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

[perchie.girl]

Quote:

how about these


NOT chicken eggs but eggs from the Tinamou

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...american-bird-that-lays-shiny-iridescent-eggs

Yep they are real the shine is no touchup or paint...

deb

OK, I seriously want some of those!!!!!

so did I but no one has domesticated them.... Apparently they lay readily in captivity.

deb

 

[eagrbeavr]

Ok, if I may, I have a question about integrating chicks with the big girls.

I have 6 yr old hens. Their feed is in the coop.

I have 5 chicks, Theyre about 4 wks old. For the past several days they've been in they're own grow out box located in the run used by the hens. I have partitioned a quarter of that run so the littles have their private area alongside the hens.

When the time soon comes to integrate them all, how do you folks deal with the feed situation, keeping the chicks out of the layer feed. I leave pretty early in the morning, before they're down from the roost. How do I avoid having the hens wait until I get home so they can eat. Its easy enough to work it so the chicks can get to their food and not the hens, but the other way around? I could use some suggestions

 

[FlyWheel]

...

 

[lalaland]

eagrbeaver,
I switch to an all flock feed - and make sure there is free access to oyster shell and crushed egg shells to add back the calcium for the layers.

 

[perchie.girl]

Ok, if I may, I have a question about integrating chicks with the big girls.

I have 6 yr old hens. Their feed is in the coop.

I have 5 chicks, Theyre about 4 wks old. For the past several days they've been in they're own grow out box located in the run used by the hens. I have partitioned a quarter of that run so the littles have their private area alongside the hens.

When the time soon comes to integrate them all, how do you folks deal with the feed situation, keeping the chicks out of the layer feed. I leave pretty early in the morning, before they're down from the roost. How do I avoid having the hens wait until I get home so they can eat. Its easy enough to work it so the chicks can get to their food and not the hens, but the other way around? I could use some suggestions

set the layer higher than the chicks can reach and put the chick food in an area only the chickes can get to.

But it probably doesnt matter if they get the big girls food.

deb

 

[Blooie]

I just feed an All Flock or Starter/Grower. They can all eat the same stuff and the layers get a separate dish of oyster shell for the calcium. The chicks will show a little interest in it at first, but they won't eat enough to matter. Then I'm not buying a bag of this and a bag of that and trying to keep them from eating each other's food.

 

[eagrbeavr]

Thanks Deb. Not sure if that'll work tho. The chicks are flying. I was just about to repost saying f it. I'll just keep them separated until the chicks are ready for big girl food then I caught blooies remark about a feed they can both eat.If I can do that, that'll be great since I have a hen thats broody. My first time dealing with that too. I was thinking of getting a few cheap eggs to give to see how she does. I was thinking of moving her into that grow out pen, see if she'll keep sitting, and if she does, slip some eggs under her. Does that sound plausible?

I ready appreciate the direction from you ladies, thank you

 

[eagrbeavr]

dont know if it matters, but for the clarity, I have 6 one year old hens

 

[Blooie]

@FlyWheel I see that you deleted your post. Not sure why you'd do that, you absolutely have every right to ask the question and to have your ideas considered. No one here is trying to be argumentative - just helpful in explaining why many of us don't do the heating pad on the floor. We all have chicks that prefer, after a certain time, to spend more time on top of the heating pad rather than under it, and we expect that. It's the natural progression of things....under a broody hen they'd be doing the same thing - laying alongside her or on top of her rather than under her because 1) they are feathered enough not to need as much heat anymore and 2) they won't all fit anyway. So really, your chicks aren't doing anything that ours don't do as well.

I know, it's a heating pad, not a broody hen. But a heat lamp is just a heat lamp, too. What we are trying to do with MHP is to replicate as closely as we can the behavior of chicks with a real mom. And at this point the chicks would naturally not be under her as much. They simply don't need as much heat. Putting the pad underneath and then a towel on top is just putting back in what they have clearly shown they don't want - a lot of heat. As I see it, with the pad on top, they can just hop up for a few seconds, or even take a nap if they want to. That's what they're doing with your heating pad on the floor, except when you cover it to hold in the heat. At that point being on top of the cave gives them no heat, and being in it gives them too much. So they are more likely to find a corner, pile into it, and go without. And you know, if your temps aren't bad, that's okay too! But they are young enough yet that if they get spooked, they still have the security of running underneath, even if the pad is just set on low or 1.

If you just don't think this is the way you want to go and prefer your setup, that's certainly the right thing for you to do. There is no "one way" to raise chicks. But most of us who have done this for awhile have figured out how to most closely give the chicks as natural a start as possible without a broody hen. I hope that answered your question better than we've been able to do so far. Some have been doing it with the heat on the floor for sometime, so it's nothing new. @MyMilleFleur has long been brooding chicks with the heating pad on the floor rather than using a frame.

 

[eagrbeavr]

Its my understanding that chickens retain a lot of their heat thru their feet, like cats and dogs, which is why (from what I understand) its helpful to give them a wide roost in the winter, to help them retain heat (aside from the mice eating their feet thing). So if thats the case, it makes sense that heat from the floor would work too, imo.