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

[Jensownzoo]

Mice...will eat...their FEET?!?!

 

[Blooie]

They don't retain heat in their feet - they sit on them and their feathers, down and body heat keep their feet warm.

 

[eagrbeavr]

Oh ok, thanks

 

[eagrbeavr]

lalaland, I missed your reply. Thanks you for it.

 

[varidgerunner]

Broody hens offer much more than warmth. They have natural oils which they impart to their chicks. This gives them water shedding properties, thereby increasing the effectiveness of their down at insulating them. This lack of waterproofing makes artificially raised chicks even more susseptible to the slightest draft, chicks are damp little creatures, their respiration alone is enough to cause them to get damp, without mom's oil.

The hen makes chicks venture out, makes them experience cool temperatures. This stimulates feather growth. Chicks born in warm weather will grow less feathers than chicks born in cool weather, if raised under hens. They also learn to regulate their own temperature, from a much earlier age.

As for toes, wide roosts in the winter allow chickens to cover their toes with feathers, small roosts allow the toes to curl around too far and leave unprotected toe on the bottom of the roost. Chickens feet are fairly well insulated though, it needs to get down into the single digits with wind before you see much problem. Chicks feet are insulated pretty well too. At least these guys think so, they are a week old playing in the snow.

 

[eagrbeavr]

Certainly it could be bad information. I just read several places the reason people were giving the wide roosts was because it covered their feet in their coma sleep and there were cases were mice chewed on their feet while they slept. Keeping their feet warm seems obvious. I dont know if the mice thing is true. Just what I read over and over. Its not something I would've ever thought of.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Certainly it could be bad information. I just read several places the reason people were giving the wide roosts was because it covered their feet in their coma sleep and there were cases were mice chewed on their feet while they slept. Keeping their feet warm seems obvious. I dont know if the mice thing is true. Just what I read over and over. Its not something I would've ever thought of.

I have heard that mice will eat their feet to, and find it very likely, mice will chew on anything that stands still long enough. But they need the wide perch to keep their feet from getting frost bit, their feet and their combs are the parts in danger in the cold.

 

[Blooie]

Broody hens offer much more than warmth. They have natural oils which they impart to their chicks. This gives them water shedding properties, thereby increasing the effectiveness of their down at insulating them. This lack of waterproofing makes artificially raised chicks even more susseptible to the slightest draft, chicks are damp little creatures, their respiration alone is enough to cause them to get damp, without mom's oil.

The hen makes chicks venture out, makes them experience cool temperatures. This stimulates feather growth. Chicks born in warm weather will grow less feathers than chicks born in cool weather, if raised under hens. They also learn to regulate their own temperature, from a much earlier age.

As for toes, wide roosts in the winter allow chickens to cover their toes with feathers, small roosts allow the toes to curl around too far and leave unprotected toe on the bottom of the roost. Chickens feet are fairly well insulated though, it needs to get down into the single digits with wind before you see much problem. Chicks feet are insulated pretty well too. At least these guys think so, they are a week old playing in the snow.

That's a really good point about the oils from the hen's body - I'd never thought of it and Mama Heating Pad sure doesn't provide that! We're using MHP because a broody isn't available and "she" does a really good job of letting them learn to regulate their own comfort. They spend more time out of the Cave than in it during the day and I raise mine outside from the start, no matter what the weather is!! Thanks for that information! I love learning something I didn't know before!

 

[TerryH]

Thought I'd post this here also. Thanks so much @Blooie !! We feel so much better about the MHP instead of the heat light. Chicks coming Tuesday afternoon. Dry run underway now. All systems look good. If anyone would like to check out my "Check my check list" thread it would be great. We want to make sure that we've got all the things we need ready.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1095741/check-my-check-list-chicks-in-2-days#post_16841559

 

[Blooie]

Thought I'd post this here also. Thanks so much @Blooie !! We feel so much better about the MHP instead of the heat light. Chicks coming Tuesday afternoon. Dry run underway now. All systems look good. If anyone would like to check out my "Check my check list" thread it would be great. We want to make sure that we've got all the things we need ready.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1095741/check-my-check-list-chicks-in-2-days#post_16841559

Hey, Terry! Looks like you've been busy! How many chicks are you expecting? You'll be amazed at how fast they grow! The only thing that I'd suggest is to lose the newspaper. I know, I know, that means you'll have to take it all apart and rebuild it. But newspaper is notorious for causing foot and leg problems in chicks. Some people have used puppy pee pads to cover the floor for the first few days. When I was doing this in the house, I just covered the whole bloomin' floor with pine shavings and put paper towels over that until I knew they weren't going to eat the shavings instead of their food. Once you know they are eating well you can take the paper towels off and leave them on the shavings.You might also want to put some marbles or pebbles in the waterer to keep them from drowning or tracking through it.

And you know we need pictures of the chicks when they get here!!