Thinking of brooding outdoors.....

[Laodicia]

Oh, boy! Do I ever!! There's a link I'll give you at the bottom of this post to the Mama Heating Pad thread. The first post is how I initially set mine up, and you know, I've changed almost nothing since that very first post! I like it simple! At the bottom of that first post is a link to page 46. When you click on that and then go about halfway down, you'll find @Beekissed's photos and a description of how she sets hers up, and a lot of people are doing it that way now. We had reports on the thread of a few chicks getting trapped between the pad and the wire, so she showed us how she has avoided that. She was my mentor in this entire effort.

The heating pad I, and most of us use, is the Sunbeam X-Press Heat. You can turn off that pesky "automatic shutoff" so it doesn't turn itself off every couple of hours. Other than that, you can use about any other pad as long as it doesn't have that "auto shut" off. The pad I use is usually available at Walmart or Walgreen's type pharmacies. I would add, don't use an old heating pad that you have tucked away in a closet somewhere! After a long time being rolled or folded, the wires inside can become brittle, crack or break, and short out. The pad will be on continuously for a few weeks, and the last thing we want to do is have bad heating elements cause issues. There's a link at the bottom for the pad on Amazon if you'd rather get it that way.

Be forewarned of two things!! First of all, the cave I use for my chicks is NOT as high as it is in that first post. I was learning as I went along, so illustrations are to some degree exaggerated so that people can see exactly how I made it. The actual cave is flatter than that so that it almost touches the chick's backs when they are in there.

Second thing to note is that is that chicks will NOT behave as you've been led to expect they should. They go to bed with the sun and wake up with the sun. They are quieter. They are stronger and more confident. Don't panic if they seem a little smaller as chicks - they aren't eating 24 hours a day using Mama Heating Pad. They'll mature out just fine.

I know the thread is a big one. It's still pretty active. But darn near everything you need to know is on just those two pages! After that it's just a matter of you fine tuning it to your specific setup and needs. Any videos in the thread posted before around June of 2017 no longer work, and haven't since BYC updated its platform then. So if there is anything you'd like to see on video, such as Mama Heating Pad chicks responding to darkness and then light, or see any videos of my chicks from first time outdoors in the outdoor brooder to videos of their integration with the adults at 4 weeks, let me know and I'll post them for you right here. Most of them aren't long, but they are cute, even if I have to say it myself!

I'm also posting a link to how I raise chicks outdoors. @azygous also has an excellent article on the same strong belief that outdoor raising is best, and I've always freely admitted that several months after I wrote mine, I stole her idea for portal doors in the brooder and have never regretted it! (But I was still first - tee hee!) Here are those links for you. It's just easier to do it this way than to retype all the information out every time a new friend has questions. But at any time, if you see something you aren't sure of or want a few more details about, you can either come right back here and ask or hit the last page of the Mama Heating Pad thread, where myself or any of the now long time users will help.

Here are those links for you.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/yes-you-certainly-can-brood-chicks-outdoors

The link to the heating pad on Amazon is a long one:
http://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-2013-...kmr1&keywords=Sunbeam+x-tra+large+heating+pad

just wanted to say thats the same heating pad i use and it works wonderfully.

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

Here are the pictures:
This is the medium sized crate

This is the large crate

This is a side by side comparison

Here are my plans:
I want to attach the medium and large crate together. I’m going to covert the big crate with chicken wire and the little one with hardware cloth. They will sleep in the smaller one because I’m going to put the heating pad cave in there. Also, the small one came with a cover!
The larger one will have hay, food, and water. I have a run they can use aka puppy playpen! What do y’all think? Any ideas? @Blooie

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

Any input?
@Blooie

 

[blackdog043]

So (as the title implies) I’m thinking about brooding my next batch of chicks outdoors.

Where are you putting the crates and playpen, are they going in your coop? Do you have a pic of the playpen?

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

Where are you putting the crates and playpen, are they going in your coop? Do you have a pic of the playpen?

No, they will be out in the yard. I’m using a little wire cage-run. I will try and take a picture tomorrow!

 

[blackdog043]

How are you going to protect them from rain and wind. Don't put the cover you said you had over the crate. Are you building or have a coop for them?

 

[Blooie]

That setup might work in an enclosed coop, garage, or covered run, but not just sitting outdoors. (Sorry, wasn't on after yesterday morning.) Do be sure to cover the lower sides with something - I used zip ties and wrapped hardware cloth around the sides going up about 8 inches. They will squirt right through those bars and the bars won't keep something from reaching in and pulling them out.

 

[Storybook Farm]

Here’s what we are doing in the mountains of West Virginia, where we are starting our breeding season with nighttime temperatures of teens and twenties: it’s a “hover”!

http://marciasomerville.com/farm/building-a-hover/

Super easy to build, and keeps chickies nice and toasty for pennies per day. Build them as big/small as you want! We are keeping ours INSIDE a barn; you could use a garage, shed, or anything that keeps predators from killing the chickies.

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

Thank you for all of your replies! I think that we will move them inside the garage at night. I probably will have them outside during the day, and cover their enclosure with a tarp on rainy days.

 

[bruceha2000]

They really should have more weather and wind protection during the day that what I think you are envisioning.