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

[perchie.girl]

Well, I found out where the Little got out! We put a piece of wood between two bars on the brooder run to suspend the food and water. Smarty-pants FLEW up there, then skinnied out the gap in the bars and down to the floor of the Big's run. As you can see it's a pretty good height but she wasn't one bit hesitant! I watched her do it - and caught her just before she made good her escape. Said gap has since been closed to tourism!

Bwhaahahahah..... Cute cute cute picture.... Mann I have to seal up every orafice down to a half inch for Guinea Keets.... Not only are they little but they can fly a good six feet high with purpose by two or three weeks.... By then they are still fuz but look like they are carrying little umbrellas under their armpits.

Little Bacon heads Not mine the people who do these videos on Guineas have given me soooo many ideas about housing guineas AND chickens... eleven days old and some of them have wing feathers that drag the ground if they look up.

 

[Blooie]

They are so doggone cute! And FAST! I'd have never caught any of them! I've never been around Guineas so it was cool seeing this video.

Little Miss Smarty Pants tried it again! She flew to the top of the waterer and then up onto the wood. I'm going out in few minutes to put in low perch for them. Can't hurt, and maybe she was just looking for a roost and stumbled upon the exit while she was up there. It's blocked now, so we'll see what happens!

 

[perchie.girl]

They are so doggone cute! And FAST! I'd have never caught any of them! I've never been around Guineas so it was cool seeing this video.

Little Miss Smarty Pants tried it again! She flew to the top of the waterer and then up onto the wood. I'm going out in few minutes to put in low perch for them. Can't hurt, and maybe she was just looking for a roost and stumbled upon the exit while she was up there. It's blocked now, so we'll see what happens!

part of their recreation is running.... and their defense.... along with being able to fly very young.

Miss Smarty pants is Awesome Love that pix of her squeezing through the bars. She will be one to keep an eye on later always investigating ways out.

deb

 

[Blooie]

Just got my heating pad(same as Blooies) yesterday and am playing with(testing) it.
I'm using a rack, think it's out of a grill or oven, similar to this baking rack one I made last year inspired by the same sources as Blooie was.

I will make a page with the details of the build later once I've decided on the final design.

One thing I'm wondering is if you could put that peel and stick stuff right on the heating pad cover?
Just on the top and down around the edges so poops can be wiped off.
I've never used the product but will buy some soon and test it to see if the heat will make it 'glue' to the fabric of the cover.
Says it's fine to use in the microwave, so I assume it can take the heat....but not sure what it would do to the fabric.

I don't know how I missed aart's posts about this starting last March, but I did! If you get a chance, go check out the thread linked in his post. Love, love the frame!! And it looks like lots of other folks were doing this too. I caught Ms. Lopatin's video right after my chicks went out to live in the coop and have been pondering it ever since. So I modified it, adapted it for what I wanted to do, and made it, when all along smarter folks than me have been doing it! And here I thought I was so doggone clever!!

Edited to add: Just noticed that aart started that thread one year ago yesterday. How funny is that!

 

[nab58]

Because chicks grow so fast, the cave will only work for a couple of weeks. What would be a good solution for that 'mostly feathered but not enough to endure 50 degree night' stage? I have 6 chicks coming at the end of April and will keep them under a Brinsea Eco glow indoors but would love to move them outside after about 3 weeks. It will probably be 65-70 during the day and 40's at night. I'm wondering if I can build a cave of some sort to fit half grow pullets with the Eco glow suspended over them.
Any design ideas?
I have a rabbit hutch type enclosure within a 4x8' walk-in cage on a dirt floor. The rabbit hutch has an open front for the pullets to enter and exit into the cage part.

 

[Blooie]

Because chicks grow so fast, the cave will only work for a couple of weeks. What would be a good solution for that 'mostly feathered but not enough to endure 50 degree night' stage? I have 6 chicks coming at the end of April and will keep them under a Brinsea Eco glow indoors but would love to move them outside after about 3 weeks. It will probably be 65-70 during the day and 40's at night. I'm wondering if I can build a cave of some sort to fit half grow pullets with the Eco glow suspended over them.
Any design ideas?
I have a rabbit hutch type enclosure within a 4x8' walk-in cage on a dirt floor. The rabbit hutch has an open front for the pullets to enter and exit into the cage part.

I don't know enough about the Brinsea to advise, but if it works like Mama Heating Pad, you sure can. You just raise the frame and turn down the heat. They'll only go under it when they're chilled or going to bed anyway. That said, last year I put my chicks outside when they were mostly feathered, with no supplemental heat, and they did great. I offered them supplemental heat, but they didn't want it. I put a heat lamp out there for the first couple of nights, but they weren't even using it - they were nowhere near it when I checked on them at night. And at that time our nighttime temps were hovering around 20, daytime highs sometimes hit 40, and it snowed from two days after they went out until our last snowfall the 6th of June. These little characters aren't as fragile as we sometimes think they are. Not that I think that's right for everyone, but it worked well for me. I weaned them off the heat over a week's time, then out they went.


This is Scout at about 3 or 4 weeks, still using his cave. You can see that he's mostly feathered, and tended to stay toward the open side of the cave rather than going way back in where it was warmest. By the way, it was 4 below when I took this picture.

 

[Blooie]

11 of the Littles are officially two weeks old and 4 of the teeny Littles are one week old. They are spending almost all of their time out running around their pen and hardly under MHP at all during the day. Since it got up to 71 today (yes, 70 in Northern Wyoming in MARCH!) and the main run is nice and toasty, and since it holds the warmth so long, I turned the heating pad down to 4. It's supposed to get down to 47 tonight so they'll be fine. If it gets chillier I can always opt to pop it up a notch, but I do believe that it'll stay at 4 until I drop it to 2 next week. The following week they should be off it completely. I'll leave the cave up, and they will snuggle together for warmth and comfort inside it, but I think we are getting close to done. The big Littles are great about letting the Teeny Littles cuddle under them. This is definitely the way to go!

 

[perchie.girl]

11 of the Littles are officially two weeks old and 4 of the teeny Littles are one week old. They are spending almost all of their time out running around their pen and hardly under MHP at all during the day. Since it got up to 71 today (yes, 70 in Northern Wyoming in MARCH!) and the main run is nice and toasty, and since it holds the warmth so long, I turned the heating pad down to 4. It's supposed to get down to 47 tonight so they'll be fine. If it gets chillier I can always opt to pop it up a notch, but I do believe that it'll stay at 4 until I drop it to 2 next week. The following week they should be off it completely. I'll leave the cave up, and they will snuggle together for warmth and comfort inside it, but I think we are getting close to done. The big Littles are great about letting the Teeny Littles cuddle under them. This is definitely the way to go!

You gotto also take into account the other chicks will provide some warmth to add to the heating pad.

 

[perchie.girl]

@Blooie

OK you know me.... I had to make a sketch. i have to preface this with I plan on brooding with broody hens... That is a huge variable. Therefore Ibeen thinking about this mama heading pad deal... Guinea keets are messy and you cant put them on shavings for at least a week learned that the hard way.... So I want to brood them up on wire.... Wire under the food and water that is... because they are sloppy too.

then I want them on sand.... So Here is a sketch.



Oh I forgot to lable the supports.... Just dowls run all the way across and holes at different heights to change the pitch too The whole wooden box will lift out and can be set anywhere needed later. The sand will go with it.

deb

 

[Blooie]

You gotto also take into account the other chicks will provide some warmth to add to the heating pad.

Yup, not only taking it into account, but counting on it!

@Blooie

OK you know me.... I had to make a sketch. i have to preface this with I plan on brooding with broody hens... That is a huge variable. Therefore Ibeen thinking about this mama heading pad deal... Guinea keets are messy and you cant put them on shavings for at least a week learned that the hard way.... So I want to brood them up on wire.... Wire under the food and water that is... because they are sloppy too.

then I want them on sand.... So Here is a sketch.



Oh I forgot to lable the supports.... Just dowls run all the way across and holes at different heights to change the pitch too The whole wooden box will lift out and can be set anywhere needed later. The sand will go with it.

deb

WOW!

I love it when you get an idea and put your design skills to work. I especially like being able to move the dowels to change the taper. I could almost skip the frame and build a permanent HP holder, huh? This should work great for keets. I don't know a lot about them, so I didn't know they are a lot messier than chicks.