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

[ShrekDawg]

So... our first chicks are en route and scheduled to arrive tomorrow or Thursday. I'm so excited (and nervous)! I think I have everything set up and ready. We're brooding them in the coop. We live in West Central Florida and the temperatures at night have been around 60 (except for yesterday). What do you think? Anything I'm missing? Does it look right? We have 15 chicks coming and I'm using one 12x24 sunbeam pad.

I really like your coop!! How big is it?? I was going to make 4x8 off the ground but really like this design! Looks like maybe 4x6? 4x8? Did you build or buy? Instructions or pics of build?

That is very true! I think it was the second winter with our June 2012 chicks that my wife and I were counting the girls in the pretty dark coop (from the outside) to make sure they had all gotten in before the auto door had closed) and could not count past 11 from the front or either side of the coop. Couldn't find a chicken outside the coop either. I finally went in and discovered that Peep, a Cubalaya, was so far under one of the other girls only her head was sticking out. I don't recall which girl she was "under" but since none of them had ever raised chicks it seemed pretty odd that Peep wasn't shoved out. How about a piece of plywood cut with a 90 degree opening on one corner that can slide diagonally so that both the top and one side of the opening can shrink/grow at the same time? Yes, I guess my statement was a bit too "black and white". 5 of my 7 broody raised chicks headed to the roost by themselves over a couple of days then the broody went up and the other 2 came with her. They did shove under for a couple of days but she put a stop to it I think. I would be tempted to get out a strong set of pliers and angle the back pair of legs so the back of the cave will be lower than the front, ~ 2" off the floor. And that gap in the front looks like a perfect "chick suicide" location, getting trapped between the pad and the rack above, overheating and dying. Just because they can get in doesn't mean they can get out. 7" is WAY too high. You aren't trying to create a heated cave, you are trying to create the underside of a hen that is touching the back of the chicks but that they can adjust their position for more or less contact or none at all. I would put both the food and water up off the shavings or that is what you will have in both. Is that a 1 gallon waterer? It is a lot bigger than you need while they are in "brooder" mode. I wouldn't fill it very far because you will be replacing the water frequently as the chicks toss shavings, food and poop in it. A "standard" 1 pint chick waterer is plenty big enough for 15, they don't all drink at the same time (same with a feeder). The chicks will be on top of either within a week. Given where you live, is there enough ventilation in the coop for the chickens when they are older? Heat will kill a critter with a permanent down coat.

Also have to agree with bruce about putting those up off the ground. For the first day or two it's fine onthe ground so theycan find it but very very soon they turn into brats! Mine were CONSTANTLY getting shavings and poop in the food and water or tipping over the food!!!! And they are brats or stupid and won't dig around and eat around the shavings if they get in there

 

[Blooie]

@mobius , isn't it amazing how well they teach themselves to be chickens? Love it!!

@Pattycat I agree...I don't count much on precise measurements and/or temps and such in the brooder, but 7" is too high. Think heating pad at about the level of their backs. In my first post on the this thread, I said I had mine 6 inches in the front and 4 inches in the back. Almost as soon as it was finished I knew that the front was too high, so I smooshed it down a bit, but I don't know how much - probably no more than another inch but enough that the chicks were closer to the underside of the pad. I should have been more clear, and that's my fault.

 

[bruceha2000]

Many thanks for all helpful responses to how long to use MHP...chicks are four weeks but I dunno that they are fully feathered: they have been in coop about four days (with MHP) and are adjusting well...first night down to 20F, but no problems whatsoever, first day they explored the run and PUT THEMSELVES TO BED all by themselves without being asked. I was sure I would be on my belly under the coop chasing one down before closing the pop door! Nope! They know where the food and water and MHP are!!








Immediate dustbath in run yesterday, they love the topsoil I put down in the run! Even tho there is a dustbath in the coop!

Aren't they funny? Kind of like cats. Buy them a toy and they ignore it but if you give them one of those plastic pull out "plugs" in gable top cartons and they will play with it for hours. I made a dust bath box for my girls in the run. They pretty much ignored it. They make "day nests" on the ground in the shavings in the run and they dust bath there. They also make dust baths outside when the ground isn't frozen. My 2 White Rocks aren't all the white at the moment. Watch out for the flying dirt when they are done. An adult chicken can get a LOT of dirt packed into their feathers. When they shake it out it looks like a dog that just came out of the water.

 

[poodlechicks]

I want to share my experience with those using cardboard boxes as brooders. Check the bottom every so often. After a week brooding 6 chicks in there and even though I kept it clean, there was mold at the bottom from the chicks spilling water mixed w food all over the place. I had to switch cardboard boxes every week to keep mold from forming and the brooder from tearing at the bottom.
The next time I brooded chicks, I put tarp on the floor, covered it with pine shavings and fenced the area in w a portable dog fence surrounded by wire cloth. It turned out great, as I had easy access to the brooder and didn't have to worry about chicks jumping over the cardboard to doo doo all over the basement floor.
I plan to do the same setting this time around, this time also using MHP ( mentioned to stay on topic)

 

[Blooie]

Ah, @poodlechicks we have all strayed off topic here on more than one occasion - and the guilty party is usually me. Don't believe me? Ask about my grandkids - especially Kendra, Katie and Evan! Not playing favorites, just proximity. Evan, Katie and Kendra live within 2 blocks of me and the other two are married and off on their own, one in Chicago and the other in South Dakota. Oldest Jamie and his wife Rachel have given us a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. Little Diane (named after me!) and hubby Dustin won't be having any because she inherited a pretty serious illness from her dad's side and will pass it on, so they are content. So am I~

See how bad I am?

But I figure it's my thread and I can hijack it if I want. Kinda like having coffee with friends - do you seriously bring up one topic and stay on it all the time? A little digression is good for the soul so I never mind when folks get a little off thread from time to time.. We always come back.

 

[aart]

Quote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by aart

Tacked a chunk of 1x up there to reduce size of door from 5.5" to 4".......
then baited them all with some BOSS, looked pretty secure so left some BOSS on floor.
Came back an hour or so later and BOSS bait still there.
Rebaited them and watched a few try to shove thru...HA! no dice baby!!

So set up partition coop to test a couple layers(got some funky eggs, need to find out who),
before the chicks reside(hatch due in a week),
and a couple tried getting thru all the chick doors, tried hard and no joy for them.

So this should work, and is adjustable with just a couple easily reached screws.

You couldn't have just slid the door down an inch or 2? Maybe make a hole in the wood for a dowel or even just a nail (lined up with the openings in the hardware cloth) to hold the door in position so it couldn't slide down.

Maybe, I thought about it...but this seemed simpler and was very quickly done, is easily adjusted and best of all ....no funky fasteners that may need to be dinked with.

I like having adjustability where ever possible in any design...and had contemplated all along that it would need width as well as height adjustability Actually think the width is more important than height, why I made the sliders horizontal on the other two 'doors'.

How about a piece of plywood cut with a 90 degree opening on one corner that can slide diagonally so that both the top and one side of the opening can shrink/grow at the same time?

That would work great with hinged door.....the slider door takes care of the height adjustment, will be curious to see if it needs to be used that way.

 

[poodlechicks]

- do you seriously bring up one topic and stay on it all the time?

Never do. My friends often ask me how we end up talking about so many different things in one seating. I guess that's why I ended up talking about cardboard boxes on the MHP thread

Must be so nice to have most of your family nearby. How's Kendra? Keep us posted on her progress

 

[Blooie]

Never do. My friends often ask me how we end up talking about so many different things in one seating. I guess that's why I ended up talking about cardboard boxes on the MHP thread

Must be so nice to have most of your family nearby. How's Kendra? Keep us posted on her progress

Thanks...nothing yet. Been waiting all day for some phone calls. Testing for everything started yesterday. Right now I'm more concerned with the blizzard they are going to head into from Denver to well north of Casper when they start back. Doggone it!

 

[mobius]

@Blooie ! "Teach themselves how to be chickens"....that is perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this chicken journey, that even without a Mama, if provided the right conditions, they just go for it..this morning I found two of them practicing perching on their roost, for which they got many praises and some carrot trimmings!

It was SO cute...they are teaching me new things every day, I mean it, there is something new like that!

I certainly am concerned for your family traveling back via a blizzard...I know the road, and I hope they can stop and shelter if need be. Dang March weather! It is chilly/wet here, snowing lightly earlier! It is a bit long of a drive, Denver thru WY, too!

 

[MesMama]

Paying my dues 22 total, some are under mama. Have one that likes to peck toes, even pulls at them, one little gal was screaming :/ Ugh.