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

[Blooie]

Shoot, I'm still working on that after 50!!

 

[aart]

I love the idea of the consistency of the MHP.

You still may have to adjust the height.
I use a dimmer extension cord on my heat lamp,
but using a 100W red reptile light,
not sure you can dim a 'real' heat bulb,
much easier to adjust the heat output.

 

[bobbi-j]

You still may have to adjust the height.
I use a dimmer extension cord on my heat lamp,
but using a 100W red reptile light,
not sure you can dim a 'real' heat bulb,
much easier to adjust the heat output.

No reptile light here. Just a 125 watt bulb. I have a 250 somewhere so I can use that if I have to. We’ll have to see what the weather is like. I’ll adjust the frames as needed.

 

[bruceha2000]

PS - instead of some sense into him, could you please teach me how to speak man-speak so he understands? After 35 1/2 years I still haven’t figured it out!

Only if you teach me woman-speak at the same time!

For ME, its "just the facts Ma'am". I understand point by point details, logic. I do not understand "the sky is falling". I like to know the "why". Things have to be done the way they "always" have been because? Sometimes it is the best way and nothing better hasn't been found (that doesn't mean they shouldn't still be questioned and alternatives tested). Sometimes it is "because that is how it has 'always' been done". My favorite example (don't recall where I heard it):
Newly married couple making dinner, spouse 1 cuts the end off the roast before putting it in the roasting pan.
Spouse 2: "Why did you cut the end off the roast?"
Spouse 1: "Well my mother always did."
Spouse 2: "Why?"
Spouse 1: "I don't know, I'll call and ask".
Spouse 1: "Mom, why do you always cut the end off the roast before putting it in the pan?"
Mother: "Well my mother always did."
Spouse 1: "Why?"
Mother: "I don't know, I'll call and ask".
Mother: "Mom, why do you always cut the end off the roast before putting it in the pan?"
Grandmother: "I have a small roasting pan, the roast won't fit otherwise."

I've not been raising chickens for decades but I have raised 3 batches. Heat lamp, MHP and hen. One thing I can tell you without question is that a hen does not raise the ambient temperature to 95°F the first week, 90°F the second, etc yet the chicks thrive. That alone is reason enough to question the "common knowledge requirement" of raising chicks in a constant high ambient temperature environment.

 

[bobbi-j]

Only if you teach me woman-speak at the same time!

For ME, its "just the facts Ma'am". I understand point by point details, logic. I do not understand "the sky is falling". I like to know the "why". Things have to be done the way they "always" have been because? Sometimes it is the best way and nothing better hasn't been found (that doesn't mean they shouldn't still be questioned and alternatives tested). Sometimes it is "because that is how it has 'always' been done". My favorite example (don't recall where I heard it):
Newly married couple making dinner, spouse 1 cuts the end off the roast before putting it in the roasting pan.
Spouse 2: "Why did you cut the end off the roast?"
Spouse 1: "Well my mother always did."
Spouse 2: "Why?"
Spouse 1: "I don't know, I'll call and ask".
Spouse 1: "Mom, why do you always cut the end off the roast before putting it in the pan?"
Mother: "Well my mother always did."
Spouse 1: "Why?"
Mother: "I don't know, I'll call and ask".
Mother: "Mom, why do you always cut the end off the roast before putting it in the pan?"
Grandmother: "I have a small roasting pan, the roast won't fit otherwise."

I've not been raising chickens for decades but I have raised 3 batches. Heat lamp, MHP and hen. One thing I can tell you without question is that a hen does not raise the ambient temperature to 95°F the first week, 90°F the second, etc yet the chicks thrive. That alone is reason enough to question the "common knowledge requirement" of raising chicks in a constant high ambient temperature environment.

Yes! I think a lot of why things get done the way they do is because “we’ve always done it this way.” The other theory is, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,”.

 

[Storybook Farm]

I agree that it should be easier to set up the MHP than a heat lamp. Last time I used a heat lamp, the weather was so variable it made me crazy trying to keep up. Even though there was plenty of room for them to get out of the heat, I’d raise it during the day when it was 60, and lower it at night when it got down in the 20’s because I didn’t trust that they would be warm enough. I love the idea of the consistency of the MHP. (Although we may have the light on over the water for a few nights to keep it from freezing.)

PS - instead of some sense into him, could you please teach me how to speak man-speak so he understands? After 35 1/2 years I still haven’t figured it out!

I’d try womanspeak, personally: “Honey, I know you have more experience, and we’ll do it your way if the chicks are at all stressed (which we can tell by peeping), but could we just try this way first? A lot of people have done it over the years, and it would make me happy to not have to clean up their dust ...” Etc. Appeal to his manly desires to make you happy, even if you are “crazy.” Works for me!

 

[Blooie]

In 50 years of marriage to Ken I’ve learned to plant the seed of what I’d like to do and then shut up. When he comes to me later and says, “I was thinking....we could (fill in the blank with original idea).” I act surprised. And that’s when I bat my eyes, smile at him and say in my thickest Mississippi drawl, “Oh, honey....you’re so CLEVAH!”

 

[aart]

“Oh, honey....you’re so CLEVAH!”

 

[bobbi-j]

In 50 years of marriage to Ken I’ve learned to plant the seed of what I’d like to do and then shut up. When he comes to me later and says, “I was thinking....we could (fill in the blank with original idea).” I act surprised. And that’s when I bat my eyes, smile at him and say in my thickest Mississippi drawl, “Oh, honey....you’re so CLEVAH!”

We do the same thing here. I'll ask if it would work to... (fill in the blank) and his first response is, "That won't work". I let it go, and in a week or two he'll come and say, "How about if we..." And tell him, "Great idea! I'm so glad YOU thought of it!"

So now you know, Bruce - if you have a wife and she plants an idea, once it finally takes seed and grows in your head she will give you the credit all the while knowing it was HER idea!

 

[Elmochook]

I hatched out my 1st batch of chooks on Easter and started using mama heating pad for the 1st time with that batch of 22 babies. I was SO impressed with how much they liked it. Never going back. Great idea to the original poster and Blooie for sharing with us.