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

[bobbi-j]

I used "T-Rex tape" to tape it down. I also taped down the pointy parts of the hardware
cloth used to make the frame. I nipped them off as best I could first. All the tape will be
checked daily to make sure it doesn't come loose. We got the good, heavy duty sticky stuff.
View attachment 1341266

Following Aart's model, I put cardboard on the top of them, with Press n Seal on the side toward the heating pad, in case of juicy messes. You can see the adjustable legs a little better in these pics.


Here they are in the coop. I have the legs set about 2 1/2" from the floor, but they sit pretty low in the straw. Should I raise them a bit?

Any ideas on what I need to fix? I have two days to do it. Well, two evenings after work. Suggestions are welcome!

My only other question (for now, anyway) is: should I still make a brooder area for them, or let them have the run of the 8x8' coop? With the lights we always had a brooder of some sort. I know I should fix the corners so they can't get piled up in them, but I'm not sure about the rest of the coop. I could maybe partition it off to an 8x4' area for them. My mom has a doggie playpen that I think I can just put across the coop if needed.

 

[bobbi-j]

DH still isn't quite grasping the concept. He thinks I need to plug them in now "to warm it up in there" for the chicks coming Wed. morning. I told him they don't need plugging in until he leaves to go get them. We compromised. I'll plug them in Tues. night "so the straw isn't cold for them". I have explained that we're not trying to heat the area around them and they warm up from contact with the heating pads. He grew up raising chickens on lights... I'm just going to leave it alone for now.

 

[bobbi-j]

One more question, then I'm done for the night. I'm a little concerned about the heating pads being right in the straw. Should I put something under them or will they be OK?

 

[Blooie]

Mine had straw under, behind on top of and beside it every single time. Of course, mine was constructed more like a cave, with the back enclosed, and most people don’t do that anymore. I did it all the way through - it was the way I started out and I saw no reason to change it despite concerns about smaller, weaker chicks getting stuck back there with no way out if the bigger chicks were in front at the entrance. It was a legitimate concern, and actually did happen to others a couple of times. I never had the issue. I can’t answer whether you should set up a separate brooding area for them.....I think it’s better to prevent one from getting too far from MHP and being unable to find its way back, which also happens from time to time with a broody taking her chicks out, but it’s totally up to you and whether you have adults also in that same coop.

Would it help your husband to see a video of chicks actually out in the brooder in the run happily using MHP? One of the things about the video that I’ll post has always tickled me. I’m crouched between the chicks and MHP, and they desperately want to escape my evil person. Then I stood, they made a beeline past me, and the frantic “Help, help, help” cheeping immediately stopped when they got underneath. So funny! It had warmed up, by the way, to a balmy 38 degrees with rain by the time this batch joined us.

In the video I can be heard referring to a little chick that had “died”. She’d found a teeny gap we missed and I found her behind the dust bath, cold, stiff, and lifeless. But I raced her inside, put her in the running incubator, and as soon as she showed signs of reviving I tucked her into a heating pad wrapped in a towel and folded it around her, completely encasing her in the warmth. Later that day or early the next she was back out with the others. She's a little light colored chick with a sort of gray head, not the one with the stripes on her wings. I was looking at little Phoenix when I was talking but had the camera on the group. She grew up to be a big, beautiful White Orpington, supplying us with eggs and just as healthy as can be. Let me get on my computer and I’ll get that posted for you.

 

[Blooie]

 

[Mraya]

I would like to say I just put my new batch of chicks in the brooder Sunday and I can't believe how quite they are at night. I used this last year when I found your post, with older chicks. I was using a heat lamp (Brooder is in the house) and they kept me up all night until I switched to the heating pad.

So thank you for bring this to our attention

Edit: I only wish there was a way to see them inside

 

[aart]

One more question, then I'm done for the night. I'm a little concerned about the heating pads being right in the straw. Should I put something under them or will they be OK?

Looks good @bobbi-j !

I just put an inverted kennel tray under mine,
straw and shavings underneath tray for insulation.
Pad is sharply angled here to accommodate wider age and size range of chicks.

But have also draped a towel and lightly piled straw around on colder nights.
They could still push thru towel and straw.

 

[bruceha2000]

We compromised. I'll plug them in Tues. night "so the straw isn't cold for them". I have explained that we're not trying to heat the area around them and they warm up from contact with the heating pads. He grew up raising chickens on lights... I'm just going to leave it alone for now.

Sometimes that is best, you won't be wasting too much electricity though it is, as you know, totally unnecessary.

You could make a temporary brooder area partition in the coop so they get used to the location of the MHP, food and water and take it out after a couple of days. Mine are separated because there are older chickens but they have daytime access to the barn alley "indoor run" and have no problem finding their way back. They don't go exploring any distance at first, they expand their horizons as they get older.

 

[Storybook Farm]

Hey, all: I now have six MHPs running in four different brooding pens in an unheated barn with ambient temps regularly below freezing (STILL! ), and loving them.

I don’t want to get off topic, but I’m ready to redo watering. Three questions:

1) They can’t use the horizontal ones that I have going for adults in my layer flock, right? (If they can, I’m all set; disregard all that follows and tell me so.) I know some use nipples here, and that’s where I’m headed, but can anyone link to me the proper type (and exact product) for little, day-to-week-olds-and-up nipples, if I must use vertical ones?

2) If I must use the vertical ones, I’m thinking of putting them into smaller vessels... liter bottles, or something... for groups of 10ish chicks. What smaller containers have you found that work?

3) What about when ambient temps are below freezing? These will freeze, right? Currently, we put a heat lamp over our MHP brooders that have the youngest chicks that come on around dawn and thaw the water right under them. Could that work with nipples, or has someone else solved this problem brilliantly already?

 

[aart]

Hey, all: I now have six MHPs running, and loving it.

I don’t want to get off topic, but I’m ready to redo watering. Three questions:

1) They can’t use the horizontal ones that I have going for adults in my layer flock, right? (If they can, I’m all set; disregard all that follows and tell me so.) I know some use nipples here, and that’s where I’m headed, but can anyone link to me the proper type (and exact product) for little, day-to-week-olds-and-up nipples, if I must use vertical ones?

2) If I must use the vertical ones, I’m thinking of putting them into smaller vessels... liter bottles, or something... for groups of 10ish.

3) What about when ambient temps are below freezing?

1-It takes some strength, and practice, to activate the HN's.
I give a regular waterer early and late in day so they stay hydrated.

2-VN's are easier for them to activate. If properly installed, either nipple can be put into any vessel. I have a bunch of pint bottles with HN's....how to hang or mount them can be a problem.

3-I just swap em out, why I have a bunch of them.


How many chicks do you have?
6 MHP's ...WOW!