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

[Ahavati]

We do the same. Keep in the house for a few days just to observe and make sure all are healthy. Then we move to an outside brooder with the little cave. When my son goes to lock up our girls at night, he would make sure all chicks were tucked away under the cave.

 

[PetesChicks]

Ok, brooder in the garage for a couple days, then move them to the brooder in the coop? That's doable, just another cleaning job (actually 2 more - clean the garage to fit the brooder, and clean it after the chicks move. )

How tall should the brooder be, and how soon before it needs a cover? The cats don't go in the garage, so no worries there. The coop is secure for when they move out there, but I'm assuming that they will be able to get out of it if it's not covered? As you might be able to tell, this will be my first time with real little ones. Our first batch were about 2 months old, and we had to rehome 2 roosters (out of 4 that the breeder swore were all females). The 2 we got to replace the roosters were already laying when we got them.

 

[bruceha2000]

What is the reasoning for putting them in the garage first (other than to force you to declutter )? Is it so far out to the coop that it would be a PITA to check on them? You have to go out for the other chickens anyway right?

As far as height, I think mine is about 18" high. They can fly a foot at under 2 weeks. In fact, if I remember they can fly 2' at 2-3 weeks. My first set were getting out of the bathtub by 3 weeks but those that then chose to go to the bathroom floor couldn't get high enough to get back in. I guess we could have given them a couple of intermediate "steps" but put them out in the barn instead. It was early July by then.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I just laid a piece of hardware cloth - or plastic chicken netting...whichever I had - on top of the brood box so they couldn't jump out. That way you can use any reasonably height box without fear.

(I would have put it over the bathtub too, but since I didn't brood in the bathtub, it probably would have looked silly and made the others in the household question my sanity.)

 

[PetesChicks]

What is the reasoning for putting them in the garage first (other than to force you to declutter )? Is it so far out to the coop that it would be a PITA to check on them? You have to go out for the other chickens anyway right?

As far as height, I think mine is about 18" high. They can fly a foot at under 2 weeks. In fact, if I remember they can fly 2' at 2-3 weeks. My first set were getting out of the bathtub by 3 weeks but those that then chose to go to the bathroom floor couldn't get high enough to get back in. I guess we could have given them a couple of intermediate "steps" but put them out in the barn instead. It was early July by then.

A few people said that they keep them in the house for the first couple days. I might just do them in the coop from the start. I have some chicken wire - would that be OK for the brooder, or should I use hardware cloth? Once I have them open to the coop itself, I'll probably use the welded wire to separate them from the bigs, with tiny doors that they can get though.

Also, when I am integrating them with the tiny doors, how soon before it will be safe to let them into the run with the bigs? I don't want them to get too far from their safe spot, or am I being too much of a Mother Hen here?

 

[trudyg]

Is one heating pad enough for 15 chicks? Or should I plan on making 2 caves? I've got power in the coop and plan to partition off the area under the poop board for the babies. My coop is 10 X 12, so they'd have roughly 4' X 12', plenty big, and I could block off the pop door to keep bigs out and littles in during the day for even more room. Then my only issue is creating an area outside for them that they can't escape. I have a large chicken yard with chain link on 2 sides and 2X4 goat wire for the other 2 sides, so I'll need to cover all the holes for about a foot up to prevent escapes. Nothing worse than seeing your littles in the neighbors yard with their big dog!

 

[Blooie]

One large pad should be fine - they don’t all get under at one time after the first few days anyway, except for at night. I think I had either 17 or 19 once...can’t remember for sure now.

You have a while to worry about letting them outside so take your time in chick- proofing the run to get it as secure as posdible! I wired hardware cloth around the bottom of their brooder pen directly to the wire fencing, making sure to watch for “chick traps”. They can squirt into unbelievably small spaces and get hung up.

Remember that MHP mimics a broody hen. A broody hen moves from place to place when the chicks are a day or so old....she may be over by the feeder one minute, then wander over for a dust bath or something a bit later. So broody raised chicks wander around to wherever she is if they need a warmup. And if she can’t see them, she’ll go find them. MHP is stationary....she doesn’t move. So at least for the first couple of weeks, you don’t want them getting too far from quick and easy access to it. That’s why the portal doors work so well when you open them. Once they know where MHP is, they’ll head back to it if they need to, but can’t if it’s too far away, or too far out of sight. Common sense is your best friend!

Good luck, and welcome to the Broody Brigade!

 

[aart]

Also, when I am integrating them with the tiny doors, how soon before it will be safe to let them into the run with the bigs? I don't want them to get too far from their safe spot, or am I being too much of a Mother Hen here?

I actually lined both my 2x4 WW runs with 1/2" HC to to keep the chicks in the run,
had some broody chicks get left in the run by mama(SMH) and when I tried to grab them the ran right thru the 2x4, the HC liner also accommodated deep litter.

Biggest thing for me was 'teaching' them to go in and out of the coop,
which is pretty high off the ground.
My chick partition area has a separate run, so they were familiar with the pop door and ramp before I integrated chicks with big birds.

Not so much 'mother hen' as being aware of problems and trying to avoid them from happening....I 'trained' them to use the tiny doors in stages, that's explained in my article. 'Training' being setting things up so they can learn easily and using some 'persuasion' to 'force' them to 'jump thru the hoops'.

 

[bruceha2000]

I guess I've been lucky with "babies" and "older girls". The 2012 chicks were the first. The 2015s were raised by Zorra who wouldn't let the other hens near them (she let 2, 1 that was her "helper" and one she knew wasn't interested in picking on the chicks). The other hens vacated an area when she took the "kids" there. Of course that included the favored daytime hangouts by the house. The 2017's raised themselves for 3 weeks and figured out (how with their tiny chicken brains?) that the hens wouldn't go into the alpacas' area and the alpacas didn't seem to care about little birds. Probably didn't know them from the wild sparrows.

You'll have to bigify the first picture and look hard to see the gate that separates the alpacas' part of the alley from the chickens' much larger part (their indoor run). Find the nest box projecting out from the coop stall in the first picture and compare to the second picture. The brooder area is in the coop behind the small door to the left of the people door. It is about 18' from that door to the gate, about another 16' from the gate to the far doors. I would open the door to the brooder area in the morning after the older hens had mostly gone outside the door that is behind where the first picture is taken from.


When the older hens chased after the chicks, they ran for the safety of the north end of the barn. And that is how they found "Alpaca Alley" and the great outdoors.

 

[luckyplucky]

Welcome to the “warmest” thread! Sorry, bad pun, but it seems to fit! Brooding outdoors still takes some work, besides the setup. Dry bedding is important, as chicks can chill if their bedding ends up soaked. Out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind, so keep a close eye on them when they’re out there, and make sure that for the first few days you kinda escort them under the pad when it gets dark. They are usually pretty doggone quick to figure that out, but stragglers do happen.

Remember, photos = dues paid!

I will definitely take photos once it's all set up. And yes, we have always been pretty good about daily checks of bedding etc. with chicks. Even our full grown chickens get daily attention. After a traumatic experience almost 2 months ago (a visiting kid throwing oranges at them and into the coop) we had 4 of our chickens so scared that they started roosting in the orange tree next to the coop, so EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. my husband has to go out and move at least 1 and up to all 4 from the tree to the coop. So I guess what I'm saying is, we're out there anyway.....