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

[aart]

They’ll be split up 25 to a brooder. I’ve got 4 brooders so I’ll have one free to rotate chicks to while cleaning. I already have the heating pads so the only thing I need to build is a few more frames.

Probably going to need more than one 12x24 pad for 25 chicks.
I had 16 and they were spilling out the sides before they were done with heat.
Can depend on ambient temps too.
Layers or meaties?
Look forward to seeing your MHP iteration.

 

[jrjoplin]

Probably going to need more than one 12x24 pad for 25 chicks.
I had 16 and they were spilling out the sides before they were done with heat.
Can depend on ambient temps too.
Layers or meaties?
Look forward to seeing your MHP iteration.

Each brooder of 25 has its own 12x24 MHP. It’s the setup I’ve used for the last 2 new chick arrivals. I wouldn’t push past that much as it does get crowded. I have a 4th brooder box that could be used if it looks like the chicks need more space. Our usual April temps are in the 50s, I start the heating pad at 6 but usually come down quickly based on chick behavior.

 

[Molpet]

Just bumping the thread because soon it will be CHICK SEASON

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Just bumping the thread because soon it will be CHICK SEASON

Lol....I spent last night assembling my heat pad setups....ran a solid 24 hour test to be sure pads came out of the storage tote in working order. Good timing, my confirmation for first shipment of the year came this afternoon

 

[jjulian812]

11 of the Littles are officially two weeks old and 4 of the teeny Littles are one week old. They are spending almost all of their time out running around their pen and hardly under MHP at all during the day. Since it got up to 71 today (yes, 70 in Northern Wyoming in MARCH!) and the main run is nice and toasty, and since it holds the warmth so long, I turned the heating pad down to 4. It's supposed to get down to 47 tonight so they'll be fine. If it gets chillier I can always opt to pop it up a notch, but I do believe that it'll stay at 4 until I drop it to 2 next week. The following week they should be off it completely. I'll leave the cave up, and they will snuggle together for warmth and comfort inside it, but I think we are getting close to done. The big Littles are great about letting the Teeny Littles cuddle under them. This is definitely the way to go!

I'm really enjoying this thread and am so happy to have found it before my little babies arrive. I am taking courage to know that your cold climate seems more severe than ours here in northern Utah and it still works. That's been worrying me the most about this system.

 

[jjulian812]

@LeslieMidland Thank you, but as I keep repeating, it wasn't my idea. It's a compilation of lots of ideas, from those who have done it before to those who have added so many good ideas here since my first post. Oh, and Ken is doing much better, thanks. Just has to be very careful with his diet to prevent another episode.

Okay, so I turned Mama Heating Pad down yesterday and went out this morning to find all 11 two weekers and all 4 one weekers active and energetic. I took a little time to pull the straw out from under MHP and replaced it with fresh, since they all roost in there all night long. I think they appreciated it - a few at a time they had to run into the cave and scratch around in the new stuff. I'm not stressed, constantly trying to keep up with dirty waterers, fussing with a heat lamp, (Is it too close? Too far? Is the wall getting too warm?) and cleaning out a gross brooder so the house doesn't start to stink. Everything isn't coated with that insidious dust and we sleep in blessed quiet all night long!

It is absolutely wonderful to watch all of these behaviors taking place. They are so much less like pampered little divas and more like short little chickens out there. I also broke off a chunk of the Bigs' Flock Block and put that and a clump of garden dirt in there for them. They got some grit scattered on the surface of the straw in their run, too. It's cloudy, horribly windy, and much chillier and damper today than it has been, but you'd never know it when you step into their little domain. Never, never ever, will I raise chicks in the house again!

This is just so great. The brooding part was the part I was dreading the most as a new chicken mama. This will be so much more pleasurable...for all of us.

 

[bruceha2000]

Yep, it is super easy and effective!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I'm really enjoying this thread and am so happy to have found it before my little babies arrive. I am taking courage to know that your cold climate seems more severe than ours here in northern Utah and it still works. That's been worrying me the most about this system.

It really does feel like a huge leap of faith, especially when so many people will tell you just how fragile chicks and even chickens are, when it comes to things like winter. That being said, that belief in fragility is really a whole load of hooey. Having allowed broody hens to hatch and raise chicks your round in multiple locations where significant Winter weather was a factor, I was comfortable in using the mom a heat pad in that same way.
I'm having difficulty getting the video to load clearly right now, but I have a great video that I shot of my babies from this time last year in the coop with their mama heat pad on a day when the daytime temperatures were in the mid twenties, with night temperatures being much lower. The video was taken a couple days after they had arrived so they were about 5 days old at the time and running around happy as little clams occasionly ducking under the heat pad but spending most of their time out and about exploring their world, just as they would with a mama hen.

 

[jjulian812]

The babies have arrived! What an exciting day!

I just wanted to report the ease with which these day old chicks were able to eat, drink and casually walk into their Momma Heated cave and put themselves to bed.

After we arrived home, they drank and ate for the longest time. Then it got all quiet because they had all gone back into the cave and were sound asleep.
Within the hour though, they were back out eating and drinking and running all around chirp, chirping. After eating and eating and eating...back they went into the cave and have been asleep for a long time now. Since the room is dark, I'm not expecting to hear from them till morning.

We got our chicks, Buff Orpingtons, Black Australorps and Barred Rocks, from Chase Hatchery in Salt Lake. They seem very healthy and lively and clean. So, fingers crossed...
looking forward to watching these girls (hope they're all girls) grow up.

 

[aart]

My latest iteration for the adjustable legs.
(see the others here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate.67729/)

Best yet, but time will tell how they hold up....hatching is still weeks away.

Playing with positioning: