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

[barred2rock]

Okay, question time for members, past and present, of the Btoody Brigade. Um, you may wanna sit down for this one!

Have you ever had, or heard of, any chicks "burning their feet off" from standing on MHP? I've been faced with this concern - or should I say "hysteria" - on another site twice now. One was warning people to be careful - she had a friend who tried MHP and her chicks' feet were burned "and fell off". Another man, totally out of the blue, simply issued a warning that chicks' feet could be badly burned from them standing on top of it, ut I got the feeling he was repeating the other woman's post. I answered both as calmly as I could, considering that I was fuming, saying that with all of the hundreds of people using this. AND being so good about letting us know what issues they'd had, no one had ever reported such a thing.

Okay, GO -----

Considering, it's hotter on the underside with the chicks leaning against it, I highly doubt this is a real concern. I'd guess the poster is either a troll or has something to lose with people switching from heat lamps to heat pads. Personally, if I were to make up such silly allegations (which I never would), I'd make it entertaining, like "the corn inside the cave became popcorn and the chicks watch a movie" .

* not that you'd have corn in a brooder

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Okay, question time for members, past and present, of the Btoody Brigade. Um, you may wanna sit down for this one!

Have you ever had, or heard of, any chicks "burning their feet off" from standing on MHP? I've been faced with this concern - or should I say "hysteria" - on another site twice now. One was warning people to be careful - she had a friend who tried MHP and her chicks' feet were burned "and fell off". Another man, totally out of the blue, simply issued a warning that chicks' feet could be badly burned from them standing on top of it, ut I got the feeling he was repeating the other woman's post. I answered both as calmly as I could, considering that I was fuming, saying that with all of the hundreds of people using this. AND being so good about letting us know what issues they'd had, no one had ever reported such a thing.

Okay, GO

No way. And as others have said, the chicks would not stay on it if it were too hot. I hold my hand under (and on top) of it every time I visit the brooder with the very young chicks, just to make sure that a heating pad hasn't stopped working. I have to hold my hand there for a little while to feel the heat underneath, and it's much harder to detect the heat on top. (The "fell off" thing actually makes me wonder if someone didn't apply it right or it shut off and the chicks got frostbite, if the story is even true.)

Someone's making stuff up or used different materials (rather than the heating pads we use).

I hate trolls...

- Ant Farm

 

[perchie.girl]

plain old hysteria.....

If it were hot enough to burn feet off it would be hot enough to catch coverings on fire.

deb

 

[aart]

Okay, question time for members, past and present, of the Btoody Brigade. Um, you may wanna sit down for this one!

Have you ever had, or heard of, any chicks "burning their feet off" from standing on MHP? I've been faced with this concern - or should I say "hysteria" - on another site twice now. One was warning people to be careful - she had a friend who tried MHP and her chicks' feet were burned "and fell off". Another man, totally out of the blue, simply issued a warning that chicks' feet could be badly burned from them standing on top of it, ut I got the feeling he was repeating the other woman's post. I answered both as calmly as I could, considering that I was fuming, saying that with all of the hundreds of people using this. AND being so good about letting us know what issues they'd had, no one had ever reported such a thing.

Okay, GO

I'd call hysteria. C'mon, it's not all that uncommon, right? Runs a close second to LackOLogic.

Reminds me tho of my first MHP using an old HP that was encased in plastic with removable cover.
I was using it without said cover(had a towel instead) and at one point while cleaning brooder the bare plastic was exposed,
chicks jumped on it, squealed very loudly, and ran fast AF off that hot, hot thing.
No feet fell off, nary a blister appeared.....
....and I made sure not to allow that scenario to happen again, cause I got logic, see.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

This reminds me of the comment of a woman on the BYC Facebook group yesterday. Someone suggested the heating pad and she said she had one get cooked to death underneath it and it traumatized her and she'd never use it again. I suspect what really happened is the chick died for another reason like a clogged vent and of course was very dead yet very warm when she found it. But she's convinced it was cooked to death and will warn people of that non-existent risk.

ETA I have only been covering mine with straw and they love to scratch it off and lay on the bare plastic. No issues and the poo just flakes and wipes off.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Inspired by a poster a few days ago, I decided to modify my MHP In a way that was a bit easier to adjust that just the hardwire. I have a lot of chicks right now (50 + 42 more coming next week) but I use the smaller pads since I like the slide control and not having to worry about turning off auto off or having it not come back on by itself. Plus, I get more square footage for the money. So, yesterday I bought another pad ($13) and three cookie cooling racks (10x16) for $3.50 each.

At home depot I got some small bungies for $2.50. I went to TSC for the leg hardware since you pay by the pound. I got short (2.5"), medium (3.5") and long (5") bolts for each (that is, 6 bolts of each size since I have three pads) as well as 8 nuts and 8 washers for each pad, which came to a little over $6.

I got three different sizes because 1) they were only partially threaded and 2) I raise guineas, bantams, and standards so I need a bit of height flexibility to accommodate the different size babies.

I put the pad on the side without the rack's built in feet because they interfere with it laying flat since the rack is 10" wide but the pad needs to hang over an inch on each side. I used three bungies on each though two would hold it fine.

Here is one of the racks with legs installed and the order of the hardware.

I have about .5 to 1" of height adjustability with each size bolt. Again, fully threaded bolts would be better but this was cheaper. I used 3/8" hardware to save on weight and cost but you can certainly fit 7/16 or probably 1/2"

 

[jennyf]

Okay, question time for members, past and present, of the Btoody Brigade. Um, you may wanna sit down for this one!

Have you ever had, or heard of, any chicks "burning their feet off" from standing on MHP? I've been faced with this concern - or should I say "hysteria" - on another site twice now. One was warning people to be careful - she had a friend who tried MHP and her chicks' feet were burned "and fell off". Another man, totally out of the blue, simply issued a warning that chicks' feet could be badly burned from them standing on top of it, ut I got the feeling he was repeating the other woman's post. I answered both as calmly as I could, considering that I was fuming, saying that with all of the hundreds of people using this. AND being so good about letting us know what issues they'd had, no one had ever reported such a thing.

Okay, GO -----

I will say, burning with a Premier HEAT PLATE (not the MHP) happened to me. The little points of the wings that stick up on the backs of young birds--you can see the little round burns, had them in the exact same place on 4-5 chicks. Which is why I'm on this thread--I returned it and am going for the MHP next time...

 

[debid]

I've seen the same "discredit the competition with lies" tactic used for selling other products. I suspect that the folks spreading the lies have a competing heat plate that they sell and is more money for a product that is either equivalent or less functional. I saw the exact same behavior when the horizontal chicken nipples launched.

 

[Blooie]

Oh, you don't need to convince me to throw the hooey card on this garbage..., and the things you all said were my responses as well. Shoot, if the pad's too warm for them they won't even go under let alone stand that long on top. I did not know about the burning from the heat plate but I don't think I'll mention that. I'd still prefer any other warming method to heat lamps, but that's me, and yes, it was over on the BYC Facebook page. I knew what the answers here would be when I asked the question!

My only concern is that there are lots of folks over there expressing an interest because they are disillusioned with heat lamps and are talking about trying "this heating pad thing". That's how I got involved in the conversations in the first place, so I did there what I did here and posted my photos and such, similar to here. And then that garbage comes up and scares the stuffing out of them. I told them that folks have been using this long before I was, that I've used it exclusively for 5 batches of chicks and that hundreds of others have used it multiple times and never reported that kind of injury either, Grrrrr. I guess I know why they'd spread those stupid fears if they've never even used it, it's just infuriating to try to combat it!

Had to do a little editing...I was trying to type on my phone and I don't know why I even bother sometimes!

 

[debid]

I will say, burning with a Premier HEAT PLATE (not the MHP) happened to me. The little points of the wings that stick up on the backs of young birds--you can see the little round burns, had them in the exact same place on 4-5 chicks. Which is why I'm on this thread--I returned it and am going for the MHP next time...

This is a problem the manufacturer has acknowledged but not yet corrected. They deserve to be called out on that.