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

[GranolaGirl72]

Wondering if you kept track of how soon the chicks got feathers with this batch? Loving the photos... my daughter and I are in negotiations with the hubby to get chicks this week. They will be our first and this post helps a lot.

 

[GardenNut]

Well, I'm a terrible, novice chick mama!

when I went to bed last night, I noticed all 4 girls were hunkered down next to the nipple waterer instead of under MHP. I figured that was their choice, so I went to bed. When I got up this morning, I realized MHP was OFF, because the high winds on Saturday night caused some power fluctuations! But they seemed fine this morning, following about 24 hours of no MHP. Hopefully they had enough feathers and the 68 degree house was adequate. Thank goodness Mother Nature is smarter than I am!

 

[eagrbeavr]

Glad to hear they ended up fine. You're not terrible. You're human.

 

[GranolaGirl72]

Glad to hear they came through it fine. Oh how I envy your weather! We have been bouncing between sunshine and 40's to blizzard and 20's for a week now. It is wonderful for the tree tappers here, syrup crop should be bumper this year. The rest of us just sigh and wait for it to get warm enough to go out in the garden, lol.

 

[Blooie]

Wondering if you kept track of how soon the chicks got feathers with this batch? Loving the photos... my daughter and I are in negotiations with the hubby to get chicks this week. They will be our first and this post helps a lot.

I didn't do any note taking or anything, but I did take weekly videos of the chicks and I believe they did feather out faster than the ones I raised indoors with a heat lamp keeping their entire brooder warm. @Ridgerunner raises chicks outdoors from the time they come out of the incubator and are fluffed, and uses a heat lamp in the outdoor brooder. But the heat is only in one small area - the rest of the brooder is so large that the water on the other side of it has sometimes had a skim of ice on it - and the chicks get that essential chilling they need. So it's exposure to chilling that helps those feathers grow in, not necessarily the heating pad itself. Since the pad is only heating the chicks when they are on or directly under it and the rest of the brooder is cold, it stands to reason that they'd grow those all important feathers quickly.

 

[aart]

With as many times as I've advised on moving chicks outside, I am nibbling some humble pie this morning as the semi-anxiety settles in for moving the week olds outside into the coop partition with the MHP tomorrow. Got temp ranges at upper 20's to barely 50 over the next week or so.

My house has zone heating so I can keep the upper living area toasty for me and the lower level has been at ~60 since hatch.
Today the thermostat down there is off, and a window is cracked open to cool it even more.

Coop is draft free and I have plans for insulating(the already insulated floor-haha) under the MHP with some thick straw flakes.
They all seem healthy and hearty, eatingdrinkingpooping well, the few days older ones trying out their wings.

But still....it is a bit nerve racking on the first go round...have always brooded inside for 4-6 weeks until now.
I will miss being able to check on them frequently with a glance down the stairs...but won't miss the dust and brooder cleaning.

Cathartic Venting over.......for now, haha!...off to prep coop nursery and tend to big birds.

 

[MesMama]

Here we go!

Awww! Cuties!!

 

[Blooie]

With as many times as I've advised on moving chicks outside, I am nibbling some humble pie this morning as the semi-anxiety settles in for moving the week olds outside into the coop partition with the MHP tomorrow. Got temp ranges at upper 20's to barely 50 over the next week or so.

My house has zone heating so I can keep the upper living area toasty for me and the lower level has been at ~60 since hatch.
Today the thermostat down there is off, and a window is cracked open to cool it even more.

Coop is draft free and I have plans for insulating(the already insulated floor-haha) under the MHP with some thick straw flakes.
They all seem healthy and hearty, eatingdrinkingpooping well, the few days older ones trying out their wings.

But still....it is a bit nerve racking on the first go round...have always brooded inside for 4-6 weeks until now.
I will miss being able to check on them frequently with a glance down the stairs...but won't miss the dust and brooder cleaning.

Cathartic Venting over.......for now, haha!...off to prep coop nursery and tend to big birds.

You've got this, @aart . I also put straw on the floor, with a good layer of it under the frame before I set that down, and then more on top of the towel and pad. Can't remember if you use the towel or not, but remember - straw is your friend! (even if the chicks knock it all off in order to poop directly on top of the heating pad) I have total faith in you!

 

[mobius]

The rest of us just sigh and wait for it to get warm enough to go out in the garden, lol.

Yes, that would be me too!! Until Yesterday...chicks have been outside for two weeks! So I raked the yard of all the tiny pine cones and duff...and it went right in the run, to tiny peeps of delight (at least that is how I interpreted it, more likely they were saying "WHAT are you doing to our run?"

). Rain today, sigh...now trying to work around the weather...

Does anyone think (I am beginning to be suspicious) that if they kick all the pine shavings UNDER MHP and FILL it, that they are saying "We don't need no more MHP, you silly human?"

 

[ksguy]

I'll hop on board with the idea that they feather out faster. My babies are 10 days old and their wing feathers are huge! They're already "hop-flying" across the yard. Speaking of, they got plenty of time outside this weekend. Saturday was quite nice, especially sitting in the sun. We gave them about 15 minutes to scratch around an area with thin grass and they seemed thrilled. We sprinkled some chick feed in the grass to help them get the idea. They wouldn't get far from us, though - I think they see us as mama chicken, and they were a bit intimidated by the wide open space. Yesterday, I put them in the portable coop, which is about 3' x 6'. I put it so half was in the sun, and half was in the shade. Air temp was low 80's, but sitting in the sun one got much warmer. They were outside happy as could be for hours. Cheeping, chasing each other around, and testing their wings. They wandered back and forth from shade to sun to shade to regulate temp (at least I assume that's what they were doing). They never huddled up to stay warm. I'm 100% convinced they're more temp hardy with MHP than my last batch was under a heat lamp.

Poor things had so much fun they didn't take a nap all afternoon. When I brought them in at 6 their crops were gigantic and they face planted for an immediate nap. It was adorable. Wish I'd have gotten a picture.