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

[Nathan J]

Well, I went out to check on them before heading to bed and about 5 meaties and 1 layer were all piled into a corner away from the MHP peeping and trying to get warm. Sigh.

So I gently stuffed them back in the warmth.

Don't overlook the possibility that they're too warm under MHP. This is exactly what happened to me. Some of them were staying under MHP but most were not (16 total). Until I turned it down from Med to Low (after starting on High). I couldn't believe that's what was needed in a cold garage, but it worked like a champ and all is well ever since then.

 

[Blooie]

When I was raising chicks like this (my first and ONLY batch to be raised like this!) I thought I was doing everything right, and I was a neurotic mess! We live in an older mobile home and the only place for the brooder was in Ken's small office. So we had this heat lamp in the house, where our precious grandchildren were, all of our possessions and the only roof over our heads was. The walls got hot. The floor got hot. The brooder box itself got hot. The bedding got hot. And man, did that light get hot!! Yikes!! I was paranoid about fire, but this was what I had to do if I wanted chickens, right? They had to live in a brightly lit box with a heat lamp. If it got up to 98 degrees in the brooder I fussed to adjust the light. If it dropped to 93, I knew my chicks were gonna die within minutes so I had to readjust the lamp. They were awake 24/7. going through food like crazy because eating and tromping through it was all they had to do in there - all day, and all night. <sigh>

The dust, the noise, the smell - I spent every single day grabbing 22 chicks, putting them in a big box, cleaning the brooder, cleaning the feeder and waterer, and then putting the traumatized chicks back in. Soon I was changing the water and bedding even more often when they discovered filling it with yuck and/or flipping it over. Katie, 8 at the time, burned her hand on the heat lamp. There HAD to be a better way. I knew our budget wouldn't allow for one of those fancy Eco-Glow or Premier heating plates, so there was no point even thinking about that. By the time those chicks were 2 weeks old I was close to hating them! They weren't adorable little chicks that were going to grow up and provide eggs for my family - they were demanding little Divas that had become the enemy in a daily battle. By 5.5 weeks old (the younger ones were 4.5 weeks) I evicted them out to the coop. I couldn't take it one more day, and I didn't much care that it was still cold and snowing out there. They'd adjust or die.

Now admittedly I stress out easily. One day while ranting to my friends on another thread about the tribulations of this constant upkeep, I was told simply, "stop it". But if I stopped it, all my chicks would die, wouldn't they? @Beekissed assured me that they'd be fine, and that I was making them as neurotic as I was. She, @lazy gardener and the others gently reminded me that chicks have survived cold weather, eating whatever Mom showed them, and drinking out of melted snow puddles for centuries, sleeping all night in the dark, and thriving. They were so right. Why do we do it so differently and think we are doing it better? My search began in earnest. I found a video by Patrice Lopatin showing her chicks living outside in a plastic covered "greenhouse" with a heating pad. Bee herself had actually done an experiment incubating eggs with a heating pad, and hatched out some of those eggs, and then I learned that she also raised chicks with a heating pad. And after rescuing Scout, having him in the house healing under a makeshift heating pad setup (a far cry from what I use now but effective for him) then putting him back outside with just his heating pad when it was below zero, I was not only sold, I became a Crusader of sorts, and I'm so grateful to all of those who put away the lamp far sooner than I did and were willing to share what they'd learned with me.

The next time I got chicks, this thread was born. I set up my MHP, taking photos as I went. It started out as just a journal of what I was doing, how I was doing it, and I tried to put in a weekly video of the progress of the chicks. It didn't start out as an "instruction manual" of sorts. But they progressed so far and so fast that it became impossible to capture the day-to-day changes. Then others joined, either telling me WHY this would never work or trying it themselves, They added things, tried new things, and made modifications. Some of those worked well, some not so much. Some I tried to discourage, some I tried myself and discarded, others I tried and kept using. But we all learned. And the main thing I learned is that no matter what you do, keeping it as simple as possible and not over-thinking it is the easiest and best way for the chicks and their owners. THINK WITH A BROODY HEN'S INSTINCTS INSTEAD OF WITH A CHICKEN RAISING BOOK, LISTEN AND WATCH YOUR CHICKS' BEHAVIOR, and you almost can't mess this up.

I think the people I admire most are those who come in and say, "This isn't working like everyone says it should." But instead of giving up on it, they wanna know what to change, how to fix it, and they listen, even when their brain is trying to convince them that their situation is "different". Those are people who report the bad stuff ("I lost a chick when it got trapped between the pad and the wire so I changed my setup to this......"), tell us honestly how they are set up so we can make suggestions, and then listen without getting a thistle in their kilts. It's hard to find a kind way to encourage them to turn the heat down, or lower the cave, or get lamps turned off completely. That's so opposite everything they have learned. But then they come back and let us know that it worked! Hardest of all is to recognize that sometimes chicks die. They die under heat lamps, they die under broody hens, they die under MHP......and I've always been the first to admit that this system isn't for everyone!! It's all about personal comfort zones.

 

[debid]

@Blooie, when you look at that photo now, I'm sure you see the chicks avoiding the ring of fire.

When I first started, I was lucky enough to find a few old timers on BYC who supported my hesitations about putting baby chickens in my house (I have a pretty severe dust allergy). They convinced me that cold spring weather is GOOD for chicks and a thermometer was unnecessary. I managed to find 100 and 175W red lamps so I could adjust with relative ease and I learned to read their behavior. I also saw them aggressively pursuing flying insects all through the night and had to scramble to get them grit a lot younger than I'd expected but they all survived my efforts.

After raising a few broods successfully, I came back to BYC because I'd noticed a number of new heat plate brooders on the market and wondered if they'd made a version suitable for coop brooding yet. I stumbled across the MHP threads. Why didn't I think of that?!

To say that this is an improvement doesn't do it justice. It's a friggin revolution.

 

[Nathan J]

Bravo, Blooie. So glad I found this thread when starting my chicken-raising education.

The thing that struck me when I read about the heat lamp method is, "you mean we keep them under light 24/7 for weeks!? How can that not be bad for them? I'd go insane." And then there's the whole burn-your-house-down thing; just a bit of risk there, eh?

 

[chickieschicks]

I know this is off-topic for the this board but everyone here has been so helpful I figured I would ask. We are getting our chicks today and unfortunately the waterer that I ordered was delayed because of weather. What else can I use to give them water? I don't want any drowning risk and I'm not sure how susceptible they are. I think I read somewhere that I can use a small bowl with rocks inside? Any advice?

 

[debid]

I know this is off-topic for the this board but everyone here has been so helpful I figured I would ask. We are getting our chicks today and unfortunately the waterer that I ordered was delayed because of weather. What else can I use to give them water? I don't want any drowning risk and I'm not sure how susceptible they are. I think I read somewhere that I can use a small bowl with rocks inside? Any advice?

Any shallow container with rocks will work in the short term but they'll foul it in a hurry so be prepared to dump and refresh often.

 

[Blooie]

^-------- Yup, what she said!

 

[ChickNanny13]

Good to know I'm not the only one that felt this way (Blooie) and I'm sure others have gone through the same feelings...

By the time those chicks were 2 weeks old I was close to hating them! They weren't adorable little chicks that were going to grow up and provide eggs for my family - they were demanding little Divas that had become the enemy in a daily battle.

Wish I'd learn about MHP when I first stared out with chicks but now I know & now it's alot more enjoyable & simple!

 

[ChickNanny13]

I know this is off-topic for the this board but everyone here has been so helpful I figured I would ask. We are getting our chicks today and unfortunately the waterer that I ordered was delayed because of weather. What else can I use to give them water? I don't want any drowning risk and I'm not sure how susceptible they are. I think I read somewhere that I can use a small bowl with rocks inside? Any advice?

Depending on how many you getting, you can us a lid with rocks so they don't drown themselves. Or if there's a feed store go get a temp one with the qt sized jar with base, you may need more than one if you're getting alot of chick.

 

[aart]

Good to know I'm not the only one that felt this way (Blooie) and I'm sure others have gone through the same feelings...

By the time those chicks were 2 weeks old I was close to hating them! They weren't adorable little chicks that were going to grow up and provide eggs for my family - they were demanding little Divas that had become the enemy in a daily battle.

Wish I'd learn about MHP when I first stared out with chicks but now I know & now it's alot more enjoyable & simple!

Yah, that's also about when they're not cute little fuzzballs anymore....which happens regardless of heat and brooder chores....haha!