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

[chicken curious]

Ok, here are some pics to get your brainstorming going...

Kid's T shirt on top of huddle box for feathered chicks. Mainly b/c the box'll last a little longer and I can remove to shake off poop, etc

My newest eHen layers:
Top --> down the layers are bedding, piece of cut flannel pj leg, glad wrapped towel (seams reinforced with duct tape, but chicks never touch this so no danger of being stuck to loose tape), cooling rack from kitchen (black), heating pad (blue), and 1/4" hardware cloth on bottom (folded and wrapped over top edges), bolts/washers/nuts for legs

I folded the hardware cloth to avoid sharp edges. It is there to hold heating pad on bottom of cooling rack b/c I didn't have bungees, but did have this. I used wire to adhere the two metal layers along the shorter side edges of the heating pad and I folded it up and over to secure the long edges.

And here it is waiting for chicks (FYI, depending on how young the youngest chick is when I pick them up, I may cover the entire brooder floor with a towel over the pine until they have the food part figured out and don't eat the shavings)

I hope this helps! We're all experimenting with the concept which is to provide a warm place without the glaring light. The chicks learn to put themselves to bed and seem more relaxed and happy getting into day-night schedule and having a place to hide and feel safe.

Here is a pic of my old eHen/MHP set up in more of a cave formation. Also worked great. The eHen is open to the left in this pic and is covered in an old, kid's army green waffle shirt. The waist area of the shirt is hanging down a bit in front of the cave opening.

 

[chicken curious]

@debid did you see I popped a roost into the lower level the chicks are using? Thanks for the tip! Once they're bigger I'll put the ladder back so they can go "upstairs" to the main roost. They have hung out on the new roost, but I'm pretty sure they're still sleeping on the huddle box in a pile.

 

[debid]

I have a couple videos. The first is the day I got the chicks and the second is two weeks later. Topper is 2 prefold diapers stitched to make one in a bigger size and covered in Press & Seal wrap.

 

[Blooie]

You all rock, do you know that? I can retire......

 

[casportpony]

Blooie, thanks for chiming in. I am now at a point where I don't know what to think! I went to TSC on Wednesday and bought some Nutri-Drench and immediately put it into the water. Then after many phone calls I finally located some Selenium on Thursday night to go along with the Vitamin E and hand-feeding formula I had already found. The thing is...since making sure little miss tiny had a good drink of the Nutri-Drench in the water, I haven't seen her "crazy chick" behaviors even once! She seems just as normal as all the other chicks! Granted that I haven't been able to check on them every 2 hours during the day like I had been doing with all that's been going on following my sister's death, but she honestly seems just FINE! Now I don't know whether to treat her with the Vitamin E and Selenium or not! I can see there's never going to be a dull moment with these chicks!

Donna

Glad your chick is better... I had two with crazy chick disease and I gave them just vitamin E for two days and they recovered.

Perhaps there was enough E and selenium in the Nutri-Drench?

Quote: Source: http://www.merckvetmanual.com/poult...ement-poultry/vitamin-deficiencies-in-poultry

 

[dpenning]

I can retire......  

um,,,,no.

 

[lazy gardener]

Glad the chick with Vit E issues resolved. PND definitely has Vit E in it. not sure about Selenium, nor do I have any idea if Selenium is actually an issue. This may be just an other one of those "they say" issues re: the Selenium.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Having one of those, "why did I do this the 'hard' way for so many years" days today as I consider how simple and successful this year's brooding has been with the switch to using MHP. Chicks are now 1 1/2-4 1/2 weeks old -- the four oldest are *so* close to being fully feathered (smallest patches on the head still downy), the 8 3 1/2 weekers are close behind and my two tinies are doing so good in amongst the "giants" they share the coop with right now. The MHP makes having these ages all mixed together possible - I dropped the backside down when I brought home the tinies last weekend and with the warmth of the bigger chicks under there with them there was no need to turn up the pad at all......and several of the biggest chicks have taken to roosting now so that frees up some needed space under the pad for those still wanting to use it. Those two tinies are something else -- I was a little worried when I brought them home and realized just how much smaller they were standing next to the big chicks, but they have NO idea they are smaller -- little buggars are constantly jumping up to peck soaked feed off the beaks of the bigger chicks, ducking underneath/going between legs to get to the treat plate...and the bigger chicks, bless their hearts, just let them. They have all grown and feathered out so fast, and everyone is so healthy and happy!
Even better is seeing it in use at "the farm" (sister/mom's place) -- they have an established flock from last year and are brooding their babies for this year right out in the coop. They had doubts when I suggested this approach but can't say enough about how nice it is to not have to have birds in multiple buildings, no worry about heat lamp fires and an easy integration process taking place as the chicks grow. Can't wait to be in that same position this time next year as I start the next batch of chicks.......
I just ordered a heat pad to be delivered to DD for her own MHP -- I'm making converts of everyone, lol.

 

[casportpony]

Glad the chick with Vit E issues resolved.  PND definitely has Vit E in it.  not sure about Selenium, nor do I have any idea if Selenium is actually an issue.  This may be just an other one of those "they say" issues re: the Selenium.

@lazy gardener or anyone else, do know what a safe selenium dose is? I looked, but could not find it.

 

[lazy gardener]

Good luck trying to find it. I doubt that you will find anything published that would be applicable to a home treatment program for a single chick with Vit E encephalopathy. But, some of the reading I did seemed to indicate that Selenium was helpful. So, I simply used the very slightest scraping from a side of a pill. I figured the chick was starting out comatose, so, I had nothing to loose. My choices were A. Watch the chick die. B. Cull the chick. or C. Experiment.