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

[loli]

Welcome to the Broody Brigade! Your dues are photos of your chicks and/or setups.....you get bonus points if you can show the little stinkers using MHP. (Hey, I just made that up at the moment, but I like it!)

Rumor stuff happens, and we are pretty used to some folks who just can't see this working. Some change their minds real quick, others lurk for a bit and then dismiss it. That 's okay - we have no problem with that at all. We all know this is a huge leap of faith and way outside the box, so we just share what we know and let them make up their own minds, which is as it should be!

I was the one who had the chick with the frostbitten feet. That was our special Scout. But he was raised under MHP with a totally different setup, simply because I didn't know what I was doing at the time and I was winging it. It worked well for him, but wouldn't work worth beans for more than one chick, I don't think. He was brought in and raised on MHP well after his frostbite, and the cause of him being slightly disabled wasn't MHP - the frostbite blisters were deep and caused underlying tissue to die. His feet were doomed before we even noticed the frostbite in the first place. Not related at all, but you could be right - it might be where that rumor got started if someone added 2+2 and got 5. His full story has a link in my signature. Kind of a nice reminder of a special boy. Oh, and he had his feet....they never dropped off. He just had useless toes.

Thanks for the welcome! I will definitely report back with some pics!

haha, I guess I should pay better attention to who is posting what..

Off to read the Scout's story..

 

[debid]

Do the chicks feather out faster using this method? This is my first batch of chicks and they are 1 week old and are already getting their shoulder feathers. They seem to be feathering out very quickly. I really need them to be able to be moved the first week of April because I have another batch of chicks coming in and they need to use the brooder. Do you think they should be ready by then?

It really depends on the genetics but you'll get the fastest feathering possible out of them. I feel like I'm running an experiment with a Leghorn, a Brahma, and a few normal feathering chicks. The normals were where yours are with shoulder feathers at a week. The Brahma is there now (2.5 weeks) and the Leghorn, well, she's getting her middle back feathers now (!)

 

[BIggoMamma]

Maybe you can tell me this: I have a hen who is brooding her eggs. Four hatched out today, she is still sitting on a bunch. I am thinking she is going to get up off those other eggs and abandon them just as soon as these 4 chicks jump out of the nest and start running around. Can I move the hen, her eggs and the 4 new chicks all into a cage? I made her a comfy nest out of a wire dog crate with fresh pine shavings, but I wonder if it would traumatize her. I am concerned she is in the coop with a bunch of other chickens and I am afraid some big chickens will pick on her four babies and also am concerned she will not finish hatching the other eggs trying to take care of the 4 babies. What do you think??

 

[The Golden Egg5]

It really depends on the genetics but you'll get the fastest feathering possible out of them. I feel like I'm running an experiment with a Leghorn, a Brahma, and a few normal feathering chicks. The normals were where yours are with shoulder feathers at a week. The Brahma is there now (2.5 weeks) and the Leghorn, well, she's getting her middle back feathers now (!)

Put that apology back in your pocket and save it for when you really need it!  

I always get confused but it's either @aart
 or @azygous
 -or both- who make huddle boxes.  It's a cardboard box with a chick sized opening in one side, and you set it out there upside down on the floor of the coop.  You can fill the floor of it with hay or straw, and I think she used some kind of reflective insulation on the inside. I'm hoping someone will wander in here and help me get my foot out of my mouth now......  You might have to kinda stuff the chicks in there and hold your hand over it until they figure out that it's dry, safe and getting warmer in there, I don't know.

At four weeks they SHOULD be feathered enough to go out, as mentioned by @junebuggena

Wow!! That is fast feathering! Thank you for the awesome idea for the box I will get started on that soon. Wow this place sure does have a bunch of info! I know more about chickens now than I ever thought I would... and I love it

 

[azygous]

Maybe you can tell me this: I have a hen who is brooding her eggs. Four hatched out today, she is still sitting on a bunch. I am thinking she is going to get up off those other eggs and abandon them just as soon as these 4 chicks jump out of the nest and start running around. Can I move the hen, her eggs and the 4 new chicks all into a cage? I made her a comfy nest out of a wire dog crate with fresh pine shavings, but I wonder if it would traumatize her. I am concerned she is in the coop with a bunch of other chickens and I am afraid some big chickens will pick on her four babies and also am concerned she will not finish hatching the other eggs trying to take care of the 4 babies. What do you think??

If your other chickens haven't bothered this broody and her eggs yet, I doubt they are going to be a problem. I would leave the broody where she is. Broodies usually are pretty proficient at protecting their chicks from the other chickens. Putting her and the chicks in a cage would prevent the broody from introducing them to the flock and teaching them how to function in the flock.

If you were going to separate the broody, the time would have been in the beginning when she first began to sit on the eggs. If you do it now, I'm afraind it would really upset her and she might abandon the chicks and the rest of the eggs.

Keep and eye on things. At the first sign of trouble, maybe you could put the other chickens in the cage. Unless there are way too many. Anyway, I would leave well enough alone.

 

[snow5164]

So after three batches of chicks under my heating pad cave ,I just noticed the heating pad is under the metal frame ?? I have mine on top of the metal frame. It is large , a half of a tomato cage lower in the back higher in the front . It's just funny that I missed that two years ago

 

[BIggoMamma]

Thank you so much for your advice. I appreciate it.

 

[Blooie]

So after three batches of chicks under my heating pad cave ,I just noticed the heating pad is under the metal frame ?? I have mine on top of the metal frame. It is large , a half of a tomato cage lower in the back higher in the front . It's just funny that I missed that two years ago

Well, if it's working for you, don't change it! The idea of putting the pad underneath the frame is how Bee does it, and after someone lost a chick because a chick got stuck between the frame and the pad when it was draped over the top, a few others reported near-misses as well. So Bee's design with the pad underneath solved that issue for a lot of people. Originally everyone who was trying this did it just the way I did - with the pad draped over the top. If you haven't had any issues, then I wouldn't worry about it...

 

[junebuggena]

My pad goes on top of the frame, too. And my grow-out coop is a rabbit hutch, so it really is just a big huddle box.

 

[Victoria-nola]

Hmmmmm.....thinking back I DID write an article on this, separate from the thread but kinda copied and pasted....I could just edit that! Oooh, my wheels are turning!!

Sorry for delay, I didn't see your response here. Yes, that would be great! I just think the article would really help, and if you've already got that going, I love your writing style and you are actually more in touch with all the changes in best practice than I am. I think it would help a lot with certain repetitive questions if the info got concentrated.

If there is anything I can help with, maybe reading it over for you when it's ready before posting, I'm more than happy to help. I am a technical writer/indexer by trade, try not to be too rigid on myself with perfection in online posting, but I do work as a freelance in publishing so would be happy to support in any way. Would be thrilled to see the article come out.

--Victoria