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

[Blooie]

Oops. My boo-boo!

 

[MesMama]

@Blooie Forgot to add that I'm going to make the MHP out of the wire fencing with HW cloth to give support, but yet I can bend it down or up depending on their needs, also the heating pad underneath the frame

And I must have missed the post from Ralphie about a chick getting stuck in the back That's sad. It happens, but yeah sad to lose any. Last year when I had my broodies, one chick had hatched and the other one she was sitting on, not sure what happened, but it was dead in the shell

 

[MesMama]

Oops. My boo-boo!

No worries

The way I worded it left it open for interpretation LOL!

 

[mobius]

Did you start them on the nipples right off the bat mobius?
I've had trouble getting some chicks to use them....one batch no problem, others took a week to figure it out.

Here what I did in main coop for winter nipples, it's worked great for 2 winters so far:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/aarts-heated-waterer-with-horizontal-nipples

They started on horizontal nipples at 1.5 weeks, I fussed with them for 30 minutes or so showing them the water and tapping until they knew where the water was and started pecking. I think any younger, as I believe Blooie has mentioned elsewhere, and they aren't strong enough to peck and get water, but I could be wrong about that...

Also I LOVE your system!!! so well thought out...

 

[bruceha2000]

Night time is the best time to tend the birds for that kind of stuff.....picturing a mixture of soapy water and vaseline...ewww.
Or maybe you washed the legs, then applied the vaseline.
I did a bunch of mine with bag balm, didn't wash them first, it was gooey mess.
Took lots of paper towels and wore an apron and an old sweatshirt to keep the stuff off my 'good' clothes.

Two words: Caster oil
Not gummy like vaseline and it will smother the mites just as well.
(Also good for wart removal on your thumb).

Thank you for the info! I love Zorra with her chicks, mama hens are just awesome creatures to watch

Our brooder will be very simple too, similar to yours in size, I like the perch idea in there too! We were thinking of making the top slanted so the bigs can't sit on top and poop and then we're going to do the portals like azygous has. I would like to be able to use the brooder for any hens that go broody at some point, figure out someway to divide it so they have their own space. Last year I had 4 that went broody and was NOT prepared, I let them just do their thing and yeah...will NEVER do that again. Had 2 in the nesting boxes and 2 on the floor, underneath and a little to the side of the nesting boxes. So when the babies left the boxes they landed right where the other mamas were, which led to one of the hens jumping up and grabbing a chick hard, I grabbed her by the leg and turned her upside down and gave her a toss. She came back after that chick with a vengeance...and she was in the freezer that night. Hated to lose a hen but can NOT have that. Anyway, I said all that to say that I realized the hard way that they need their own space, it's just not worth it. I saw someone on here has some kind of pod looking things for nesting boxes and then when they have a broody they can just take the box and everything to the brooder, LOVE that! But, wish I had known that before we built our set up ;P

That perch is the access perch for the community nest box, not for the brooder. When the brooder top is on, the edge by the wall is supported by the nest box access perch. I made a little set of "bleacher" perches for the chicks. I don't think they ever used it even though they were perching on things out in the run. I wouldn't bother doing it again.




Do you let your broody hens hatch eggs just any old time they want to?

Are you saying you sent a hen that was brooding chicks to freezer camp for attacking an intruder into her brooding area? That is kinda what they do, they don't necessarily recognize "oh it is just a chick" vs "something is attacking MY chicks". Good plan to be able to separate the brooding hens though.

I had 2 broody hens when my chicks were about to arrive, Zorra and a Faverolles. I pondered the idea of "joint mothering" but was dissuaded by people who know about such things. So I moved Zorra and her 3 plastic eggs to the brooder a few days before the chicks came and put the other hen in the broody buster. After she got out Zorra allowed her to "help" with the chick raising, but not in the brooder, only outside of it. Mostly the "look here is food" thing. The chicks never went to the Faverolles for heat. Zorra let only one other hen within 3 feet of the chicks for 2 months and that was the other Black Australorp. At first she was having none of it but eventually figured out Echo was just a doofus following her beak and didn't pay any attention to the chicks at all. The 2 hens even chased off a woodchuck that wasn't paying ANY attention to the chicks, just ambling by 10 feet distant. I'm sure the chuck was very confused because they and the chickens always ignored each other in the past. If anyone wants some woodchucks, they are welcome to pick them up any time. They are hibernating now but I'm sure it won't be long before they come out and start tunneling under everything again.

The Faverolles stuck with the chicks for a few weeks after Zorra's "I'm raising chicks" switch went from On to Off right after she laid an egg 2 months after I stuffed the chicks under her. Here is the Faverolles with Zorra, the 2 "nonstandard" Black Australorps, one EE and 2 White Rocks. The other 2 EEs are in there somewhere but camouflaged in the clover. No way Zorra would let them wander away. May be visible if the picture is "biggified". Yep, one is just to the right of Zorra. I don't see the other so she is likely behind the Faverolles or Zorrra.

 

[duluthralphie]

My chicks did not really get stuck in the back.

I tried to improve on the idea using the wood blocks and screws to adjust the height of the MHP as they got older. They got stuck under the wood block that was 3/4 of an inch off the ground on the screws.

Little chicks are always trying to kill themselves one way or another. It means constantly changing the way things are done for me. I do way better with the MHP than the old heat lamps. Mainly because pasty butt is a thing of the past.

Yesterday, I lost a chick, but it had nothing to do with the MHP. I had 2 CLB white sports. for those that do not know those are sorta rare (at this point anyways) Cream Legbars. They have 2 recessive white genes so instead of the normal colors they are all white. (I will not go further into the genetics as I can hear the yawns already).


I had made a little climbing "gym" for the birds to play on. It was 2 pieces of 1x4 nailed at 90 degrees to each other making a corner and a stick from the floor over the corner for them to climb and jump off. They loved it.

Yesterday I went to change water and they stampeded, because they are flighty little CLB's into the corner of the gym, and one of my two White sports got crushed. No more playground equipment for any of them now!

I am just sick over losing one of my two rare ones. I have hatched out 75 chicks or so this year and had 2 white sports live, and one that died within an hour of hatching. I am down to one rare one now....argggh...

But I also think the back being open makes sense one less way for them to try to die.

 

[10AcreChick]

They started on horizontal nipples at 1.5 weeks, I fussed with them for 30 minutes or so showing them the water and tapping until they knew where the water was and started pecking. I think any younger, as I believe Blooie has mentioned elsewhere, and they aren't strong enough to peck and get water, but I could be wrong about that...

Also I LOVE your system!!! so well thought out...

I started mine on the nipples the day they came in the shipping box, they were one day old. I couldn't tell you if every single one of them got it right away, because they were running around so much, but all 23 are still alive after almost two weeks, so I guess so!

 

[Blooie]

Hmmm...if it wasn't you then I wonder who it was. I may have to take my own advice and scroll back through the thread and find it, because I'm sure I saw it somewhere.

I'm sorry about your little one...that stinks, especially with it being so rare.

I start all my chicks from the moment they are unpacked and put into the brooder on vertical nipples. I think it takes less strength for them to trip the mechanism in those. When they are a few days old and a little stronger, then I switch them to horizontal nipples because that's what they'll be using for the rest of their lives. Works well for me. As far as freezing, we put a tank heater in the bucket during those miserably cold winter months. The first year we had trouble with the nipples freezing if we went lower than 17 degrees below zero. The water in the bucket never froze, but the little dabs of water left in the cups of the nozzles did. This year we moved the nipples up higher where the warmer water was, and didn't have a single issue. Hope that helps.

Edited: I should add that I don't use vertical nipples out in the run or coop. I reserve them just for the chicks.

 

[COChix]

This thread has been running strong for 1 year and 6 days! That's incredible! Thank you all for participating!

Thank you for bringing starting this thread and for everyone's thoughts, idea's and insight into this incredible way to raise chicks more naturally.

Upgraded my MHP rack today....added 1/4" HC under the rack....so no(never say never?) chance of stuck heads between rack wires. Screwed ends between rack and leg mounts and a few zip ties. Not a great pic..kind of hard to see unless you zoom in. Set 22 eggs yesterday and 6 more EE chicks ordered to arrive very close to hatch day(I hope). Will still have them in brooder inside for a few days, then am determined to get them into the coop partition with the MHP and 'portaled' partition wall.

Love the shelf set up, I have my shelf and gonna have to work o the frame. What are you hatching?

so here's my set up. Getting a little nervous about hanging chicks. Lightbulb is for size reference. Heating pad arrives tomorrow, chicks due to hatch in a week. What do you think. Waiting for heating pad to put down all the straw in run. Wood on left is door to portal into big girls area. I set a cinder block on end and that is the size of the chick opening.

Looks good

Love you brooderbox in the coop. I want a brooder box in our coop one year....

Horizontal nipples, my chicks already using them at two weeks, no drippage. I ordered a bucket heater from amazon, due today (for winter and moving outside. Let me see if I can scare up the thread for you... https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...r-very-easy-heated-waterer-for-under-20-bucks

What they said. We started our chicks from our hatch last year on horizontal nipple waters from day 7 they picked it up no issues, just tapped the nipple and called them over. Had broody and chicks on the same system on day two and the chicks used it by day two. Had no issues with chicks learning this system. Just pull all other water sources. I have mine in a 5g bucket with a K&H 250w bucket heater with built in thermostat. Our never be sorry for switching over. Picked up 1 doz hatching eggs last night, picking up 3 doz today, hoping to set 42 by Sat.

 

[Coop de Grass]

@mobius You should put a clay saucer under the heating gizmo so that it isn't in contact with the plastic! I have one setup for my hens.