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

[Ol Grey Mare]

I love this setup!!!! 

X2, perfect use of the adjustable legs without the issue of them making it harder to manipulate the pad around them, giving me some ideas for next year's new and improved MHP

 

[chickensarenew]

So I set up my whole brooder with mhp and stuck a thermometer under it and it gets up to a nice 90 degrees at a level 6 on the pad. Now I am checking the outside of mhp to see what the temp is away from there. And the thermometer was laying down in the lowest point so little chick's should be cozy as can be

 

[Blooie]

So I set up my whole brooder with mhp and stuck a thermometer under it and it gets up to a nice 90 degrees at a level 6 on the pad. Now I am checking the outside of mhp to see what the temp is away from there. And the thermometer was laying down in the lowest point so little chick's should be cozy as can be

Well, the only time I measured the temps under MHP it was 82.5 in a 69 degree room and the chicks were doing fantastic! That seems to be in the ideal range. The temperature away from the pad isn't significant.....MHP won't warm the air around it, it just warms the chicks directly. Too warm can actually be worse for them than a little cool. If your chicks are indoors, you could most likely turn it down to 5 and have them be just fine, then turn it down to 4 in a couple of more days. The only time I use 6 is for brand spanking new ones outdoors when our temperatures can drop to the teens and twenties.

Last night it got down to 30 degrees, and when I checked the chicks this morning they are all fat, happy, and doing well. (Whew)) Even the little tiny Bantys were out and about, exploring and eating. The pad out there right now is on 5, but that's more for those iddy biddy ones...the older Silkies would do fine with it down to 4. I'll do that in a couple of days.

Welcome to BYC and to the Broody Brigade!

 

[chickensarenew]

Well, the only time I measured the temps under MHP it was 82.5 in a 69 degree room and the chicks were doing fantastic!  That seems to be in the ideal range.  The temperature away from the pad isn't significant.....MHP won't warm the air around it, it just warms the chicks directly.  Too warm can actually be worse for them than a little cool.  If your chicks are indoors, you could most likely turn it down to 5 and have them be just fine, then turn it down to 4 in a couple of more days.  The only time I use 6 is for brand spanking new ones outdoors when our temperatures can drop to the teens and twenties.

Last night it got down to 30 degrees, and when I checked the chicks this morning they are all fat, happy, and doing well.  (Whew)) Even the little tiny Bantys were out and about, exploring and eating.  The pad out there right now is on 5, but that's more for those iddy biddy ones...the older Silkies would do fine with it down to 4.  I'll do that in a couple of days.


Welcome to BYC and to the Broody Brigade!

So it doesn't need to be as warm as a heat lamp.so when I get my chicks I should go by what they tell me in regards to warmth. Oy so much to learn in a short amount of time.

 

[junebuggena]

So it doesn't need to be as warm as a heat lamp.so when I get my chicks I should go by what they tell me in regards to warmth. Oy so much to learn in a short amount of time.

Chicks get warmed by the heating pad just like they would when raised by a hen, snuggling up and making direct contact. The worst thing you can do to chicks is make the WHOLE brooder 80 to 90 degrees, like heat lamps do. They must be able to get away from the heat if they need to.

 

[chickensarenew]

Chicks get warmed by the heating pad just like they would when raised by a hen, snuggling up and making direct contact. The worst thing you can do to chicks is make the WHOLE brooder 80 to 90 degrees, like heat lamps do. They must be able to get away from the heat if they need to. 

I know I don't want the whole brooder that warm I will have them in my garage. I'm just wondering then what should the outer temp be for them or is that not such a big factor as long as they have mhp.

 

[Blooie]

So it doesn't need to be as warm as a heat lamp.so when I get my chicks I should go by what they tell me in regards to warmth. Oy so much to learn in a short amount of time.

Actually it's more a matter of "unlearning".

As far as the ambient temperatures go, the whole concept of MHP is to duplicate a mother hen. If you think about broodies, most will raise chicks in the early spring (and around here that ain't always very warm!) but there are some hens who just don't read the calendar and they'll brood anytime the mood strikes them. People here can tell you stories of broodies taking their chicks out a couple of days after hatching and watching those chicks playing and exploring outside when there is snow on the ground....if they get cold, they duck under Mom for a quick warmup and maybe a nap from all the activity and fresh air, then they're back out at it again. So for the area around the chicks, the key things are that they be out of the wind and dry. That's it.

 

[chickensarenew]

Actually it's more a matter of "unlearning".     As far as the ambient temperatures go, the whole concept of MHP is to duplicate a mother hen.  If you think about broodies, most will raise chicks in the early spring (and around here that ain't always very warm!) but there are some hens who just don't read the calendar and they'll brood anytime the mood strikes them.  People here can tell you stories of broodies taking their chicks out a couple of days after hatching and watching those chicks playing and exploring outside when there is snow on the ground....if they get cold, they duck under Mom for a quick warmup and maybe a nap from all the activity and fresh air, then they're back out at it again.  So for the area around the chicks, the key things are that they be out of the wind and dry.  That's it.  

Thank you so much that really puts my mind at ease. I appreciate all the help I'm such a newbie with all this.

 

[Blooie]

Thank you so much that really puts my mind at ease. I appreciate all the help I'm such a newbie with all this.

You've got this. There are lots of excellent threads on BYC, but I gotta say that the people who come in here are the best!! If I don't know the answer to a question, I'll tell ya, and I can guarantee that someone who DOES know the answer will chime in shortly. If I'm gone or away from the computer, they jump right in to help. They share setup and chick photos. If they find a problem they let everyone know right away so that if we've been doing the same thing we can modify it. If they find a better way, it's welcomed with open arms. So you've come to the right place.....and after a couple of times of using MHP you'll be helping someone else. This thread works because with the kind of people who visit, it has no choice!

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Last night, I found 48 chicks smooshed under one 12 x 24 pad. Not a single one under the other one. They were over heated for sure, and there would have been fatalities if I didn't intervene. So, I had hubby hold a flashlight so there was barely enough room to see, and I picked up 4 fist fulls of chicks and shoved them under the other pad. This morning I put the screen divider back in. They were NOT happy. A few were flinging themselves at the screen trying to get back to their "buddies". The screen will stay in place till I can join the 2 if not 3 pads together.

Any one had success brooding more than 30 chicks at a time with MHP set up, and if so, how did you do it? I'm wondering if with this many chicks, a hybrid MHP and wool hen might work. Or perhaps simply switch to a wool hen.

Not more than 30 (certainly not 48), but around 30. In that case, the arrangements were unique, in that about 8 or so of them were a week older, so they were divided from the others in a large (6x3) brooder at first - each group had their own MHP at either end. I removed the divider after a few days (the second set were shipped chicks), and for a very long time after that they would prefer the MHP they first had at night and divide back up, though they would occasionally mix. In your circumstance, I might just keep moving them at night to divide them until then. (If you keep moving them, they may figure it out on their own until they start hanging out on top.) You may want to give them a bigger one, though. Regardless, make sure there's plenty of space at the back - when I've have lots of chicks under one, it's really important for them to be able to get out, and they tend to like to come and go out of the back.

- Ant Farm

Edit to add: I have done around 25 under one large MHP multiple times with success, though. I use two of the 12x15 pads. I brood inside, if that matters...