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

[ChickNanny13]

Got a new set of chicks to raise from a breeder friend - "Micro" Seramas & "Micro" Silkies (38), hatched Nov 20 & 30. Incubated about 100 only 39 hatched, one died soon after hatch. They arrived at my house late this evening & have settled in but have yet to eat & drink. They are so darn tiny, never raised anything this small.

This is the 3rd set of chicks using MHP, first time using disposable pads instead of shavings....Any others using disposables?

In the past have set temp at Med but I had some "complaints", lowered it to Low and the grumbling stopped. Guess with so many their body heat adding to the MHP temp? Their brooder is a plastic bin in my living room for 2 - 4wks (my preference), house temp in the 70s.

 

[bruceha2000]

Yes they are putting out heat and with that many of them I suspect it can add up. You have all 38? I would be concerned about some of them getting trapped unless you have the back of the cave open as well as the front.

What size pad and do you have multiple caves? Others have found that the flocking instinct is stronger than the "room to get out" instinct and they may all try to be in a single cave. Having 1 long cave (2 pads wide, short side abutting short side, with long sides of each being the front and back) works better than multiples.

Good luck with the minis! They are very cute but I'm not sure why someone would want a chicken that is only going to live a year or less.

 

[FlyWheel]

Dear MHP Alums,

We have an order of chicks coming in Jan 4-6th. A total of 8 chicks, all standard size, which will be brooded in the garage for the first four weeks or so in a kiddie pool with cardboard up to prevent drafts. It sits where it gets sun from the south and east facing windows so no artificial lighting. With the last batch we used a heat lamp but this go around I want to try the MHP method. Right now we have six pullets in the coop and they'll be seven months old in Jan and the coop is designed to hold 20 birds so crowding shouldn't be an issue. However there is no electricity in the coop and there isn't really a way to run an extension cord into it. So I was thinking they'd be in the unheated garage for the first 4 weeks with the heating pad and then be moved out to the coop as soon as they feather out. We'll convert an old dog crate so that they can be seen and heard while in the coop and the run (200 sq feet) can be split in half so that they can have outdoor time without fear of being bullied. The original six free range most days from noon until sundown, they only spend the morning in the run to encourage laying in the coop and not around our 3 acres.

Does this seem right? Anything else I should consider/anticipate? Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Actually, if they are inside an enclosed building, ie. your garage they really don't need protection from drafts, the building will do that. Remember, chicks raised naturally outside in the wild wouldn't even have this, just mama. I raised my chicks, both the Easter flock and the August one, in my garage and they all grew up fine and healthy. Having it unheated is a great way to do this as they will feather out much the same as they would outside, and the transition wont be as much of a shock as they will already be used to the temperature changes and have adapted to them.

Good luck with your flock.

 

[centrarchid]

I've talked about this before on other threads. I'd like to say it was my own brilliant idea, but actually I saw a video made by a woman who broods her chicks outdoors using a heating pad "cave" and straw. The idea intrigued me, and I so wish I could give proper credit. Alas, I can't find the video now so I hope that if you know who it was, you will jump in here and let us know. My dear friend Beekissed was also a huge inspiration with the heating pad project. That woman is a font of good information and I'm lucky she's one of my best teachers. I used this heating pad method when we had a tiny chick who got frostbitten feet. (You can click on the link in my signature to read Scout's adventure.) I used it for the short time he was inside the house, then moved it outside to the coop. It worked so well that I am now using it for our latest batch of chicks. They were supposed to start out in the coop from the getgo. However, our long, several week long stretch of balmy weather ended the day I got the babies, so they are in the house until we get back above zero. One chick with frostbitten feet was enough. Then too, my sweet husband is in the hospital, and since he's my brooder builder we are a little behind on getting the outside coop brooder built. Now, on the to the "hows". I'm using a wire dog crate with hardware cloth running a bit up the sides to prevent escapees. This particular crate has a front door and a side door - mighty doggone handy! I used some good old Press 'n Seal and ran it around the crate. Believe it or not, it actually sticks to the hardware cloth very well. Then I tucked the excess under the crate. This has done a wonderful job of keeping the shavings inside the crate and not all over my living room floor! It's a little more crowded in there than I like, but in a few days they'll be going out to the big brooder. I got a scrap of wire fencing and bent it into a hoop. Then I stood it up with the open side down. You can see where I've used electrical tape to cover any little points left from cutting the wire. There was a hole in the top that I didn't like, so there's a bit of hardware cloth covering it. I'm using a Sunbeam heating pad. You can see on the control that I can opt to use the "Auto Off" feature so the pad stays on all of the time. As the chicks grow and as their need for a lot of heat changes, I can use a bigger bit of fence, make the hoop taller, and turn down the temp on the heating pad. This heating pad is the smaller model - there is also an extra large one and that's the one we'll be using when the chicks go outside, hopefully at the end of this week. The heating pad is draped over the wire frame. I didn't like the way the hardware cloth kept the heating pad from making full contact with the frame all the way down, so I replaced it with a smaller piece just larger than the hole. That is working better than what you see in this picture. Of course, if your scrap of fencing has no hole, you get to skip this fitting. Again using my good old Press 'n Seal, I covered a folded towel with it. Yes, it will stick, and stick very firmly. I tore the sheets longer than I needed and folded the excess under, pressing it there as well. This keeps the edges of the folded towel together, keeps the towel clean, and covers all of those frayed little fringes that are on the towel so the chicks don't try to eat them. The towel assembly goes over the heating pad, with a little awning to keep out light and give them a sense of being able to hide. The towel is tucked under the bottom edges of the frame, and at the back of the frame it goes all the way down to the floor of the brooder, holding in heat and closing off the back. You can see how dark and cozy it is under there. On the right side you can see where the towel is not pulled all the way down - I was trying to get a little more light in there for the photo. Um, didn't work! The little ones absolutely love this. They like to sit on top (hence the Press 'n Seal covering) and they go in and out at will for a quick warm-up, just like they would under a broody. They spend most of their time out of the "cave" exploring, eating and drinking and THEY control their own comfort. When the lights go out in the house, all of them have gone under for the night. In the first 24 hours they'd been here they'd already learned that night time is time for sleeping. They don't have a harsh light on all night. They are quiet all night long - no cheeping or fussing at all. Just blessed quiet! Personally I think that the natural day/night cycle and a full night of sleeping can reduce stress in the chicks but I have no study to back up this claim other than common sense. Fire danger is also reduced. I don't like heat lamps, does it show? [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] I also start them out with vertical nipple waterers. I know that this one is too large for this size brooder, but again it's just for a few days. Out in the coop I use the horizontal nipples for the big girls but I think that at first it takes less effort for them to get enough water from the vertical ones. I also have a smaller waterer with just two horizontal nipples that I'll use when I move them outside. I learned this while taking care of Scout. He couldn't stand on his feet - he stood on his hocks - and he couldn't balance and press the horizontal nipple adequately, so we were clicking it for him when he went for water. I put this one in there for him for a short time, then went back to the horizontal when he got stronger. This worked so well that I now have 2 chick waterers - my beginner system and the intermediate one. When these little babies go out to the coop they will be quite familiar with how it works. Oh, and it took less than half a minute to train these day old chicks to use it. One went over and clicked on the shiny metal thing. Water came out! She drank her fill, the others saw her do it, and I never had to do a thing. I don't have to worry about a dirty waterer, soaked bedding, and drowning chicks. The vertical waterers do leak a little more than the horizontal ones, but it's far easier to use a spatula and scoop up the bits of damp litter directly under the nipples than it is to have an entire brooder full of dumped, poopy water. I want to leave you with two more pictures - this is Scout's domain after he recovered from his frostbite enough to go back outside with the big girls. They could see him, he could see them, but they were separate. He could get back into his "man cave" but the big girls couldn't follow him because the door was wired in such a way that only he could fit through. Mama Heating Pad kept him warm even with temps below freezing. We tucked the wire frame into a bed of straw that was dug out to be lower in the back than in the front rather than using a towel out there to hold the heat. [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] He looks pretty cozy in there, doesn't he? The day I took this picture it was 4 degrees below zero. I hope this information has been helpful. I don't claim that this is the best way to raise chicks, but it's the best way for me to raise them. This forum is all about sharing, and I wanted to share what I've learned right here from BYC and how I modified it to fit our situation. It's as natural as I can get without a broody, and the chicks are well prepared when the day comes for them to move out to the coop. No adjustment to darkness, no adjustment to a different waterer, and they and the girls can get acquainted with the safety of bars between them. We'll be setting up the bigger brooder out there built under the poop board as soon as my dear spouse is released from the hospital, and we'll use the same setup as we used for Scout, just larger to accommodate more chicks than just one. I'll do the work, he'll do the instructing and supervising. If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them if I can. Edited to add: My friend Perchie Girl mentioned that the wire frame should be higher in the front than in the back. I did that, I just forgot to point it out when I was giving the description. I think, though, that you can see the taper in the photos. The smaller, chillier chicks can use the back and the larger chicks stay more toward the front. Thanks, Deb, for pointing out that omission so I could correct it!

I am going to be trying this so may be needing some coddling to pull it off. I have limited electrical power and need to rear American Dominique chicks at wrong time of year to get them ready for show. First go will be in garage where temperature more moderate and electricity not limiting. Ultimately I would like to run it off grid using a solar charged deep cycle battery.

 

[Blooie]

You've got this! At first most of do a lot of fussing and worrying and fretting, but it just seems to work so well that we kinda find out we wasted our time with all of that!

I have been unable to edit my original post because of its age, but there have been some changes that others have made which made so much sense I feel I need to point them out. The first addresses some chicks having been caught up in the wires between the pad and the frame, often at the back of the "cave". I've never had it happen with mine, but others have and it's so sad because the very system that was supposed to make chick raising more natural ended up costing them. As it turns out, there is a better way to set up the pad and the frame, as is pointed out on this page. Most of us have now adopted this setup, with the pad on the inside of the frame.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update/450

Another thing that has made a difference for many is a change in pads. @henless ran across a heating pad that not only allows it to stay on constantly, but also turns itself back on to the last setting after a power outage. I lost power once with week old chicks. Temps were absolutely frigid, the wind was howling and the snow was blowing sideways, I had week old chicks out in the run, and we had no idea how long the power had been out! Ken and I had gone to bed about 11 and the power coming back on woke us around 4 am. We jumped into outdoor duds and ran out there, sure they were all dead, but the straw cave and their own body heat had maintained enough heat to sustain them very well. They were all just fine! So we got the pad turned back on (so glad for the "insta-heat" pad) hit the "stay-on" button, and we didn't lose a single chick. They were more upset with me lifting the front of the cave in the dark with that bright old flashlight than they were the cold!

http://www.sunbeam.com/pain-relief/...ology-blue/000771-810-000.html#sz=12&start=18

You should be fine with them in the garage, as that's where many people are doing this. Me, I put 'em straight out in the run, even those I've hatched here at home. I have a big wire pen out there as a brooder, and it's worked out perfectly. Integration is a snap because they are always in full view of the adults. I usually have full integration by the time they are 4 weeks old.

If you run into any problems, we are all experts here at "coddling" and will be happy to help. And in exchange you'll need to keep us posted about your progress with the solar battery when you eventually get it set up! Oh, and pictures.....those are your dues!

 

[aart]

..... So I was thinking they'd be in the unheated garage ...

No cars starting, stopping, running in there, right?

 

[AutumnHens]

Nope, it's the original garage to the house and it's fairly narrow so everyone parks in the big garage that is actually on the front driveway. This older one is tucked behind the house on the old driveway that leads out to the barn and garage/workshop further back on the property. The lawnmower is sometimes parked in it but it can be put either in the big garage or the barn so no worries there. Nice big windows in the door and on the side so it is bright inside all day. It's not heated but it's not that cold either, after all it's NC and I think our avg temp in Jan is 45-47. Temp starts climbing (or so I've been told) in Feb and summer starts here in early May. We moved here in the last week of May of this year so I have no personal experience with spring here.

I'd put them in a coop but I can't get an extension cord out to it because the door shuts super tight and the windows are all covered in hardwire cloth same with the vents. So they can go in the coop once they feather out and the heat of all of them in there should keep them comfortable at night.

I'm just so excited we're getting new chicks!!! The six we have now were our introduction to keeping chickens and I finally convinced the other adults in the house that we needed more. So I got a few assorted ones based on egg production and ability to decorate the property.

 

[aart]

Nope, it's the original garage to the house and it's fairly narrow so everyone parks in the big garage that is actually on the front driveway. This older one is tucked behind the house on the old driveway that leads out to the barn and garage/workshop further back on the property. The lawnmower is sometimes parked in it but it can be put either in the big garage or the barn so no worries there. Nice big windows in the door and on the side so it is bright inside all day. It's not heated but it's not that cold either, after all it's NC and I think our avg temp in Jan is 45-47. Temp starts climbing (or so I've been told) in Feb and summer starts here in early May. We moved here in the last week of May of this year so I have no personal experience with spring here.

I'd put them in a coop but I can't get an extension cord out to it because the door shuts super tight and the windows are all covered in hardwire cloth same with the vents. So they can go in the coop once they feather out and the heat of all of them in there should keep them comfortable at night.

I'm just so excited we're getting new chicks!!! The six we have now were our introduction to keeping chickens and I finally convinced the other adults in the house that we needed more. So I got a few assorted ones based on egg production and ability to decorate the property.

Sounds about perfect fro brooding chicks 'outside'.
Do you have room in coop to keep new chicks separated by wire for a 'getting to know you' period before actual integration with existing birds?

 

[junebuggena]

Got a new set of chicks to raise from a breeder friend - "Micro" Seramas & "Micro" Silkies (38), hatched Nov 20 & 30. Incubated about 100 only 39 hatched, one died soon after hatch. They arrived at my house late this evening & have settled in but have yet to eat & drink. They are so darn tiny, never raised anything this small.

This is the 3rd set of chicks using MHP, first time using disposable pads instead of shavings....Any others using disposables?

In the past have set temp at Med but I had some "complaints", lowered it to Low and the grumbling stopped. Guess with so many their body heat adding to the MHP temp? Their brooder is a plastic bin in my living room for 2 - 4wks (my preference), house temp in the 70s.

I use the disposable pads for the first couple of days. Then switch to shavings. Once the chicks start scratching, they can tear up the pad and I've had chicks get tangled in the mess.

 

[Blooie]

I use the disposable pads for the first couple of days. Then switch to shavings. Once the chicks start scratching, they can tear up the pad and I've had chicks get tangled in the mess.

And that's why the members of this thread are so valuable...I know people have used the disposable pads but I never even thought about the chicks scratching them up and getting tangled! Thanks for sharing that, @junebuggena It could save a chick!