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

[LuvnEnglishOrps]

(Not my pic).. but the part that has a solid top has a dividing wall inside with a little door..i removed that wall and slid the heating pad in the cubby hole..perfect fit..

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001...1490968207&sr=8-3&keywords=turtle+box+habitat

Eta: I also replaced wire on top with a smaller holed wire..

 

[rutonski]

I like that. Thanks for sharing.

I did a little work on my brooder tonight. I took the shavings out, put down some skid resistant shelf liner and hung the heating pad a little lower in the dish drainer so it should touch their backs. I also put the heating pad in a very soft flannel pillow case. As they get bigger, I can raise the height of the heating pad. I also moved it away from the back so they can get in and out two ways and shouldn't get stuck. I plan to do this as an annual project. It's been such a great learning experience as we candled the eggs each week and documented what we saw. We did have 8 that were not fertilized and these 12 seem to have babies in them. We'll see how many actually hatch. When we got our chickens a year ago, they were already 18 months old, so this is our first time raising chicks.

Thanks again for all of your help and suggestions. I'll let you know how many little friends we get.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

The day FINALLY came -- the coop isn't 100% (the external nest boxes need their outside door finished, the poop board/roost still needs to go in and the pop door is yet to be cut) but it's functional and I just couldn't wait another week (or two or three --- love DH and FIL, but the word "deadline" apparently does not mean the same thing to them as it does to me, lol) -- I got off work a couple of hours early today so DS and I trekked off to our favorite farm store and brought home 12 of the cutest little balls of fluff ever, I officially have chickens again

Got them all out of their boxes and introduced to their new home - everyone got oriented to food, water and warmth....all the important things....and then spent the next few hours just being chicks. Went out at dusk and everyone was snuggled up in "the cave", making those sweet sleepy chick noises.....and now I'm sitting here like a nervous mommy worrying about them. I've never been able to brood outside (coops have always been too far from power sources) *and* this is my first go round with the MHP, it just feels like such a leap of faith

.....but one I am so happy to be making because it just makes so darn much sense......just think I need to get to tomorrow morning and go out and see all 12 happy, healthy babies looking at me and wondering what all the fuss was about.

(pics to come, didn't get any today)

 

[Blooie]

@Ol Grey Mare
Welcome to the Broody Brigade!! As you can see by the last few pages, dues are really pouring in with it being chick season (and thank you all for that!) so we'll wait patiently for yours as well. Brooding out in the coop with MHP is a HUGE leap of faith, and well do we know it! So I hope all your Littles are out there this morning doing their little "learning to be chickens" thing when you go out this morning!

One of the hardest parts of raising chicks - under MHP, a broody hen, or a heat lamp - is the occasional loss of a chick. I just had a lady here in town who is doing MHP for the first time and she found a dead chick yesterday. I ran over real quick after her frantic call to see her setup. She'd done everything perfectly....not that there is a specific 'right or wrong' with MHP....and still lost a chick. She has another one that looks pretty sick as well. She isn't mad, but she IS going back to heat lamps. She is convinced that MHP must be at fault and no other reason. I pointed out that the other chicks are doing great - running all over the brooder, eating well, playing on top of the pad, going underneath to warm up then popping back out, but she's going back to the lamp and there's nothing more I could say.

Chicks die. We don't like it and it stinks but they die. There have been times when chicks got trapped or hung up in the wire frame, and those chicks were lost. But folks came in here, shared their experience and what they'd done to prevent a repeat and we all learned. That wasn't the case for Elaine. The chick wasn't trapped or hung up in any way. I imagine the other one is probably dead this morning too - it looked really rough. It's frustrating because we all know this system works and works well. But I guess there are millions of chickens out there who were raised very successfully under heat lamps so......

Anyway....I have to go out and get mine set up today. Yep, Miss I'm-Not-Getting-Chicks-This-Year is getting chicks this year. Ken ordered some Silkies "for Katie and Kendra". I don't know who he thinks he's kidding...before his surgery I'd look out there and he'd be putzing around the yard with one of last year's Silkies tucked under his arm. They'll be shipped out Monday, so I'd like to have everything set up for them well ahead of time. Fortunately it's a pretty simple set-up process. Last year we cleaned everything well and put it all in a big Sterilite marked "chick fixin's" so it's all in one place ready to go. I'll bring the heating pad in to test it, of course, but other than that it won't take long to get prepped.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

 

Chicks die.  We don't like it and it stinks but they die.

Anyway....I have to go out and get mine set up today.  Yep, Miss I'm-Not-Getting-Chicks-This-Year is getting chicks this year.  Ken ordered some Silkies "for Katie and Kendra".  I don't know who he thinks he's kidding...before his surgery I'd look out there and he'd be putzing around the yard with one of last year's Silkies tucked under his arm.  They'll be shipped out Monday, so I'd like to have everything set up for them well ahead of time.  Fortunately it's a pretty simple set-up process.  Last year we cleaned everything well and put it all in a big Sterilite marked "chick fixin's" so it's all in one place ready to go.  I'll bring the heating pad in to test it, of course, but other than that it won't take long to get prepped. 

They do indeed, which is why thete are twice as many chicks as I intend to have birds in the flock. ....an extra of each breed to account for loss, oops sexing (well that one isn't an issue with the sex links, lol) and picking the nicest or best marked for the final six. ..the rest will likely go to my sisters flock or I will sell them as coop ready birds.

Lol at Ken, that is too cute. ....they aren't nearly as tricky as they like to think they are. Hope all you babies arrive safe and sound!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

And today my first errand is to go buy another heat pad, one night without it and DH was whining. .....I pointed out that since the one he had been using was ordered specifically for my MHP he had technically stolen it from them and not the other way around, but logic had no place in the discussion, lol

 

[Blooie]

I stand before you with hat in hand, humbly begging for forgiveness, @Ol Grey Mare I don't know why I typed a different name in my welcome - love @oldhenlikesdogs dearly too, but didn't mean to tag her and not you. Dunno where my brain is this morning but it's definitely NOT on duty.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I stand before you with hat in hand, humbly begging for forgiveness, @Ol Grey Mare I don't know why I typed a different name in my welcome - love @oldhenlikesdogs dearly too, but didn't mean to tag her and not you. Dunno where my brain is this morning but it's definitely NOT on duty.

LOL - I knew what you meant -- it's easy to confuse us "ol' " ladies.....and I can think of much worse people to have been confused with

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

12 happy, healthy, peeping babies have come out from beneath the MHP, filled their crops and commenced exploring their new home all over again!

I had forgotten how much fun it is just to watch chicks being chicks........

 

[Blooie]

12 happy, healthy, peeping babies have come out from beneath the MHP, filled their crops and commenced exploring their new home all over again!

I had forgotten how much fun it is just to watch chicks being chicks........

Awwww.....and thanks for forgiving me. It was a Duh Diane moment!

I'm almost getting excited about our new ones coming too. But don't tell Ken. He thinks I still hate the idea. I vetoed it once and he cancelled the order, but then he re-ordered. Right after that he went in and had shoulder surgery so guess who gets to do all the Kendra care and manage him and chicks at the same time. Yep. <sigh>