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

[thebulg]

We're outside! It's in the 80s here, so currently i don't even have the cave plugged in. They are snoozing away outside and seemed to immediately love it! The only real wild card now is the big girls and guy. As long as the chicks can figure out their way back in if they venture out, i have no concerns.

I am really excited about this whole thing!

 

[bruceha2000]

Chicks arrived safe and sound this morning and the Hay Rack Heating Pad Cave is a success. Thank you so much to everyone who helped me tweak the design and make it safe. Everyone fits under with plenty of extra room to grow. I can raise it up with stall mat remnants when they get too big for the current height.
I'm trying not to fret too much, they all seem to be in great shape with a big appetite and lots of energy. I bred horses for years so I am a big time worrier when it comes to newborns (at least these newborns can't run me a 5k vet bill
It was suggested I put a normal chick waterer in with them until they learned the brite tap. I am pleased to report that even though I dipped every beak in the water and stuck them one by one under the cave they all proceeded to run directly to the brite tap and peck away at it. They then found every single tiny crack/hole in my baracade and escaped into the larger coop area. I had to breakdown the box they came in and tape it over all the corners! They are worse than a litter of puppies!
At the moment the most fascinating thing for them to do is peck at an exposed area of stall mat. Big fun.
I am beyond thrilled with them, now to figure out who is who.
My coop is in a stall in the barn, we have wire under the floor and over the ceiling for safety. The "barn birds" that nest in the rafters are going nuts at all the chirping and keep flying into the wire on the ceiling.

we have noticed one other thing with our thermometer placed where it is. When the chicks all ball up on it at night, as they sleep right over it, the temp reads 94.1 lol. We didn't take this into account, but we will take some updated pics of our chicks so you all can see that they are feathering out just fine. Most have some decent wing feathers, and the barred rocks are starting to get tail feathers.

I think that one of out BR's, Puff, might be a roo, but we will have to wait a bit more to see. She/he is already getting a crest, none of the other chicks have any sign of one. They were all hatched on the same day and shipped on the same day so I may be posting soon enough in the "what gender is this" thread lol.

Not that we mind, our plan was to have 4 this year (1 buff, 1 barred, 2 blue orpington) but the hatchery had problems with the blue hatch so we went with the buffs and barred, we got six because I wanted to make sure we had at least 4 in case of deaths. They are all doing fine. So our plan is for next spring to order all blue orpingtons and try for a pure breed flock as we cull out these chickens later. However, as my wife and I have said, we may find that we like the barred better! Never know!

You may be the first on BYC to measure the temperature of a pile o' chicks!

Crest? Rocks don't have crests. Unless you mean comb.

 

[OEF5]

Here is a 1 week 2 day old pic of Puff they have been using the MHP this whole time, and we have had many concerns about our temps and feathering. While I'm a noob I think they are doing rather well on the feather department.

Puff at 2 days old


Puff today 1 week and 2 days old

 

[bruceha2000]

Looks like normal feather changes rather than a crest. There ARE some crested chicken breeds.

 

[saraem]

Well, our chicks are doing swimmingly. It's been warm this week and I've got the heating pad on low for one more night and then plan to remove it. We all get a good laugh watching them jockey for the "favorite" spot, crawling all over and under each other as it gets dark. They should go in the coop with a huddle box this weekend.

Glad we did this, even if we were late to the game and only used it for a short time. We'll be well prepared when we get our next batch of chicks eventually. I also never heard their nighttime "purring" noise they make as they settle in until we switched over from the heat lamp! Such a sweet little sound.

Random question - I am 90% sure our Australorp is a cockerel (how's that for luck, out of our 3 original supposed pullets! We only got the 4th because I've suspected this one of being a boy since week 2), what is the optimal time to rehome him? Want to do what will be easiest for him as well as the others. They freak out when one of them is missing!

 

[lazy gardener]

Just to add to the "bungie under" posts, here is a construction photo of my pad heater before it was all finished. I also have the pad under the frame with bungies. Thanks to @aart and @henless for their suggestions and guidance.



Old closet shelving.

This is the top before putting something on it. 12x24" ETA: All the upright bolt tops and the side pieces that protrude have plastic covers on them to avoid any accidental poking. Will have to get updated photos.


Turned upside down to see under.



Carriage bolts (8") with 2" washers. Wing nuts on top, regular nuts under for adjustable legs. Just like my Premier heat plate, I can put the back lets lower than the front at any configuration so that there is a higher and lower area.










I have since taken a feed mill feed bag (the woven kind), put a towel inside it, then it lays on top. I don't have a photo of that yet.

Love, love, love it. I have plenty of closet-maid shelving kicking around. I'm gonna have to make one of those, b/c the typical flexed wire cave just is not big enough for a large clutch of babies. This would easily do for those large broods. I like the use of tarp type feed bags also. I think that when I do mine, I'd like to stitch the tarp to the towel (so the tarp just covers the horizontal surface), and leave it so just fabric of the towel hangs down on all 4 sides of the frame.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Love, love, love it. I have plenty of closet-maid shelving kicking around. I'm gonna have to make one of those, b/c the typical flexed wire cave just is not big enough for a large clutch of babies. This would easily do for those large broods. I like the use of tarp type feed bags also. I think that when I do mine, I'd like to stitch the tarp to the towel (so the tarp just covers the horizontal surface), and leave it so just fabric of the towel hangs down on all 4 sides of the frame.

@lazy gardener
Nice thing about the closet shelving is that you can cut it exactly the length you want it to be. (My husband brought home a bunch of it that they were throwing away at work so we got it free but it's not that expensive to purchase new.]

Here are a couple photos today showing the feed bag and end caps. ETA: This is way up high...it's been cold at night so I've left it out mostly for comfort for these big kiddos.

Poor photo but shows the whole thing.







I was in a hurry and used several layers of newspaper to put on top of the rack. Thought I'd replace it but it has worked just fine so I never bothered. Enough layers to cover the bars well.

You can see that I put a towel inside the feed bag then clipped it shut with a binder clip. The feed bag bottom seam hangs over on the left and this part hangs over a little on the right.

You can see the end cap on the upright bolts. Also look toward the back under the cord and you can see small end caps on one of the protruding cut ends. (That one is white.)



Hmmmm I didn't know that was under there!



3 big kids on top.



End cap again. If I remember correctly, these were for a small chair leg. The little white ones are sold in a pkg where the shelving is for... shelving!




Thanks to @henless for the washer/wing-nut inspiration. Thanks to @aart for the carriage bolt inspiration.

 

[Angiebubs]

Hoping someone can help? We created a MHP using 2x4, a wire rack, and this heating pad (http://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-732-5...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00) which does not turn off automatically.

I set it up and covered with pillow case, then pine shavings in the bottom of plastic water tank 36 x 18 x 12.

The temperature on the lower end (we slanted it slightly) is only 70-75? I know the surface of the pad itself was over a 100.

What am I doing wrong? Or how can I make this work? Chicks are hatching early and will need to be moved in there soon.

 

[Jensownzoo]

Hoping someone can help? We created a MHP using 2x4 a wire rack and this heating pad (http://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-732-500-King-Heating-UltraHeatTechnology/dp/B000FGDDI0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00) which does not turn off automatically.

I set it up d covered with pillow case, then pine shavings in the bottom of plastic water tank 36 x 18 x 12.

The temperature on the lower end (we slated it slightly) is only 70-75?  I know the surface of the pad itself was over a 100.

What am doing wrong? Or how can I make this work? Chicks are hatching early and will need to be moved in there soon.

You are doing nothing wrong. You aren't trying to heat up the air in the cave, you are providing a warm surface for the chicks to touch their backs and wings to...it's an entirely different type of heating method than a heat lamp, resembling more what a mother hen provides.

 

[aart]

Quote: Sounds right on to me.
Go by chick behavior, not the thermometer.