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

[Beekissed]

I didn't have a bit of problem with the pillow case and I didn't even use the plastic stuff on it. The HP dries any manure that gets on it and it's easily displaced after that. While it's still wet manure, I just tossed some bedding on top of it so the chicks wouldn't get in it. Easily done when checking water and feed levels and takes less than 2 seconds to do. At the end, I just remove the pillow case, shake it out and wash it.

My chicks would perch on that top during the day, but always slept for the night down under, so not much poop on top of my HP brooder at all. The way to accomplish that is to turn down the HP accordingly so it's not too hot for them to sleep the night underneath the brooder. That accomplishes two things...they actually go underneath it at night for warmth because the top of the brooder isn't warm enough for nighttime sleeping and the poop they deposit all night is now in the bedding instead of on top of the brooder. By the time they are sleeping on the brooder at night, it's time to take it out of the brooder altogether. No need for plastic one can wipe and such if a person doesn't want it.

 

[gotro17]

I have a stack of old threadbare towels that I picked up at Goodwill.  And we all have a few that we can see daylight through when we hold them up.  I just use those folded in half.  You can see that on the first page of the thread.  

I just can't tell how big the towel is... Like a large dish towel?

 

[Beekissed]

Whatever you use, it only has to be big enough to drape or cover the sides of the wire frame in order to keep the heat into the interior. Just imagine a hen with wings spread and dropped a little to cover all the babies and to keep cool air from chilling them. If having trouble finding a towel that size, a pillow case seems to be a little larger than the typical hand or dish towel but less large than a typical bath towel, so you can utilize a pillow case instead.

 

[gotro17]

Whatever you use, it only has to be big enough to drape or cover the sides of the wire frame in order to keep the heat into the interior.   Just imagine a hen with wings spread and dropped a little to cover all the babies and to keep cool air from chilling them.  If having trouble finding a towel that size, a pillow case seems to be a little larger than the typical hand or dish towel but less large than a typical bath towel, so you can utilize a pillow case instead. 

Am I doing something wrong that the sides of the heating pad drape way down to the ground?

 

[Beekissed]

Am I doing something wrong that the sides of the heating pad drape way down to the ground?

Not necessarily. If your wire frame is small and pad is large, that will be the cause. My pad was only 14" long and 11" wide and I wanted to cover a lot of chicks with that pad, so I increased the efficiency of its heating the chicks by providing a cloth extension to cover the walls. Sort of like having a central brood patch on the bottom of the hen and the pillow case creating "feathers" around that brood patch to conserve the heat in the middle.

 

[FaerieGlynne]

Is the heating pad directly on the wire frame?

 

[Hholly]

Am I doing something wrong that the sides of the heating pad drape way down to the ground?

Can you post a photo?

 

[aart]

Quote: She did.......


Quote:

 

[Hholly]

I just can't tell how big the towel is... Like a large dish towel?

Can you make a different frame out of something else? It does't look like the heating pad has enough support.

 

[Beekissed]

It also looks a little tippy with that rounded bottom and the chicks won't like trying to mount up on something so unstable. That could be rectified by bending this cage in a different manner, having it more squared off on the bottom so that it sits flat on the ground.