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

[Coop de Grass]

@lazy gardener l just put together my coolerbator, and found that the thermostat is shorting out... a dozen eggs to set and only room for 7 in the Brinsea Mini Advance! What was that about not counting your chickens????

 

[Mitch Mullenax]

Wow 117 pages! I am new to this whole chicken thing although I've wanted chickens for 35 plus years. I have building my coop, run and yard all winter. My chicks arrive April 15th. Was was terrified about the whole brooding thing. Thank you to each of you. You have made me fearless. I can hardly wait to share photos of my brood. 20 Cochins.

 

[Blooie]

Welcome, @Mitch Mullenax ! Glad that you're here joining up with the Broody Brigade! We are so blessed to have a great crowd of people always ready to lend a hand, an ear, a shoulder, or most any other body part you might need - within reason, of course!

 

[micheleomal]

I had planned on paying my dues with a pic of the 3 feed store chicks I picked up today to "test" the MHP before my eggs hatch but they are so content under there that I've only seen them out once to eat and drink and then scoot back under. At the feed store they were jammed into a box with a heat lamp blaring. Lots and lots of cheeping and confusion. I can't imagine how any of them got any sleep. Now, not a peep (pun intended) out of them. Warm and cozy in a nice dark place. You wouldn't even know I have chicks in the house. Hopefully they will be well rested by morning and ready to investigate their brooder world.

 

[COChix]

Hmmmm.....was just thinking of doing something like this.
Does that hose clamp interfere with the mesh?

Yes, so I had to put it o to the actual channel not sticking up so much. I would recommend a smaller cleat if you can find one, what about a staple?

What you will find is that they lay really well their first winter (assuming they weren't hatched so early in the year that they moult their first fall) and winter laying after that is spotty.

• My twelve 2012 girls laid 565 eggs their first winter (Nov through Feb). The first year (since first lay Nov 2012) was 1,970.
• 440 the next winter (half the birds laid no eggs until mid to late February), 1,340 for the year though I lost 2 girls (1 unknown in March, 1 to a fox late April but neither of them laid through the winter) 
• 117 the next winter (most of them from 4 girls), 890 for the year (lost another one to a fox last April so only 9 layers half the period).
• This winter? 35 from nine 3.5 Y/O hens.

In contrast the 7 June 2015 girls came into production over time, starting mid Nov and laid 467 eggs through the end of February.

So while you might think you have too many layers their first winter, it gets real thin real fast after they have their first adult moult.

Those that do periodic subtraction cull the older or less productive birds and get new chicks in the spring if they want a fairly consistent amount of eggs through the winter every year.

Great explanation as to why you have a rotating flock so you stay in the eggs as you birds age.

 

[Pattycat]

I've talked about this before on other threads. I'd like to say it was my own brilliant idea, but actually I saw a video made by a woman who broods her chicks outdoors using a heating pad "cave" and straw. The idea intrigued me, and I so wish I could give proper credit. Alas, I can't find the video now so I hope that if you know who it was, you will jump in here and let us know. My dear friend Beekissed was also a huge inspiration with the heating pad project. That woman is a font of good information and I'm lucky she's one of my best teachers.

I used this heating pad method when we had a tiny chick who got frostbitten feet. (You can click on the link in my signature to read Scout's adventure.) I used it for the short time he was inside the house, then moved it outside to the coop. It worked so well that I am now using it for our latest batch of chicks. They were supposed to start out in the coop from the getgo. However, our long, several week long stretch of balmy weather ended the day I got the babies, so they are in the house until we get back above zero. One chick with frostbitten feet was enough. Then too, my sweet husband is in the hospital, and since he's my brooder builder we are a little behind on getting the outside coop brooder built.

Now, on the to the "hows". I'm using a wire dog crate with hardware cloth running a bit up the sides to prevent escapees. This particular crate has a front door and a side door - mighty doggone handy! I used some good old Press 'n Seal and ran it around the crate. Believe it or not, it actually sticks to the hardware cloth very well. Then I tucked the excess under the crate. This has done a wonderful job of keeping the shavings inside the crate and not all over my living room floor! It's a little more crowded in there than I like, but in a few days they'll be going out to the big brooder.


I got a scrap of wire fencing and bent it into a hoop. Then I stood it up with the open side down. You can see where I've used electrical tape to cover any little points left from cutting the wire. There was a hole in the top that I didn't like, so there's a bit of hardware cloth covering it.


I'm using a Sunbeam heating pad. You can see on the control that I can opt to use the "Auto Off" feature so the pad stays on all of the time. As the chicks grow and as their need for a lot of heat changes, I can use a bigger bit of fence, make the hoop taller, and turn down the temp on the heating pad. This heating pad is the smaller model - there is also an extra large one and that's the one we'll be using when the chicks go outside, hopefully at the end of this week.


The heating pad is draped over the wire frame. I didn't like the way the hardware cloth kept the heating pad from making full contact with the frame all the way down, so I replaced it with a smaller piece just larger than the hole. That is working better than what you see in this picture. Of course, if your scrap of fencing has no hole, you get to skip this fitting.


Again using my good old Press 'n Seal, I covered a folded towel with it. Yes, it will stick, and stick very firmly. I tore the sheets longer than I needed and folded the excess under, pressing it there as well. This keeps the edges of the folded towel together, keeps the towel clean, and covers all of those frayed little fringes that are on the towel so the chicks don't try to eat them.


The towel assembly goes over the heating pad, with a little awning to keep out light and give them a sense of being able to hide. The towel is tucked under the bottom edges of the frame, and at the back of the frame it goes all the way down to the floor of the brooder, holding in heat and closing off the back.


You can see how dark and cozy it is under there. On the right side you can see where the towel is not pulled all the way down - I was trying to get a little more light in there for the photo. Um, didn't work!










The little ones absolutely love this. They like to sit on top (hence the Press 'n Seal covering) and they go in and out at will for a quick warm-up, just like they would under a broody. They spend most of their time out of the "cave" exploring, eating and drinking and THEY control their own comfort. When the lights go out in the house, all of them have gone under for the night. In the first 24 hours they'd been here they'd already learned that night time is time for sleeping. They don't have a harsh light on all night. They are quiet all night long - no cheeping or fussing at all. Just blessed quiet! Personally I think that the natural day/night cycle and a full night of sleeping can reduce stress in the chicks but I have no study to back up this claim other than common sense. Fire danger is also reduced. I don't like heat lamps, does it show?



I also start them out with vertical nipple waterers. I know that this one is too large for this size brooder, but again it's just for a few days. Out in the coop I use the horizontal nipples for the big girls but I think that at first it takes less effort for them to get enough water from the vertical ones. I also have a smaller waterer with just two horizontal nipples that I'll use when I move them outside. I learned this while taking care of Scout. He couldn't stand on his feet - he stood on his hocks - and he couldn't balance and press the horizontal nipple adequately, so we were clicking it for him when he went for water. I put this one in there for him for a short time, then went back to the horizontal when he got stronger. This worked so well that I now have 2 chick waterers - my beginner system and the intermediate one. When these little babies go out to the coop they will be quite familiar with how it works. Oh, and it took less than half a minute to train these day old chicks to use it. One went over and clicked on the shiny metal thing. Water came out! She drank her fill, the others saw her do it, and I never had to do a thing. I don't have to worry about a dirty waterer, soaked bedding, and drowning chicks. The vertical waterers do leak a little more than the horizontal ones, but it's far easier to use a spatula and scoop up the bits of damp litter directly under the nipples than it is to have an entire brooder full of dumped, poopy water.



I want to leave you with two more pictures - this is Scout's domain after he recovered from his frostbite enough to go back outside with the big girls. They could see him, he could see them, but they were separate. He could get back into his "man cave" but the big girls couldn't follow him because the door was wired in such a way that only he could fit through. Mama Heating Pad kept him warm even with temps below freezing. We tucked the wire frame into a bed of straw that was dug out to be lower in the back than in the front rather than using a towel out there to hold the heat.


He looks pretty cozy in there, doesn't he? The day I took this picture it was 4 degrees below zero.

I hope this information has been helpful. I don't claim that this is the best way to raise chicks, but it's the best way for me to raise them. This forum is all about sharing, and I wanted to share what I've learned right here from BYC and how I modified it to fit our situation. It's as natural as I can get without a broody, and the chicks are well prepared when the day comes for them to move out to the coop. No adjustment to darkness, no adjustment to a different waterer, and they and the girls can get acquainted with the safety of bars between them. We'll be setting up the bigger brooder out there built under the poop board as soon as my dear spouse is released from the hospital, and we'll use the same setup as we used for Scout, just larger to accommodate more chicks than just one. I'll do the work, he'll do the instructing and supervising. If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them if I can.

Edited to add: My friend Perchie Girl mentioned that the wire frame should be higher in the front than in the back. I did that, I just forgot to point it out when I was giving the description. I think, though, that you can see the taper in the photos. The smaller, chillier chicks can use the back and the larger chicks stay more toward the front. Thanks, Deb, for pointing out that omission so I could correct it!

Ok, so you have me intrigued. I have to try this with my newest brood that is coming in two weeks. I have two sets under lights and they all seem miserable and I have lost 23 of the 75 I had. I have some show quality birds coming, as I want to raise Wyandottes, and I want to see how this works. I had done something similar for a baby quail my daughter found last year, but opted for chicks when she wasm't doing so well. The chicks were from the feed store and I wanted her to just have the experience of being raised with other birds so that she didn't imprint on my husband, my daughter or I. She ended up imprinting on one of the chicks, and even after being released she still would come to the fence and talk to the chickens.
Anyways. I have to try this out for these new little ones.

 

[Jensownzoo]

Went in to get oil change supplies tonight...came out with chicks! Hastily set up a MHP for them, took pictures of the chicks, then scooted them under MHP. Had happy little purrs until they all passed out. Too dim in that room to take pics, but here are a few shots of the chicks. I got two standard EEs and six assorted bantams. One of the bantams is definitely a Silver Seabright...I think the rest are Cochins of various colors.

The EEs:

 

[perchie.girl]

cuteness overload.... and the wittle purrs...

 

[ShrekDawg]

Soooo cute

 

[karelee]

My first night with MHP was a success! We picked up 8 chicks last night and put them right in the cave. I checked on them couple times overnight and everybody was snuggled in the back. I admit I was very nervous, I live in upstate NY and it called for temps in the 30's but this morning I went out and everybody was out and eating!