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

[bruceha2000]

If it was up to Bruce the entire planet would be using MHP instead of heat lamps, right Bruce?

You bet!!!!! I follow the lead of my mentor

I can see why farm stores use heat lamps. They have a lot of bins and a lot of chicks and the heat lamps are cheap. And of course with heat lamps all the chicks are visible all the time which makes them easier to sell. But I'd still like to see them using MHP, at least when the store isn't open.

 

[cityfeet]

I apologize in advance if this has already been discussed, but with 800+ pages to this thread I doubt I would find it

I was reading about this method and found someone who suggests putting the heating pad inside the frame so the chicks can touch it. Has anyone else tried this? Any thoughts to the pros or cons either way or does it not matter?

http://simplechickens.blogspot.com/2016/03/mama-heating-pad-attempt.html

 

[Blooie]

What you are looking for is right here on this thread,

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

Some folks had issues with chicks getting stuck between the wires and the pad. I've never had that problem but this post and the photos from @Beekissed have been very helpful in resolving that issue. Silly chicks come out of the egg looking for ways to die or make their owners panic, so this was a great solution. I changed over to it myself last time I had chicks because of the experiences of others.

You'll find that as long as the frame is low enough so that the heat is as close to the chicks' backs as possible is the key thing....whatever you have to do to make that happen is the best way.... and with the pad inside or outside the frame that's still the goal. Good luck!

Edited to add: I followed the link you provided. I have to say that it wasn't a very helpful blog. No details on how to do it...just an opening sentence saying basically that this person tried it and it certainly implied that MHP was directly responsible for the death of one of her chicks. Not very encouraging to someone just trying this or contemplating it for the first time. The followup lines were okay when the blogger explains how to attach the pad, but with no photos the reader is shooting in the dark. I have raised 6 batches of chicks using MHP and only changed to the pad inside the frame with the last group. Never lost a chick using either method. I wish I could go back and edit the first post to reflect the change, but it's too old and can't be done.

When I started the thread, I was raising my first full batch of chicks this way. I had raised one chick, Scout, but that was a kind of emergency to start with. I was learning as I went along, too. In retrospect, maybe I should have waited to start the thread until I had been successful with it a few times, but then it would have been more an "instructional" thread ("You must do it this way every time") than the interactive thread ("Hey, try this!") it has turned out to be.

 

[cityfeet]

What you are looking for is right here on this thread,

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

Some folks had issues with chicks getting stuck between the wires and the pad. I've never had that problem but this post and the photos from @Beekissed have been very helpful in resolving that issue. Silly chicks come out of the egg looking for ways to die or make their owners panic, so this was a great solution. I changed over to it myself last time I had chicks because of the experiences of others.

Clicked and read, thanks so much. I definitely think I'll be giving this method a shot here next month when the girls arrive. Now to build the brooder...lol

 

[Magnolia7330]

This is a cross-posted question since I had created a thread asking. But, someone suggested I look on here too. I just bought gardening supplies. Can I use my seedling mat as a way to brood the chicks (like a mama heating pad)? I read that it heats at 90 degrees.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P7U259C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Blooie]

We've had that come up here from time to time, and honestly I don't remember what the consensus was. Seems to me that in order to make a good decision on that question, you'd have to keep in mind the first goal of Mama Heating Pad....to provide an environment as close to a broody hen as possible. In order to do that, you want the softness of the heating pad against their backs. You want that heat right at their backs, too, not at their feet, and it seems to me that someone here wanted to use the seed sprouting mat on the bottom, not above the chicks. Heating pads are designed to be used against clothing, furniture, etc, and I don't know enough about seedling mats to know if they would do well covered with the fabric of towels or pillowcases, and I don't know how the heating elements are distributed inside them either so it's hard to say how they would do draped inside or outside a metal frame.

I'm hoping someone with more smarts and experience than I have can chime in here, but if it was me, well, I'd stick to a heating pad for chicks and use a seedling mat for seedlings.

 

[Magnolia7330]

@Blooie thanks for the reply. I have plenty of time to figure out what i want to do. I'm strongly leaning toward the Brinsea Ecoglow, but figured I'd ask anyway.

 

[Blooie]

Good luck with whatever you decide to do, and we're always here to help or answer questions - even if some of us don't answer very well.

But I'd rather be honest and give an "I'm not sure" answer than wing it and give bad info.

 

[Molpet]

This is a cross-posted question since I had created a thread asking. But, someone suggested I look on here too. I just bought gardening supplies. Can I use my seedling mat as a way to brood the chicks (like a mama heating pad)? I read that it heats at 90 degrees.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P7U259C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I did use one for some chicks I got before the others were done with the pad.. the problem with mine was I couldn't turn it down with out the temperature controller (which cost as much as a heating pad) .. so it worked while the chicks were small and needed the heat, but in a week or 2 they needed less heat and were uncomfortable... by then the batch under the MHP were not using it so I switched

 

[Blooie]

I did use one for some chicks I got before the others were done with the pad.. the problem with mine was I couldn't turn it down with out the temperature controller (which cost as much as a heating pad) .. so it worked while the chicks were small and needed the heat, but in a week or 2 they needed less heat and were uncomfortable... by then the batch under the MHP were not using it so I switched

@Molpet Ah HA! It was you!! All I had was a vague memory of someone somewhere in the thread discussing the use of seed mats, but couldn't come up with any specifics to save my life!! This was one of those questions where I'd rather not attempt a concrete answer when the brain is acting like sand! Thank you so much for chiming in!!!