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

[duluthralphie]

I so like my MHP and the happy little chicks, I so like not having pasty butts!

I changed the direction the MHP lies in the cage in the dining room, it seems to give them more room and they explore, run and play more.

If everyone had dining room chicks, anti-depressant manufacturing companies would go broke......

I can now ponder what they are doing, while drinking coffee and putting my Doctors kids through private schools things like:

Why do they like poop better than feed?

Why do some sit on top?

Why do some like grit and some not?

Why do some sit on the baby roost and others not?

What makes them decide to run across the cage to bump chests?

How do they decide who to bump chest with?

Is that white one a boy or girl?

 

[ShanandGem]

Awwwwwww!!! I am learning to think like a chicken....

Pretty sure I'm part broody hen.

 

[duluthralphie]

Pretty sure I'm part broody hen.

How can you say that. When I tell me wife she reminds me of a mother dog I get beat? It's about the same thing..

I am so abused ( trust me)........

 

[BantyChooks]

I so like my MHP and the happy little chicks, I so like not having pasty butts!

I changed the direction the MHP lies in the cage in the dining room, it seems to give them more room and they explore, run and play more.

If everyone had dining room chicks, anti-depressant manufacturing companies would go broke......

I can now ponder what they are doing, while drinking coffee and putting my Doctors kids through private schools things like:

Why do they like poop better than feed?

Why do some sit on top?

Why do some like grit and some not?

Why do some sit on the baby roost and others not?

What makes them decide to run across the cage to bump chests?

How do they decide who to bump chest with?

Is that white one a boy or girl?

X2!

 

[10AcreChick]

I so like my MHP and the happy little chicks, I so like not having pasty butts!

I changed the direction the MHP lies in the cage in the dining room, it seems to give them more room and they explore, run and play more.

If everyone had dining room chicks, anti-depressant manufacturing companies would go broke......

I can now ponder what they are doing, while drinking coffee and putting my Doctors kids through private schools things like:

Why do they like poop better than feed?

Why do some sit on top?

Why do some like grit and some not?

Why do some sit on the baby roost and others not?

What makes them decide to run across the cage to bump chests?

How do they decide who to bump chest with?

Is that white one a boy or girl?

Oh! I don't have a baby roost! I should do that this weekend!

I wonder if they ventured outside today? I wouldn't if I was them, what a miserable day! Hmmm, the musings of a broody away from her babies...

 

[duluthralphie]

Oh! I don't have a baby roost! I should do that this weekend!

I wonder if they ventured outside today? I wouldn't if I was them, what a miserable day! Hmmm, the musings of a broody away from her babies...

I put 3/4 in dowel between two 6inch pieces of Dowel it is about 16 inches long. The guys in the living room are not a week yet, but they love sitting on it and they seem to play king of the hill on it. or jump from it onto another's back.

 

[ShanandGem]

How can you say that. When I tell me wife she reminds me of a mother dog I get beat? It's about the same thing..

I am so abused ( trust me)........

Did you just call your wife a -----? lol
You'd get a beating around here for that kind of behavior too. Team Mrs duluthralphie!

 

[duluthralphie]

Did you just call your wife a b**ch? lol
You'd get a beating around here for that kind of behavior too. Team Mrs duluthralphie!

Nope I would never call her that! I would be eating ground glass some day soon if I did and not know it until it was too late.......

 

[COChix]

For those asking about horizontal nipples with a bucket heater. Here is a shot of the one we got that is for plastic or metal, floats or submersible and has it's own thermostat. Paid around $65 for them last year, but could t be happier. Have it set up in a five gallon bucket for two different flock. Babies learned from day two and we are in Colorado, the buckets are outside in the covered run 24/7 and have never had an issue with them freezing. Love them!

 

[bruceha2000]

If everyone had dining room chicks, anti-depressant manufacturing companies would go broke......

While the divorce lawyers are buying new and very large boats.

I'm right in central vermont.

Thanks for the tips, makes sense that the cups will freeze. The other system I was considering was horizontal nipples in a 5 gallon bucket with one of those bucket heaters...
Could you add a pic of your system? I'm having trouble visualizing it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/g/i/5473656/finished-box-with-a-broody-hen/sort/display_order/

I thought I had posted it on a thread but maybe not (or I just can't find it). The pictures are a bit disjointed but maybe you can figure it out. I don't want to muck up the MHP thread with too much irrelevant stuff but I will say that I would not build it into the nest box again. Had to take it all apart to replace 3 of the 5 nipples when they failed for no reason I could ever figure out.