MHP (Mama Heating Pad) Question

[debid]

I used a tomato cage but mine had been run over by a tractor so it wasn't exactly round anymore.

But the wire itself is plenty sturdy (and not easy to cut). I just hacked off pieces for a framework -- 2 long ones to run the length of the pad plus a couple inches on each side for legs and a central beam piece to run the width. I laid the bare pad on it, put a scrap of hardware cloth on top of that, and fastened the hardware cloth to the tomato cage wire along the front and back. When I bent it to shape, it seemed too saggy underneath so I added two more wires to the underside going diagonally from front to back. This whole thing was wriggled right back inside the cover the pad came with (I snipped the corners off so the legs could stick out) and stitched it shut.

 

[junebuggena]

Would the small pad still be good for 9 chicks? lol

I just added two more to my order (Buckeye and Swedish Flower).

It will be fine. I regularly brood 12 or more under mine.

 

[junebuggena]

Neighbor came through with some wire:



I can zip tie to the bricks and move them closer or further to raise or lower. Yea/nay?

Get rid of the bricks. You don't want a chick to get stuck between the wire and the brick. It really is amazing how suicidal some chicks can be.

 

[ChxLadyCass]

Just wanted to piggy back on this thread if possible!

How do you all protect your cords to your heating pad? Is there any risk of the little ones biting into it? My heating pad cord is pretty hardy, but I didn't want to risk it with the few amount of chicks I ordered. Help is greatly appreciated!

 

[ShannonO]

Get rid of the bricks. You don't want a chick to get stuck between the wire and the brick. It really is amazing how suicidal some chicks can be. 

Thanks. I wouldn't have known.

I guess there may be no getting around buying fencing or a tomato cage.

 

[junebuggena]

Just wanted to piggy back on this thread if possible!

How do you all protect your cords to your heating pad? Is there any risk of the little ones biting into it? My heating pad cord is pretty hardy, but I didn't want to risk it with the few amount of chicks I ordered. Help is greatly appreciated!

Chicks are not not able to peck through a cord.

 

[aart]

Quote: True Dat^^^'

But good to keep cord and especially controller out of chicks path just to keep poop off of them.

 

[Blooie]

True Dat^^^'

But good to keep cord and especially controller out of chicks path just to keep poop off of them.

Yep, and at the very least, be sure to put some electrical tape or something over the connection between the pad and its cord! Good luck!

 

[ChxLadyCass]

Thank you! I will keep that in mind! I am having a blast constructing the MHP. I feel like I'm nesting.

 

[ChxLadyCass]

Any feedback? I have a probe thermometer reading 97 degrees against the pad and 84 inside the cave. I have obsessively removed any strings or objects that could be chewed on