MHP questions.

[kesrchicky16]

I have 30 baby chicks still moving in eggs due to hatch on Friday. I know a lot can still happen but I probably should plan on being ready for them all. I have only lost 4 of them so far.

How large of a heating pad shoild I plan on for that many? I have looked at am planning on building a cave style one like @Blooie designed.

I only have room for that many with power for 2 weeks. They will be in a covered porch that is warmer then outside but still chilly. The fewer survive the longer they can stay inside, but I'm also planning on building a woolly hen like this and giving them microwave rice bags during the day.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...pplemental-heat-at-all.1126460/#post-17380077

My weather is chilly buy not horrible. Below freezing every night but about the time they will graduate to outside it is projected to be low 30s for highs and single digits lows for 2 weeks.

I don't want to kill them but I know they need space, warmth to a point, and safe lodging. I need advice on a balance.

Biggest concern is getting set up for hatch day. I have to get a pad ordered and ready for day 1. I can work on later as it comes.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Without a refuge of 90 to 95 degrees to seek warmth in for the first 2 weeks and about 80 to 85 degrees for a couple of weeks after that you will likely not need to bother with building any new brooders or pens. Like it or not your chicks will all be dead. Sorry for the blunt language but at least now it won't be a shock watching them die.

 

[kesrchicky16]

Without a refuge of 90 to 95 degrees to seek warmth in for the first 2 weeks and about 80 to 85 degrees for a couple of weeks after that you will likely not need to bother with building any new brooders or pens. Like it or not your chicks will all be dead. Sorry for the blunt language but at least now it won't be a shock watching them die.

You did read about the heating pad and wool hen right? Or did I really make it sound like I planned on tossing them from egg to standard pen. Glad to know I'm stupid!

 

[WhiteWyan]

I don't know if the pad will hold up outside in those temps. I wish you luck but would also urge you to keep them inside more like 4 weeks.

 

[kesrchicky16]

I don't know if the pad will hold up outside in those temps. I wish you luck but would also urge you to keep them inside more like 4 weeks.

Then why can I find so many stories of people having chicks outside in weather only 10° warmer lows then mine younger then 2 weeks? And why do I have a broody hen? I've been reading for hours everyday for 2 weeks and just can't find solid size numbers for sizes for that quantity of chicks.

 

[WhiteWyan]

Well I got the XL heating pad https://www.amazon.com/PureRelief-Fast-Heating-Technology-Temperature-Convenient/dp/B01KVYTV86

Worked well for 16 chicks.

 

[kesrchicky16]

Well I got the XL heating pad https://www.amazon.com/PureRelief-Fast-Heating-Technology-Temperature-Convenient/dp/B01KVYTV86

Worked well for 16 chicks.

Thank you. So if I get 2 and plug them in together in a large frame I should be workable?

 

[WhiteWyan]

Yeah I think 2 should be good. Airflow is important, I smothered one in my first setup but switched it up so it was open on 4 sides and stood up on legs.

 

[chuckachucka]

I don't know much about using heat pads etc because I have always used broody hens, but I know that even in freezing temperatures the chicks do spend a lot of time out from under the mother. The first week they need to be the right temp almost all the time, the second week less and so on. It's not necessarily the temperature that lowers five degrees each week, it's how much time they have to spend being warm each week. So maybe you could continue using the heat pads even though they won't all fit on them as they get bigger, just so the option is there.

Chicks are actually much hardier than people give them credit for.

 

[debid]

There are people who have used the MHP in sub-freezing temperatures. I'm one of them, I started the last batch in late February when it was still in the teens at night. So, I know without a doubt that it can handle this and there are others who have used it in even colder temperatures.

What concerns me more is your "no electricity" after two weeks. Mine went to the roost at five weeks so were entirely off heat at that point by their own choice (and it was still dipping below 30). But at two weeks, they only had wings and still needed quite a bit of supplemental heat. I'm not sure a wooly hen will be enough in those temperatures but then I haven't tried it so I don't really know.