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

[drumstick diva]

Blooie

 

[duluthralphie]

I moved my first two hatches outside yesterday. I have them in a steel stock tank. I have a MaMa Cave in there. I have a 150 watt light bulb on one end of the tank the cave is in the middle.

It got down to 15-20 degrees last night. They did ok, I was worried about them.
They did not even use the cave and this morning it was 22 degrees when I checked on them. They were huddled together at the far cold end of the tank. I do not think they even used the Cave!

They were hatched Jan 24th and 31st!. I am amazed. I will admit I set up the heat lamp and turned it on, then decided to just chance it! The tank is in a unheated shed with a piece of plywood over 3/4 of it and hardware cloth over 1/4. It had to be cold, but they did good.

 

[henless]

I received the latest from Blooie :

Yeah, so things didn't go as planned. I'm laying here in a hospital bed in Billings. I flunked my stress test so I'm headed to the cath lab on monday

ken cancelled the whole Madison trip, even though I kept pinging on him to make it. This really stinks!! But keep the prayers and good thoughts coming, please! I could sure use em! Love

@TexasLisa ~ Long time no see girl! How are ya doing? Hope everything is going good your way.

Prayers for Blooie.

I got lambasted with a migraine the likes of which I've never had yesterday. Still with me this morning, I am a bit loopy/weak/vision still off a bit. Plan to lay low all weekend, and let hubby baby me.

Sorry you suffer from migraines. Sometimes there's just nothing you can take/do but let them ride on out. I get them every so often, but still don't know what triggers mine. I do know when one is coming on though. My sense of smell gets really acute. I smell things no one else seems to smell. Hugs for you and prayers that you find some relief from them.

 

[TexasLisa]

@TexasLisa ~ Long time no see girl! How are ya doing? Hope everything is going good your way.

Howdy!!! We are doing great. Enjoying 70-80 degree weather.

 

[COChix]

Gah! I forgot how quickly chicks grow! They have almost doubled in size in the last few days! We lost one mysteriously overnight, and have one special chick who doesn't eat, so is being hand fed, but most likely wont make it. I think it can't see. The rest of the 25 chicks are thriving little piggies! Hubby convinced me to keep the babies in the house longer, so he could fine tune the coop more, and because he knows I like being able to sit an watch chick TV. So the Chicks are in our unheated mud room. So babies now have a bigger makeshift brooder from a paint tarp, a green house frame, duck tape, and a guinea pig cage. Also added the second heating pad- so now the MHP frame measures 13" deep by 30" long. One heating pad is slightly warmer (the new one that just is on or off), and the older one is set at Med. The chicks seem happy, they use both sides equally, as well as hopping up on top. [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR]

Great set up sounds like things are going well. What fluffy cuteness, I cannot wait for hatching!

Blooie

X 2

 

[eagrbeavr]

Paganrose, looks like a great set up Sorry to hear one my not make it

 

[eagrbeavr]

Nah, we don't consider it hijacked! See, I look at it this way - if I was sitting on my front porch chatting with friends, we'd be doing this same thing - kinda jumping from topic to topic rather than just talk about the same stuff over and over. Honestly most of what needs to be said about the system, how it works, what doesn't work, and why MHP works so well has been pretty much covered in the first couple of dozen We're at the point where we answer a lot of questions, ooh and ahh over photos of new chicks, and get a little off track sometimes. But as a question, and everyone is right back on track! I have grown to love many of the people here even before this thread was started, added lots of others to that list after it started, and eagerly look forward to meeting new members of the Broody Brigade. One of the things most folks like about this thread is the informal, friendly feeling. So if we get off track sometimes, that's okay. Just come on in, type "topic" and we're right back under the heating pad again.

And I realized that I forgot to answer your other question from yesterday. Duh, Diane! No, it wasn't a 911 situation. Ken drove me the 6 miles to the hospital, I had some tests and treatment started there, then they sent me by ambulance (no lights and sirens) to the nearest big medical center, which is 100 miles away in Billings, Montana. Ken followed the ambulance in the car. Things are pretty isolated here, can you tell? And thanks for the job you do as an

Unless if they have their own medical transport, they wouldve called it in and it dispatched as a 'class 3 response'. I havent ran calls in several years, but funny this should come up, I've been getting the itch back and I may go back and just drive the ambulance. My emt cert ran out and I just dont want to go thru the whole thing again and all the continued training, writing up trip sheets, and all that. Driving is a lot less responsibility and time overall. Still mulling it over.

Hope youre getting over that cold.

Anyhow, so I have the brooder. The heating pad is ready to go. Now I just need to set up a grow out pen and shelter. Today I installed an automatic door in the coop and i'm just giddy out it. Best 200 bucks I've spent in a long time. Now I just wait for the babies to arrive. Really grateful for this site and all the great info and people on it.

You taker easy

 

[bruceha2000]

I moved my first two hatches outside yesterday. I have them in a steel stock tank. I have a MaMa Cave in there. I have a 150 watt light bulb on one end of the tank the cave is in the middle.

It got down to 15-20 degrees last night. They did ok, I was worried about them.
They did not even use the cave and this morning it was 22 degrees when I checked on them. They were huddled together at the far cold end of the tank. I do not think they even used the Cave!

They were hatched Jan 24th and 31st!. I am amazed. I will admit I set up the heat lamp and turned it on, then decided to just chance it! The tank is in a unheated shed with a piece of plywood over 3/4 of it and hardware cloth over 1/4. It had to be cold, but they did good.

Interesting "experiment" results. Obviously they didn't choose the lamp over the MHP cave but they didn't choose that either!

 

[eagrbeavr]

Perhaps thats one less thing we could worry so much over when theyre being shipped.

 

[eagrbeavr]

dont need to worry so much over*