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

[Blooie]

Tell me about it .. one day I went out to do chores, including cleaning the top MHP and putting fresh straw down, and when I was done I went in to get my camera for another video to post on this thread. Um, I did the video, but never posted it. In just that much time they'd scratched all the straw off and were down to the towel, which didn't look so good either! If I'd have put that up on here nobody would ever try MHP, and I might have even found the Humane Society beating on my door for keeping my birds in unsanitary conditions! I still shudder when I think of how fast they can undo what's been done.

 

[chickieschicks]

Yep. I did that originally as a way to keep them from pecking ta the fringes on the old towel I put in...the wipe-off or peel-off discovery came the next day!

@Blooie and @debid Do you find that the chicks little feet slip and slide if they are directly on the press n seal or is it ok? I keep seeing a mention of this splay-feet(?) injury that can happen from wet newspaper so I keep thinking the smooth press n seal would be similar.

 

[debid]

@Blooie
 and @debid
 Do you find that the chicks little feet slip and slide if they are directly on the press n seal or is it ok? I keep seeing a mention of this splay-feet(?) injury that can happen from wet newspaper so I keep thinking the smooth press n seal would be similar.

It's not all that slippery when applied to a bumpy surface. It kinda takes on the underneath texture. The diaper keeps slipping on the pad, though, because I sealed both sides of it and the chicks are leaping onto it at top speed from their run. I'm going to need to remove a bit of the wrap on the underside to give it more friction.

 

[Blooie]

Yep. The surface does kinda become bumpy from the texture underneath. I didn't wrap the entire towel. Just folded it in half, covered the topside, and brought it around the edges and pressed it into place just past the edges of the underside, so mine stayed in place. Now i dispense with the Press 'n Seal completely since I brood them outside from the start and I'm not as concerned about the mess. Just the frame, the heating pad, the towel and the straw.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Tell me about it .. one day I went out to do chores, including cleaning the top MHP and putting fresh straw down, and when I was done I went in to get my camera for another video to post on this thread. Um, I did the video, but never posted it. In just that much time they'd scratched all the straw off and were down to the towel, which didn't look so good either! If I'd have put that up on here nobody would ever try MHP, and I might have even found the Humane Society beating on my door for keeping my birds in unsanitary conditions! I still shudder when I think of how fast they can undo what's been done.

lol that's why I don't post many pictures of my actual setups in place. I have an outdoor brooder coop, and I swear its clean, but in pictures it just looks like messy straw and feed is scattered all about and oh look there's so poo that somehow got splattered on the wall... basically a rest stop bathroom

 

[casportpony]

 
Tell me about it .. one day I went out to do chores, including cleaning the top MHP and putting fresh straw down, and when I was done I went in to get my camera for another video to post on this thread.  Um, I did the video, but never posted it.  In just that much time they'd scratched all the straw off and were down to the towel, which didn't look so good either!  If I'd have put that up on here nobody would ever try MHP, and I might have even found the Humane Society beating on my door for keeping my birds in unsanitary conditions!  I still shudder when I think of how fast they can undo what's been done.  

lol that's why I don't post many pictures of my actual setups in place. I have an outdoor brooder coop, and I swear its clean, but in pictures it just looks like messy straw and feed is scattered all about and oh look there's so poo that somehow got splattered on the wall... basically a rest stop bathroom 

Isn't it funny pictures and video do that?

 

[oldhen2345]

I built my Mama HP Brooder just as the pictures on the earlier posts show. I cut a1x2 ft piece of hardwire and bent the ends to be about 3 inches tall. I put the heating pad on the outside and placed it in a pillowcase. I wrapped a bungie cord around it on both left and right side. I left the middle to dangle down. Guess I need to put another bungie there. Put an old towel on top. I had to cut the towel down though. One little chick kept getting stuck in the towel at the back. They seem to love it.

 

[cjpeeps]

Outside I still use a towel on top. I have a stack of threadbare ones I've collected (if I hold 'em up to the light and I can see through 'em they go in the rag stack) along with some I bought at Goodwill. I use it under the straw because they that sensation of ducking under to get inside. Works for them, they're happy, and I can take the towel off, give it a good flip and a shake, and the dried poop usually flips off. I ain't running them through my washer, either. When they get bad, they get tossed and replaced with a new layer of straw. Seems I'm always replacing straw!

That's a good tip about the threadbare towels. I have some that have tidy edges and no strings, but are just too thin to be of serviceable use - I'll also be checking my local goodwill!

 

[cjpeeps]

What a great box - I like those cross supports!

 

[casportpony]

Quote: X2!