told that they no longer manufacture heating pads without the "auto off" feature, so it looks like the only option is to get the model with an auto off that must be disabled.

The king-size Sunbeam heating pads I bought spring 2016 & they had 3 settings - no auto off.
I do think they came back in after power outages, since it wasn't digital.

One of our concerns is the cost of running electronic devices, which is why I asked about the wattage. Running something at 180 watts 24/7 isn't as cheap as running something at 50 watts 24/7.

I'm curious where and when you are brooding chicks, and how many chicks you are brooding that you only use 50W.  While the heating pad uses 180 for initial start up, I assume that after it cuts back to the 150 watts, it then cycles on/off, or the wattage ramps down to match what ever setting it is set at.  I know very few people who can brood chicks at 50 watts, unless it's a very few and they are brooding them in their houses.  Are you brooding in your house????

She was referring to my post. All my heating pads say 40 (smaller size) & 50w (king size). There were some I brooded inside, but most were outside. I'll have to check when I started using them outside. I know def. during the summer.
And I often had large hatches of chicks, 10-15 prob the smallest with most hatches being 20+. When they were small & a few nights it was chilly, I wondered if it was warm enough but they survived & I even turned the pad down to med once they were more feathered.

But, I'm considering getting the 180w since I brood when it's still cold at night (30s). & see what works best for my set-up. Even out them together & see if the chicks prefer one over the other.

 

[aart]

Quote:

Am and EE are different, one's pure, ones an Am cross.

As many as she can keep under her, none sticking out from under.
You can try to move the ones she's on now, but she might stay off them too long if she rebels against the move.

Success! I went in several hours after dark, using my red-bulb headlamp. I go in every night to count them and make sure everything is closed up, etc., so they are used to that.Anyway she pecked at me a little but nothing painful. I moved her, then moved the eggs in two batches and she stayed settled immediately, started making little happy soft chirps once she realized the eggs were under her again. She was in the batch that was raised in the separate brooder in that same spot last spring, so she may have recognized the idea of "safe space" being there when I brought in the crate and set it up this afternoon.

Thank you all so VERY VERY much. I'm really glad I did this, I feel so much safer with her safer.

FANtastic!!

 

[casportpony]

Has anyone ever tried making a cave using something like this?

 

[Victoria-nola]

Has anyone ever tried making a cave using something like this?

Can you please give more information about what this product is packaged as?