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

[chicapee]

New babies first night in the brooder. They love it.

 

[alibabba]

New babies first night in the brooder. They love it.

I love it too, very clean looking...

not for long lol lol lol.

 

[alibabba]

I haven't disappeared - still here but on vacation so check ins will be kinda sporadic. I'm back in South Dakota visiting my family.

My brother Ron and sister Bev live on a farm near here and just got chicks a few weeks ago. I was showing them the MHP system on here and although it's too late for them to use it, I'm hoping they'll want to try it with their next batch. I'm also going to encourage them to join BYC. Bev's run the farm by herself for over 20 years but her focus has been the horses. Brother Ron moved out there a year ago and this is their first venture into chickens. So we're going out there tomorrow to give them some pointers. They're interested in everything from nipple waterers to coop security. I love them both dearly but I'm kinda nervous about going out there since SD is a confirmed AI state and Wyoming isn't. I'll be very careful about what I do there and just have to hope that they'll fully understand the precautions so Oleo Acres stays bio secured.

Anyway, I'm around but not around for a few more days and I know if we have new folks visiting here all of you can answer any questions they have.

Wow, that is quite brave, and so of course being as aware you are, you will defiinitely take all the proper precautions. But how wonderful for the opportunity to share information with others open to different ideas and suggestions! Go Chicken Ron and Bev!!!

 

[alibabba]

there isn't anyway to turn it down i can look for one and possibly get one on Monday when i go to town. we have some shelving things that maybe i could put it on but ill have to check. other wise ill have to do a heat lamp for a few days till i get a heater. we might still for a few days inside the house to make sure they are okay and no pasty butts! while we set up the brooder.

can you turn it upside down? i have smaller weaker chicks inside doing great with heat pad on the bottom (covered wirh towels) and then the rack on top with another towel on top.

 

[alibabba]

If only the top heats then I'd just set it on the floor/ground.

"

 

[lazy gardener]

With 25 chicks you might need to go with a light.....
......was just thinking about these pad heaters and larger hatches/batches, they are great for heating chicks but there is a population capacity with them.

I brooded 22 chicks with the large pad. They were hatched May 6, and went outside shortly after hatch. They did fine. By 3 weeks old, they were choosing to bed down beside it at night. They made a nice big carpet of fluff. When I put my hand into the carpet, it was warm! In fact, they went into the cave for quick warm ups during the day, but slept in a pig pile outside the pad at night.

 

[COChix]

Chicks only need direct contact with the underside of the heating pad for the first two weeks I noticed, after that, they seem to derive enough benefit from radiated heat.

Therefore, by the time 25 chicks over-run the space under two heating pads, (I'd use two with two dozen chicks) you could increase the cave space by moving the walls outward, keeping the two pads above. Then remember, by age two weeks, a lot of the chicks will be spending lots of time on top of the heating pads. With my cave frame design, it had a useable flat roof where my chicks spent a lot of time during the day.

Back in the middle of this thread where I was discussing my ideas for a cave design for large groups of chicks, I proposed using two heating pads over the Mylar space blanket material and having it reflect and disperse heat from the heating pads over a much larger area below in the cave. I wouldn't hesitate to use this for two dozen chicks. I see it being very satisfactory.

I agree with your comments about the chicks needing the heat source, I.e., underneath the heat source, as I have seen this first hand. First with the Fifteen we hatch in April, I was late coming to the thread, so they lived under a heat lamp for the first 9 days. Then I switched them cold turkey to my MHP set up. By that time, they spent most of their days on top and diving from the top as well as playing king of the hill. They slept under it at night, but even then some where at the very outskirts of the front For the cave, it all happens so fast. By week three ours MHP was down to 1 and they were outside in the small coop by week two. Upper 40's at night.

New babies first night in the brooder. They love it.

Nice job, happy chicks. Yeah!

 

[Blooie]

New babies first night in the brooder. They love it.

What a great setup! Wait until you see how fast they outdo everything you've ever read about chicks!! Won't need heat for long, won't need to get used to night/day cycles and will be so curious about their environment! Glad you took the plunge!

 

[perchie.girl]

for what its worth My grandpa used to brood chicks with a heat source that came from underneath....

He take a sheet of corrugated tin and make a frame around it probably about eighteen inches deep. Then he would fill the bottom of the brooder with Blow sand from the desert. Blow sand gathers around objects that stop the wind... its as fine as talc.

Then he would set up kerosine heaters under the tin.... Dad said they would brood a couple hundred at a time that way. Dad smiled as he told of how the little Peechuckers (his term for them) would stretch out in the sand and fall asleeep.

deb

 

[azygous]

Now isn't that a terrific anecdote! Brooding large numbers of chicks has always interested me, not that I'd ever need to do it.

My uncle had a chicken farm in Lucerne Valley, CA, and he used those big umbrella brooders that I believe operated on kerosene. The chicks all huddled underneath. He raised the brooders as the chicks grew and needed less heat. He had several of these in each barn, and they measured around five feet in diameter. He had three or four huge barns. Thousands of chicks.

My five cousins never once made a pet out of a single chicken the entire time they were growing up on that chicken farm. He gave me and my sisters some chicks one time to bring home and raise, but weasels got them the first night.

Ah, memories.