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

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I feel a little dumb asking this but.... So I have my 3 week chicks still in my garage in the brooder with the Mama Heating pad. There isn't much light in the garage so in the morning about 7am I turn on the light out there for them and it stays on all day. I turn it off about 8:30 pm. (trying to mimic the actual dusk and dawn until I get finished with the coop and I get them outside). My issue is, when I turn the light off, they kinda freak out. I don't have a dimmer, so what I have been doing is using a flashlight and slowly lessening the about of light in the brooder until I can get them to calmly settle down to total darkness. Does anyone have any advice to get them OK with the darkness? This process takes a good ten minutes. I wish I had some kind of light that was on a timer that slowly dimmed. Heck, I don't even know if that would work either lol...
 
Another Gratuitous dues pic that I just captured,
for updating my Pseudo Heat Plate Article.

Going to try to copy pic URL from article...looks like that worked!
brooder-heater-in-da-coop-6-1-17-2-jpg.1028463

New pic management is crazy...SMH.
 
Integration Question (not about MHP):
First of all, an update: we're ready for the babies to join the big girls at night. They no longer huddle under the heating pad at all... they position themselves in a big ball right out from under it, in the corner of the brooder. Every night as I sit quiety and watch them situate themselves before I officially close them in, one chick (Estrella, our black astralorp) comes out of the brooder and perches on my outstretched leg. She cheeps a quiet cheep and would, I think, roost on my leg all night if I let her. Others will pop up and see what she's up to, but they always go back to the brooder to sleep. I think they're ready to roost at night. So today's job is to set up a 'safe place' in the coop and let them give it a try around dusk to see what they they think.

Now, the question...
I was talked into a 50 pound bag of chick starter at the feed store where I got the chicks. I was ensured that they'd go through it lickety-split. Yeah, not so much now that they're out and about with the big girls, eating big-girl food off and on during the day. We don't even go through a cup of the stuff a day for 5 growing chicks. That means I have a LOT of chick starter to go through. So, could I mix it half-and-half with the layer feed? Would that be a problem for my layers? It's Mana Pro (non-medicated) and according to the website it is 19% protein. We usually give our layers 20% protein organic feed...
 
MichelleT said:
Integration Question (not about MHP):
First of all, an update: we're ready for the babies to join the big girls at night. They no longer huddle under the heating pad at all... they position themselves in a big ball right out from under it, in the corner of the brooder. Every night as I sit quiety and watch them situate themselves before I officially close them in, one chick (Estrella, our black astralorp) comes out of the brooder and perches on my outstretched leg. She cheeps a quiet cheep and would, I think, roost on my leg all night if I let her. Others will pop up and see what she's up to, but they always go back to the brooder to sleep. I think they're ready to roost at night. So today's job is to set up a 'safe place' in the coop and let them give it a try around dusk to see what they they think.

Now, the question...
I was talked into a 50 pound bag of chick starter at the feed store where I got the chicks. I was ensured that they'd go through it lickety-split. Yeah, not so much now that they're out and about with the big girls, eating big-girl food off and on during the day. We don't even go through a cup of the stuff a day for 5 growing chicks. That means I have a LOT of chick starter to go through. So, could I mix it half-and-half with the layer feed? Would that be a problem for my layers? It's Mana Pro (non-medicated) and according to the website it is 19% protein. We usually give our layers 20% protein organic feed...
Click to expand...
when I have chicks that the bigs let eat the bigs food, usually the bigs try to keep the littles from eating in my coop....I feed out the starter and then grower to all... the calcium in the layer is supposed to be bad for the chicks kidneys and what not.... I have oyster shells free choice
some feed 'all-flock' variety , but that is not organic
 
Molpet said:
when I have chicks that the bigs let eat the bigs food, usually the bigs try to keep the littles from eating in my coop....I feed out the starter and then grower to all... the calcium in the layer is supposed to be bad for the chicks kidneys and what not.... I have oyster shells free choice
some feed 'all-flock' variety , but that is not organic
Click to expand...
X2 - use it right up a little extra protein won't hurt the bigs.:D
 

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