Mama heating pad cave for 20 chicks

[C4r0l4]

Hi y'all! I am new to everything chickens and have 18 chicks coming later this week. While trying to learn everything I can, I came across the mama heating pad cave concept which I want to try. I've seen several examples of them but they all seem to be for small number of chicks. What size pad can y'all recommend for 18-20 chicks? I have less than a week to get the cave ready so any help is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[rosemarythyme]

You'd likely need two of them, to prevent crushing incidents.

 

[McChooky]

Baby chicks have no body fat and lose body heat fast. Whatever you use make sure the baby chicks have a stable heat source and don' crowd one another to stay warm or they'll suffocate and die. I only use heat lamps with baby chicks sorry

 

[BDutch]

Do you mean this DIY construction? :
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/
It looks kind of tricky imho to make your own cave but I have no experience what so ever.

The ones you can buy in my country are not actually caves but plates. And they come it different sizes.

 

[McChooky]

Do you mean this DIY construction? :
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/
It looks kind of tricky imho to make your own cave but I have no experience what so ever.

The ones you can buy in my country are not actually caves but plates. And they come it different sizes.

I bought a heat pad and made a cave for my baby chicks 2 years ago and added a black ceramic heat bulb too so they had both but the pad wasn't warm enough so they never used it.Its in my closet now

 

[rosemarythyme]

I bought a heat pad and made a cave for my baby chicks 2 years ago and added a black ceramic heat bulb too so they had both but the pad wasn't warm enough so they never used it.Its in my closet now

It really doesn't need to be that hot, and if you had a heat bulb too they just chose the heat source they preferred. Doesn't mean the pad wouldn't have worked as the sole source of heat.

 

[C4r0l4]

Do you mean this DIY construction? :
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/
It looks kind of tricky imho to make your own cave but I have no experience what so ever.

The ones you can buy in my country are not actually caves but plates. And they come it different sizes.

Yes, that's the original design I've seen. Later ran into one Aart made which is more like a heating plate frame with the pad as a heating source.

 

[C4r0l4]

Deep in the comments of some other posts I found some people used the heating pad for 16 chicks up to 4ish weeks. It was more like the heat plate style than the cave style.

 

[Debbie292d]

Baby chicks have no body fat and lose body heat fast. Whatever you use make sure the baby chicks have a stable heat source and don' crowd one another to stay warm or they'll suffocate and die. I only use heat lamps with baby chicks sorry

Us too, in two brooders, we use the black ceramic bulbs.

I have the no-shut-off heating pad I bought to make one, then we discussed it and space constraints and chose not to. But I do like them!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Deep in the comments of some other posts I found some people used the heating pad for 16 chicks up to 4ish weeks. It was more like the heat plate style than the cave style.

I'd still recommend 2 - and that would apply to plates as well. Assuming that is their sole source of heat they all need to be able to comfortably fit under it and make contact with it to stay warm.

Generally heating lamps are better for larger groups because they can warm a wider area than a pad can cover.