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

[lazy gardener]

It's a common misconception that raccoons are only active at night. I have had coons go after my flock at all hours of the day, including broad daylight.

Agreed, and well stated. I have also seen coons out mid day. And if they know where the buffet is, they are more apt to come back... and will keep coming back until they have killed all of your birds.

 

[bruceha2000]

Quote:
Yep

I store my MHP on my legs, under my laptop. It gets hot - the laptop, not the pad. The pad only gets hot when it is plugged in. Of course I guess the same can be said of the laptop.

We're getting our very first batch of baby chicks in a couple days, and after reading through some of this threat, I want to try the MHP. We are getting 30 chicks. How many can fit under one 12x24 heating pad cave? I have two, and made one deep cave. Will that work? Or should I make two smaller caves? Or will I need more heatin pads? TIA!

I would NOT make a deep cave, make it 48" wide and shallow.

snip

And, we absolutely love our www.chickendoors.com popdoor. Best design ever.

--Victoria

Me too, I got the Pullet-Shut door when there was no power in the barn. I wasn't sure if the solar charger would get enough light so I connected it to two used 6V lantern batteries wired in series. When they failed in 6 months I put in the "sister" pair. I replaced those in November 2014 with 2 new Alkaline 6V lantern batteries and have YET to replace them. That door uses SO little power I now have no question that any amount of sunlight could keep the battery from the Pullet-shut people charged.

 

[Henchickkk15]

For day old chicks, do you put the heat on 6? Or would you do less?

 

[junebuggena]

For day old chicks, do you put the heat on 6? Or would you do less?

It all depends on how warm the ambient temperature of the brooder is. In warm weather, they don't need it set as warm as they would in cold weather.
Start out with the pad at 5, and watch what the chicks do. Make adjustments from there.

 

[Henchickkk15]

Okay, good to know! Thanks!

 

[Victoria-nola]

Quote:

snip

And, we absolutely love our www.chickendoors.com popdoor. Best design ever.

--Victoria

Me too, I got the Pullet-Shut door when there was no power in the barn. I wasn't sure if the solar charger would get enough light so I connected it to two used 6V lantern batteries wired in series. When they failed in 6 months I put in the "sister" pair. I replaced those in November 2014 with 2 new Alkaline 6V lantern batteries and have YET to replace them. That door uses SO little power I now have no question that any amount of sunlight could keep the battery from the Pullet-shut people charged.

We actually have it hooked up to grid electricity and I'm glad to hear about your experience with the solar option, I'll need it for the guinea coop. There are many wonderful things about the design, but chief for me is that once you've set the open and close times, you can manually open or close the door as many times as you want during the day and it still knows to be correctly closed or open at the next appointed time. Unlike doors that depend on lighting timers where you're constantly fiddling to reset the timer if you open or close it manually. So once I've put them in for the night I can go ahead and manually close it without having to reset the timer--So much better.. Another great feature is the battery-- if the electricity goes out, the door still works and retains its settings, so you don't have to worry about that (we use a very small lead-acid battery-- are those alkalines rechargeables?). It also doesn't have a string that breaks every year-- aside from putting a little motor oil on the lower hinge once in a while, we have not had to do any maintenance (knock wood).

 

[bruceha2000]

Nope, sadly I have no way to recharge the Alkalines and yes that does bother me. I thought I could use the old 12V from my wife's Prius 2 years ago but it wouldn't hold a charge at all. I replaced the one in mine a few months ago when the very misleading "Put the transmission in Park" message started coming up. At least in the 2004-2009 Prius, that means "your 12V is failing" which would be a MUCH more useful bit of information. I replaced it with a Yellowtop Prius kit battery from eLearnAide within a week of the message first showing up so maybe it will still hold enough charge for the auto door. If it does, I'll use it when the two 6Vs die. Since the 12V in a Prius doesn't have to crank the engine, it is a pretty small battery. I could get the grid or solar power charger and the battery from the PulletShut people but that would be much more expensive than what I am doing now.

The one thing I DIDN'T like about the Pullet-shut is that if you want the door to be automatic, you have to reset it at whatever frequency you want to account for the seasonal daylight changes. It isn't hard but you have to do both the same day because when you cancel one you cancel both. So you HAVE to be available at both times in a single day to change it. Not a problem if you live at the equator but up here the birds are awake at 5 AM this time of year and head back in around 7 - 7:30. Mid December, they get up around 8 and are back in by 3-3:30. So I got the photo sensor. Works great and cost only $15. Wish I have gotten it when I got the door, could have saved the shipping cost. If we get home after dark or if I don't feel like getting up at 5 AM, their door still works for them.

Um .... MHP ... um .... And one could certainly use a PulletShut door to let the chicks under the MHP out of the brooder area during the day!

 

[perchie.girl]

Nope, sadly I have no way to recharge the Alkalines and yes that does bother me. I thought I could use the old 12V from my wife's Prius 2 years ago but it wouldn't hold a charge at all. I replaced the one in mine a few months ago when the very misleading "Put the transmission in Park" message started coming up. At least in the 2004-2009 Prius, that means "your 12V is failing" which would be a MUCH more useful bit of information. I replaced it with a Yellowtop Prius kit battery from eLearnAide within a week of the message first showing up so maybe it will still hold enough charge for the auto door. If it does, I'll use it when the two 6Vs die. Since the 12V in a Prius doesn't have to crank the engine, it is a pretty small battery. I could get the grid or solar power charger and the battery from the PulletShut people but that would be much more expensive than what I am doing now.

The one thing I DIDN'T like about the Pullet-shut is that if you want the door to be automatic, you have to reset it at whatever frequency you want to account for the seasonal daylight changes. It isn't hard but you have to do both the same day because when you cancel one you cancel both. So you HAVE to be available at both times in a single day to change it. Not a problem if you live at the equator but up here the birds are awake at 5 AM this time of year and head back in around 7 - 7:30. Mid December, they get up around 8 and are back in by 3-3:30. So I got the photo sensor. Works great and cost only $15. Wish I have gotten it when I got the door, could have saved the shipping cost. If we get home after dark or if I don't feel like getting up at 5 AM, their door still works for them.

Um .... MHP ... um .... And one could certainly use a PulletShut door to let the chicks under the MHP out of the brooder area during the day!

Just a thought... that car battery may not be setup to take a trickle charge from photocels.... I dont know enough about the hybrid batteries to know that for sure. Its my understanding they recharge while driving on fuel and during breaking...?

deb

 

[Victoria-nola]

Quote: Yes, sorry to get too far afield here but Deb is right, we have gel batteries for our tractor and recently found out that normal chargers don't work for them-- got bad advice. But, what we were sold that does work is a trickle charger. So I suspect that the solar trickle chargers will work. Bruce (love the Prius!)-- Super great information about the photocell. Previous coop location in town was in deep shade so I didn't think the photocell would work well. I should try the photocell now, though, because yes, you do have to be available both times in one day to manually change the program to accommodate daylight changes. Great reminder that feature is available, and it would keep the birds on a more natural rhythm than sudden changes. Yes, love it.

UPDATE ON MY MHP situation: Our 10 new chicks (no losses even tho they are free-ranging) are now 5 weeks old and are still sleeping on the floor (took out brooder construction about 5 days ago). They get up on the roosts and play for a while, all the while everyone cheep cheep cheeping, then the littlest ones who just aren't ready for roosting head to the corner and the others one by one follow. They still all want to be one unit. INTEGRATION: Going great!!! My adults continue to open a space in the middle of their line on the top roost, inviting the littles to join them every night. One brave chick last night was up on that top roost and then crawled underneath several of the adult hens, each one popping up slightly as the chick went by, and stayed cuddled underneath one of them for a long time, then when the other chicks CHEEPED for so long, finally crawled under a few more hens and hopped down. It was comical and very touching. I've been ensuring the chicks are inside and then shutting the coop-people-door and observing.

I'm so impressed with this method, I'm so JOYFUL! that I didn't have to suffer the transition and that the littles have been being "real chickens" since so early in their lives.

I am so grateful to this thread and for this method!

 

[dyorto]

No more raccoon attacks since thankfully. But we have gotten and killed 3 in the live traps we have set up. My chicks are now 14 weeks. I have had the nesting boxes closed off because when the were little they tried to roost in there. Do I wait until they start laying to open them back up? Thanks!