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

[Blooie]

Blooie, I hear your pain.  I forget.  Did you give it to me, or did I give it to you?  

I'm not sure which of us gave it to the other. This is one part of "sharing" I could have done without, and you too, I'm sure!

 

[lazy gardener]

I'm going on 5 days now.

 

[monkcat]

Home from work , turned the het down to three to see how they do. It's a fairly warm night. Wednesday or Thursday, supposed to drop to 50 degrees at night. Want to see how they do on 3 since it will be getting close to their last night inside. DH made huge progress with the coop today. Should have it finished tomorrow with finishing touches Monday. I don't want to put them out until Monday when I can watch them during the day to see how they do.

They are growing by leaps and bounds! I swear since yesterday two of them have gone from one handed to two handed birds to hold them!

 

[Mini Meat]

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!

I found your thread and LOVE this. I am looking for an alternative to the blaring light method. I think most of the chicks I loose die from exhaustion. I watch them try to sleep with their fellows tromping back and forth over them. Any chicks that are slightly weaker tend to succumb. Defiantly going to try this. What do you think would be the max occupancy of such a unit?

Also I was thinking a feather duster entrance might be a nice touch and hold in more heat.

And as to the picture of your lil' escapee... If she doesn't have a name already I vote Alcatraz.

 

[Blooie]

Thanks! Glad you found us. I don't think there is a limit to how many chicks can use this system. I had 15 under the x-tra large pad, but could have put a few more in. A good friend of mine had an incubator full of eggs, and she was planning to butt two pads together over a frame to accommodate them after hatch. For just a few chicks, the small heating pad available at Walmart or other retailers will work great. The whole idea of this is to mimic a broody hen, and some of them hatch out large clutches of babies. While she can cover a large brood pretty well when they are tiny, as they get bigger they "outgrow" her. So it is with the heating pad...as the chicks get bigger they don't need as much heat, so some will be under the cave, some on top, and some snuggle down around it, just as they would with her.

That same friend (LazyGardener) also reminded me of Kaussaundra's feather duster idea. After a little consideration I decided against using it for this particular system. I could see where it would be a cool idea in a traditional brooder as it mimics the feathers of mom's body and gives them a place out of the glaring light of the heat lamp to snuggle. But since I form mine into a "cave" to provided a dark, safe place and the towel is hanging down over the sides, back, and part of the front, they already have that. To me the best part of this system is the total simplicity.....form the wire, drape the pad, cover it, and done. But if someone does want to use the feather duster, by all means, go right ahead! There are only two "rules" with this more natural brooder - the heating pad has to have the "auto shut off bypass" feature and you must be able to modify, adapt or whatever else to fit your situation. That's it. Ooops, I lied - there are three rules! Rule number three is that you have to share pics of your set up and chicks with the rest of us!

Alcatraz would have been a great name for our little escapee...I just don't think I could talk our granddaughter into changing it. She's decided that the first batch of chicks - all 15 of them - should have animal names. So the escapee is Turtles. We have a white chick bigger than the others that she named "Beluga" and one chick who was tinier than all the others called "Bumblebee", etc. Not that Gramma can tell them all apart, you understand....but we just smile and go along with her. As long as she still loves coming over (she lives across the street) and helping with the chickens, even when we are out of town, she can call them whatever she likes!

 

[perilloux5]

A couple of the have found the top of the pad, the others are still trying to figure out how to get up there.

 

[Blooie]

A couple of the have found the top of the pad, the others are still trying to figure out how to get up there.

And falling off more successfully than getting up there, I'll bet! Funny to watch them figure it all out, isn't it?

 

[Mini Meat]

Well I can't tell you how much I love this. I really do want to raise my birds in as natural way as possible.

I just got 100 chicks for a new project that are now 4 days old. I have lost ten so far and I am convinced it is exhaustion. I watch them, and the chicks that are awake seem to go out of their way to tromp over their sleeping companions even though they have ample room. If exhaustion is the cause this would go a long way to eliminating that problem since they could sleep all night as nature intended.

Another problem that I worry about, is we live in the mountains and have frequent power outages year round from limbs breaking and stupid drivers racing up and down the highway and crashing into power polls. I am thinking that if I used 1/2 of a terra-cotta pot as the frame, that it would act as a thermal mass and radiate heat for quite a while after the power goes out. I am concerned that the pot may get too hot and burn them if they touch it. I may have to devise some kind of barrier on the inside to prevent that.

I may need to make 4 of these so I might try using reptile heating cord instead of the heating pad. I would be cheaper for experimental proposes. $32.00 for 39 ft that could be run back and forth over all for pots. If it doesn't work I can order the pads.

Thanks again getting this out there... I do believe it is a better way. And what a fun project for me

 

[Cearbhael]

 

Alcatraz would have been a great name for our little escapee...I just don't think I could talk our granddaughter into changing it.  She's decided that the first batch of chicks - all 15 of them - should have animal names.  So the escapee is Turtles.  We have a white chick bigger than the others that she named "Beluga" and one chick who was tinier than all the others called "Bumblebee", etc. Not that Gramma can tell them all apart, you understand....but we just smile and go along with her. As long as she still loves coming over (she lives across the street) and helping with the chickens, even when we are out of town, she can call them whatever she likes!    

Well, there is a name that fits both. The only man to ever escape from a French Island prison, was called PAPILLIO. It is French for Butterfly. He had to fly free, and only a butterfly could fly away from that island. So, not only an animal name, it is about being an escapee. Maybe your daughter would consider the name "Papillio" or maybe simply "Butterfly".

 

[Cearbhael]

Oops sorry meant to say Grand daughter.