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

[Blooie]

After "catching up" on this thread I was wondering/thinking I was being "overly" concerned about their warmth. Kept the MHP off last night but left it in, checking several times during the night, they were fine. Next time around will probably use "heat" less, maybe just for the first week or two since temps very rarely drop to the 50s? Thank you junebuggena & Blooie, your experience is very much appreciated, I'm still learning.

So am I! When I started this thread I was raising my first batch of chicks this way and shared it so I could learn from others as I went along. Some things worked, some didn't. I've evolved as the thread got bigger, and changed up a few things. I'm not as rigid on having that pad on high, then turning it down as they get older as I was. Now I set it on about 5 for the first couple of days and if the temps stay cold I might leave it there a few days more. But I turn the heat way down and off much sooner than I did at first. I've learned more about watching the chicks. I've moved the pad from the outside as a "drape" to the inside with Bungee cords and wrapped the whole thing in one covering, as @Beekissed does, because some folks reported chicks getting trapped in the wires. Never happened to me, but every time it happened to someone here I felt bad because they were just following my plan. I've taken to using @azygous portal doors.

So what started as a method has become a process. And it works because people here are unfailingly courteous with responses, excited to share success and willing to share mistakes.

 

[saraem]

Thank you for the kind words about the photo! They're pretty sweet if I do say so myself, and make great subjects.

I swapped out MHP for a huddle box yesterday but they couldn't figure it out, so today I put it back in with just fabric over top. When I spied on them tonight they were still on top, I'm hoping they'll go inside if they get cold! It's very dark out there so I hope they can see enough to get where they need to.

I have a non-MHP question. A bit of a chick medical mystery, even:

We incubated 6 lav ameraucanas but only one hatched. This chick has been the death of me. At 2 weeks I noticed it was ill (decreased energy and not eating). Exam revealed a squishy crop. We fed only plain yogurt and egg, did olive oil and crop massage, and improvement happened quickly. We also did a round of Corid after a couple days at the suggestion of a local chicken person who felt that the sour crop was a symptom rather than the root of the problem. Chick continued to improve.

Then, shortly afterward, it started sneezing a bunch. Acting completely normal so I just watched. It stopped sneeezing, other chick started, so I figured it was some minor ailment. Well, now it's sneezing again. AND I've noticed a squishier crop here and there. It doesn't feel that way all the time, normal in the morning and at times has a normal "full" firm feeling...could drinking a bunch make it feel squashy?

I'm at a loss. I just want the darned thing to be healthy!!

 

[suchcutenails]

Good morning! I just wanted to come on here to post something amazing! Well...in my mind, anyway

Last spring I brooded my babies with the heating pad, but in the house because the coop wasn't built. Then a couple of weeks ago, I realized we were going to have some unplanned babies hatch...in November...in Massachusetts! I started reading, and reminding myself that mama can do it, and the heating pad was my trial run and proof!
I brought them all inside last week for the hatch. This weekend she hatched out four little sweeties!

Last night, I moved them back out to the coop (safely tucked away with mama in a crate), and then tried not to fret as the temperature dipped into the 20's. When I went out this morning, everyone was fine and running around, cheep-cheeping

Many people I know tried to scare me out of mooving them out there. Those same people freaked out when I didn't use a heat lamp with my first babies! This thread gave me the confidence to just let them be, and let mama do it! Thanks so much for all your advice!!!

 

[Blooie]

Yayy! She can do it ever so much better than we can, no matter how close we try to replicate her gift! Now your confidence is up another notch and next time a broody hatches out babies you can skip bringing her in altogether and just let her do what comes naturally from the start!

 

[Faraday40]

A quick MHP question:

Can it be used for quail? What kinds of modifications are needed?

Been away from this thread for a while. (Broody hens took care of all our hatching/brooding over the past several months.)
Now DD talked her sci teacher (& Parents) into allowing her to do an incubation project for her sci fair. In other words, we'll likely be getting some quail hatching on Thanksgiving.

 

[Jensownzoo]

I seem to remember someone using it for quail. Just might have to push it down further to get it at their backs since they're smaller. I've used MHP for chicks, keats, poults, ducklings, and goslings now. My own quail project is waiting until this spring.

 

[aart]

I seem to remember someone using it for quail. Just might have to push it down further to get it at their backs since they're smaller. I've used MHP for chicks, keats, poults, ducklings, and goslings now. My own quail project is waiting until this spring.

I concur......'shorter' the bird lower the pad needs to be.
This is where adjustable legs really help.

 

[Faraday40]

I seem to remember someone using it for quail. Just might have to push it down further to get it at their backs since they're smaller. I've used MHP for chicks, keats, poults, ducklings, and goslings now. My own quail project is waiting until this spring.

I concur......'shorter' the bird lower the pad needs to be.
This is where adjustable legs really help.

Thank you both. That's what I thought, but this is the 1st time we're hatching quail. I tried my 1st MHP last March. I haven't plugged a heat lamp in since! It's doubtful we'll have a broody, so I'll be dusting off the brooder next week.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Need to get DH on this project, right now I've got 2 sizes of "skeleton" for my MHP....Adjustable legs sounds like the way to go, same something somewhere in here. Need to go back & look for it. I'm expecting 25 + Serama chicks the end of the month/early Dec, eggs set today. A friend/breeder hatches & I help her raise half of her clutch, hence my ChickNanny13, been doing it for 3yrs and loving it

 

[lilmillefleur]

I love the MHP ideas! Next time we raise chicks, This will definitely be used! I only started reading this thread yesterday and am on, like, page 20. I want to read the whole thing!