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

[thegreatwhite]

Pictures....we want pictures.....

I'll get you some on Sunday when I do my clean out.

 

[Blooie]

Little Miss and her companion went out to the run today to join the others. Ken and I had to go up to Billings, which is almost 2 hours one way, plus time to get done what we had to do and have a nice lunch. Got home and they'd settled right in - they found the water, the food, and the cave, so all was right with the world. I think she's going to be just fine but I'm still glad I kept her in the house all day and over night on Friday. She didn't have to compete with the others for food or water, and was just able to recover from her stressful shipping.

If there's a better way to raise chicks without a broody, I'm open to hearing about it.

 

[Grizdad]

My five week old girls are no longer sleeping in the cave. I went out to find them sleeping on top. Wonder if it is because they are too big or if it is too warm in the cave?

 

[Blooie]

My five week old girls are no longer sleeping in the cave. I went out to find them sleeping on top. Wonder if it is because they are too big or if it is too warm in the cave?

They've just outgrown the need for it. Nothing to worry about. They are just going from chicks to chickens! when they start spending the majority of their time laying around or on top of it, you can either raise the cave by bending the frame up higher, propping the "legs" of it up higher, and turning down the heat. Mine was down to 1 before the older chicks were evicted and the new babies moved in. At five weeks with a broody, they no longer all fit under her either, so this change is natural. Right about now she'd be getting up on the roost and they'd be crowding around her. You done good!!

 

[katbriar]

Blooie- thanks so much for taking the time to share your efforts (and success!).

When you talk about night temps in the 20s does it get that cool in your hoop house? I have a similar set up and just wondered if the heating pad could "keep up" at that temp.

Also what have you done to keep the plastic covering your hoop house from tearing? I bought a heavy duty tarp and have been more than disappointed that it lasted less than 6 months. We have regular and strong winds here and the edges of the hardware cloth underneath the tarp just tore it to shreds. The side over the curved back arch perforated so neatly along the edge it looked hand trimmed to fit.

I bought a heating pad last year after seeing that same video and Beekissed's posts. However I haven't gotten and spring chicks this year. Looks like I'll have to remedy that.

My DH thinks I'm silly, in a very loving, understanding, and supportive way!

 

[Blooie]

Blooie- thanks so much for taking the time to share your efforts (and success!).

When you talk about night temps in the 20s does it get that cool in your hoop house? I have a similar set up and just wondered if the heating pad could "keep up" at that temp.

Also what have you done to keep the plastic covering your hoop house from tearing? I bought a heavy duty tarp and have been more than disappointed that it lasted less than 6 months. We have regular and strong winds here and the edges of the hardware cloth underneath the tarp just tore it to shreds. The side over the curved back arch perforated so neatly along the edge it looked hand trimmed to fit.

I bought a heating pad last year after seeing that same video and Beekissed's posts. However I haven't gotten and spring chicks this year. Looks like I'll have to remedy that.

My DH thinks I'm silly, in a very loving, understanding, and supportive way!

You are very welcome. It's been a lot of fun for me.

Yep, night time temps in the run have been running between 19 and 29 degrees since I put the first batch of chicks out there, and the heating pad keeps up just fine. Remember that it's not trying to heat the air all around it like a heat lamp does. It heats the straw that's on top and the cave that's underneath. And it's not trying to maintain that recommended golden number of 95 degrees for the chicks. Mine started out heating to about 82.9, but since all of that warmth was focused on the chicks, and since they huddle and add their body heat as well, that suffices quite well. Rather than rely on numbers, I rely on the chicks. They are pretty good at telling me that they are happy. It takes the run a little longer to cool down because the plastic we have on there traps some of the daytime heat, so it doesn't start getting cold in there until after sunset. When I had Scout out there (the first chick to use this system) he was out in the unheated, uninsulated coop, with no flockmates to keep him company and share warmth, and it was down to 4 degrees below zero.

As for the plastic, we worried about that shredding too. We used heavy mil greenhouse plastic to cover ours. When we attached the chicken wire to the cattle panels in the run, we did it with wire ties and that left a lot of pokey-outy thingys up there. So we picked up a few sheets of vinyl lattice, (since we'd already put a couple of pieces of that in front of the run just to make it look nice and liked how it came out) and we draped it over the run. Then we put up the plastic. It never comes into contact with any of the metal and it's stood up beautifully because the lattice holds it just far enough above the rough metal. No runs, no rips, no errors! I can post a couple of pictures if you'd like.

 

[Cearbhael]

Yes we all want to see LOL! Please post pics

 

[dpenning]

Do you folks with experience think a couple layers of hardware cloth folded over would be sturdy enough to support the chicks (3-5) when they start climbing on top or do I need to get some welded wire fencing to use as the form?

 

[lazy gardener]

I still want to know what numbers you use for night time temps around 20*.

 

[Northern nurse]

Do you folks with experience think a couple layers of hardware cloth folded over would be sturdy enough to support the chicks (3-5) when they start climbing on top or do I need to get some welded wire fencing to use as the form?

I used hardware cloth for my frame and so far so good. You might need to have the sides "contained" a barrier on each side so it doesn't flatten out if the sides slip sideways.