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

[Liddy]

Thank you for the encouragement to do away with both the possibility of pinching between the fencing and the pad, and the second pad, instead keeping the heat on their backs. (I did see the construction thread for the panel made using a heating pad and a grill rack, I may make one of those for the mob arriving in two weeks.)

Now that it is growing warmer each day - and night - I won't fret so much over just how warm it is under MHP. I think I'm concerned because they are so darned small and it's so cold. When I brought home First Flock two years ago, they spent the first two weeks in a kiddie pool in an unused bedroom. The new gals are a few days younger *and* in unheated space.

I wouldn't use two thermometers. Like the Chinese say, "A man with one watch always knows what time it is. A man with two is never certain."

 

[Murphy212]

Trying to keep up with this extremely busy thread is hard...so many posts about so many things is just wonderful. I love it but can't find the answers to my questions. I have my six 4 week olds in a separate run within my coop run with my 7 bigs. They no longer have the heating pad but the cave is still there along with their separate water and feed. I want to give them access to the coop run with their own area as a safe haven from the big ones. Of course I want them to go in and out of the coop freely and get to know it as home. My questions are: Will they follow the lead of the big ones, "learn the ropes" from them and go in at night on their own? I will not be able to "lock them in the coop" so they know that is home, unless I also confine the big ones to the coop run. Also, my 3 year old bigs have free range rights within my large fenced back yard (aka big run) , should I allow the little ones the same freedom or keep them more confined and for how long?
I guess what I am really asking is how to go about fully integrating the babies with the big girls when they have been living side by side but separated. Will they just follow the flock or do their own thing?
Thanks for any guidance you can provide.
Murphy

 

[lazy gardener]

Murphy, excellent questions, all! This is how I'd handle it: I'd wait till I can be home to supervise. You might try by letting them out in the evening for a bit. Toss some scratch in the run to get the bigs there, toss some scratch in the coop also. Let the littles out, and step back and watch. Azygous has an excellent set of pics of the little safety "portals" she made so the littles can run back into the "panic room" as needed. For the first few days you'll need to supervise. They already know the coop is home. But beware, even though they may stay with the flock when ranging, they will be the first ones picked off by any sort of predator. You'll also have to give run and coop a very fine inspection to be sure there's no place they can get stuck or trapped. (baby proof the run)

 

[azygous]

Murphy, you're facing the next big step in being a chick parent. Just as a kindergartner gets confused about what to do on the first day of school when it comes time to go back inside after recess, so do chicks not understand how going into the coop at night works.

On top of all that, have you ever stopped to think that the coop, even though chicks may be familiar with the inside, looks much different and alien viewing it from out in the run? That's why I install a small night light in the coop for the first week or so as the chicks are learning to go in at night.

The first step is to create a panic room out in the run so the chicks can learn to mingle with the adults and not be afraid of them. You can see pics and read how it all works by clicking on the second link below this post. After they are mingling with the adults and understand how to utilize their panic room through the numerous portals, then you move the chicks into the coop. I move their MHP inside with them so it's not too sudden a change. After one night, and I remove the MHP and place them on the roosting perch. It doesn't take them long and they're anxious to roost on any horizontal surface they can find in the coop.

The first night after they move into the coop, you may need to teach them to go inside. The night light may lure them inside without you needing to do anything, but some chick groups don't get it on their own. Please try to resist the urge to snatch them up as it's getting dark and stuffing them into the coop. It creates unnecessary stress for everyone.

Waiting until the adults have settled in and are roosting is easiest. Wait until you see your chicks congregating near the coop making their night time trilling noises, signalling their intent to huddle for sleep. Then, if they don't see the light in the coop and go inside on their own, climb inside and coax them in with a few meal worms. It may take doing this a second night, but they will have it down by the third.

And your work is done.

 

[COChix]

Murphy, you're facing the next big step in being a chick parent. Just as a kindergartner gets confused about what to do on the first day of school when it comes time to go back inside after recess, so do chicks not understand how going into the coop at night works.

On top of all that, have you ever stopped to think that the coop, even though chicks may be familiar with the inside, looks much different and alien viewing it from out in the run? That's why I install a small night light in the coop for the first week or so as the chicks are learning to go in at night.

The first step is to create a panic room out in the run so the chicks can learn to mingle with the adults and not be afraid of them. You can see pics and read how it all works by clicking on the second link below this post. After they are mingling with the adults and understand how to utilize their panic room through the numerous portals, then you move the chicks into the coop. I move their MHP inside with them so it's not too sudden a change. After one night, and I remove the MHP and place them on the roosting perch. It doesn't take them long and they're anxious to roost on any horizontal surface they can find in the coop.

The first night after they move into the coop, you may need to teach them to go inside. The night light may lure them inside without you needing to do anything, but some chick groups don't get it on their own. Please try to resist the urge to snatch them up as it's getting dark and stuffing them into the coop. It creates unnecessary stress for everyone.

Waiting until the adults have settled in and are roosting is easiest. Wait until you see your chicks congregating near the coop making their night time trilling noises, signalling their intent to huddle for sleep. Then, if they don't see the light in the coop and go inside on their own, climb inside and coax them in with a few meal worms. It may take doing this a second night, but they will have it down by the third.

And your work is done.

We have also utilized a small garden solar light In the coop the first couple of nights when we put babies outside. Definitely helps them find their way inside the coop once dusk hits.

 

[Jensownzoo]

We have also utilized a small garden solar light In the coop the first couple of nights when we put babies outside. Definitely helps them find their way inside the coop once dusk hits.

That is a really good idea.

 

[Blooie]

Excellent answers for your questions, @Murphy212 from a couple of the best when it comes to that topic. I'm not quite as precise. I just open the run door and let 'em go. Of course I'm there to supervise, but last year I integrated 3 sets of chicks with no issues, all by 4 weeks old. I opened the run door and of course the Bigs took off for the great outdoors like their feathers were on fire. Then I opened the side of the brooder pen (mine happens to be in the run, not the coop) and let whatever was going to happen, happen. At first they were very tentative - but it didn't take long until they were running all over the run that the girls had abandoned. Then a couple of them ventured outside. The Bigs noticed but for the most part went about their foraging business. Some of the Bigs went inside the brooder pen to check it out and there were still chicks inside. No problem.

I also have a huge half log in the run. It's hollow, and sits with the hollowed side down. The chicks can fit under there if they get scared, but the Bigs can't follow them. This year I have added the portal doors like @azygous has and we'll be letting the 3 weekers out this afternoon. So they have a couple of safety zones.

If I had any issues at all it was the Littles and the Tinys crowding into the nest boxes. THAT became a real problem. So I had to resort to covering them. The Bigs weren't happy, and it took a few months - yes, months, not days - but they finally got it. I did the old "take 'em out and put 'em on the roost" thing, but they didn't take me seriously. <sigh, silly chickens>

 

[bruceha2000]

Quote:
It was me.
I was messing with MBB (My Buddy Blooie

)
And she knows it

Quote:
I was going to say that but I was Blooied by LG

Those pads heat up pretty quickly. I know because I have used mine on MY back more than once. Unless it is a REALLLLLLLLLY long walk from house to coop, it will be back up to temp in no time and the chicks won't even notice. They'll be too busying trying to figure out what the new space is all about.

 

[Blooie]

Yep, I only have two heating pads because we bought the small one when we were just taking care of a single chick, Scout, and I needed the larger one for the mob when they got here. So it just happens to work out for me that I can have two pads....it's NOT necessary at all. Do what the smart folks said....just turn it off, set it up outside, come back in and get the chicks, and stick 'em under. A few minutes without heat ain't going to hurt 'em one bit - Mom doesn't sit on them 24/7 either. You've got this!

 

[lazy gardener]

Hey Bruce!