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

[casportpony]

@ yoopergirl1211, I sure hope your babies are ok & make it to you soon!!




I started taking pics of our MHP & told dh I had to pay my dues & post them here.. he said if he would have known I was posting pics he would have drilled the holes strait.. lol !! So here it is.. we put the heating pad in an old pillowcase & secured it under the wire frame with duct tape (we tried electrical tape but it wouldn't stick right & we were afraid the chicks would get caught in it). We also secured a piece of cardboard on top. In hind sight I would say go for the bungees instead of duct tape to hold everything together as it does droop some. The chicks seem to love it & snuggle right into it but I'm a worried chick momma & had to keep checking on them & lifting it up to make sure nobody was stuck under there.

We've had the chicks a week now & I have to say that the MHP works so much better all the way around than those dang lights! Thank you, thank you, thank you, to everyone here for sharing this!!












We made the brooder out of a pallet..





& the cute little buggers are getting feathers already!..

I like it!

 

[bajabirdbrain]

I like it!

How in the heck could you have posted 52,318 POSTS????? Do you sleep? Work? Amazing!

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
she is a very helpful person.... very. Some of us have more than that...

 

[Blooie]

Big blow today. Left town yesterday to get Ken down to Rawlins, and came home today to 5 dead Silkies. I'm just sick. Katie checked them earlier and they were all fine. Out of the 17 I got, 10 of them were visibly smaller than the others...very obvious differences. They are the ones I've been losing. I don't know if the long 4 days in shipping was more than they could handle at their tiny size and they just couldn't rally or what. No pasty butt, none of them trapped anywhere, heating pad nice and warm, no power outages, plenty of food and water...I just don't know. Of all the chicks I've raised, I've never had this happen before. I hope the other super tiny ones will be okay. Everyone got Nutri-drench when I got them home. and everyone got a drink of water. They've been eating, running in and of MHP, and the latest ones died between 2 this afternoon and 7:30 tonight. <sigh>

 

[azygous]

Oh, Blooie. That's just too upsetting for words. One would have been devastating, but five!

Yes, four days in transit is likely the culprit. The tiny ones had less body mass so they would have been the ones to hit the tipping point as they chilled. The damage was done, but the end result is on a delayed reaction. It's not fair, because for them to die now makes it look like it's something you did, which absolutely isn't the case here.

Hatchery chicks? They need to know. Hope you called them.

 

[Blooie]

Oh, Blooie. That's just too upsetting for words. One would have been devastating, but five!

Yes, four days in transit is likely the culprit. The tiny ones had less body mass so they would have been the ones to hit the tipping point as they chilled. The damage was done, but the end result is on a delayed reaction. It's not fair, because for them to die now makes it look like it's something you did, which absolutely isn't the case here.

Hatchery chicks? They need to know. Hope you called them.

Thanks, @azygous I didn't find them until this evening when we got home so the hatchery is closed, but I did leave a message. We'll see - I understand Cackle is pretty good, and that's where I got them, so now the test will be if they respond.

I feel bad enough for me, but it's Katie I'm really worried about. She called me this morning about 9 to tell me she'd just checked on them ("And Gramma, it's hard to count them when they don't stand still!") and then when she came over at 2 to gather eggs she checked on them again. The only common denominator is their smaller size, and like you said it doesn't take much for them to stress and chill so much they just never recover. Well, I can't change it at this point.....all I can hope for is that Katie is her usual pragmatic self when she comes over tomorrow and she doesn't start questioning her abilities as a "chicken keeper".

 

[Merrymouse]

Thanks, @azygous I didn't find them until this evening when we got home so the hatchery is closed, but I did leave a message. We'll see - I understand Cackle is pretty good, and that's where I got them, so now the test will be if they respond.

I feel bad enough for me, but it's Katie I'm really worried about. She called me this morning about 9 to tell me she'd just checked on them ("And Gramma, it's hard to count them when they don't stand still!") and then when she came over at 2 to gather eggs she checked on them again. The only common denominator is their smaller size, and like you said it doesn't take much for them to stress and chill so much they just never recover. Well, I can't change it at this point.....all I can hope for is that Katie is her usual pragmatic self when she comes over tomorrow and she doesn't start questioning her abilities as a "chicken keeper".

@Blooie Im so sorry that happened and its made all the worse because of your grand daughter. Of course it was nothing you or she did. I've learned the hard way that these babies are just that babies, without alot of reserve and 4 days of travel simply overwhelmed their little bodies Im guessing. Tough blow though for all. Heres hoping the other thrive

 

[Birdinhand]

I don't have luck with long shipping. I've switched to a hatchery that gets to me via pretty much a straight shot of I-5 from OR, it takes less than 24 hours with 100% livability. any chance you can pick a closer place or choose a faster delivery option?

 

[aart]

Big blow today. Left town yesterday to get Ken down to Rawlins, and came home today to 5 dead Silkies. I'm just sick. Katie checked them earlier and they were all fine. Out of the 17 I got, 10 of them were visibly smaller than the others...very obvious differences. They are the ones I've been losing. I don't know if the long 4 days in shipping was more than they could handle at their tiny size and they just couldn't rally or what. No pasty butt, none of them trapped anywhere, heating pad nice and warm, no power outages, plenty of food and water...I just don't know. Of all the chicks I've raised, I've never had this happen before. I hope the other super tiny ones will be okay. Everyone got Nutri-drench when I got them home. and everyone got a drink of water. They've been eating, running in and of MHP, and the latest ones died between 2 this afternoon and 7:30 tonight. <sigh>

OhCrap!! So sorry.

 

[Merrymouse]

I need some MHP help. I have 9 chicks ages 2 to 5ish weeks in a dog crate with MHP all doing great, but getting too stinky and dusty for me (asthma). I also have a tiny chick that has had some kind of neurological or vitamin deficiency or whatever that was doing very very poorly. Couldn't keep its balance, wasn't eating or drinking, getting picked on by the others and literally could not walk to get out of the way of trouble, never mind finding the food and water in the big dog crate. So I took the baby chick, who is tiny compared to the others and set her up with her own MHP. I set her at 6 for warmth, fed her nutridrench every 3 to 4 hours and now she has improved. She is not out of the woods by a long shot but she can balance and move and is eating and drinking on her own etc. She has been peeping loudly today, probably feels better and wondering why she is alone. Here is a link to the thread about her if anyone would like to chime in and help me with her. Im a first time chicken keeper and really don't know what Im doing so much

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1163464/baby-chick-in-trouble/60#post_18321616

Anyway, Im thinking of putting one of the smallest chicks in with her for now and seeing how it goes but my MHP ? is will the other chick be ok with the higher temp of the MHP?

If they do well together and the sick chick continues to improve I would like to move her out to the coop at the same time I move the bigger girls out which will be some time this week. So how do I handle the MHP outside? The big girls are down to 4 and I was going to lower it again tonight to 3. but I feel the baby sick chick still may need the supportive heat. She is not nearly feathered out. I would hate to see this baby chick perish for some reason that is actually in my control. Thank you all