December 5, 2024 • 31 mins
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Ensure your chicks thrive with the right heating methods. Learn the best practices for heating chicks, including brooder setups, temperature guidelines, and heat sources. Proper warmth is crucial for chick survival, growth, and development during the first few weeks of life. Explore energy-efficient solutions like heat lamps, brooder plates, and broody hens, and discover how to maintain a safe, comfortable environment for your baby poultry.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carey (00:00):
Hi, and welcome to the Poultry Nerds Podcast.
I'm Carey Blackmon, and I'm herewith my co host for the show,
Jennifer Bryant, and we're hereto help you figure out how to
raise the healthiest, happiest,and highest quality birds
possible.
(00:24):
So since it's winter time andall that good stuff.
We're going to talk about heatsources.
Jennifer (00:32):
Yeah, I could use some heat right now.
It's cold.
The wind's blowing.
Carey (00:37):
I don't have heat in my house except for what's in the
fireplace.
Jennifer (00:43):
My stove's been going all day, so the kitchen's nice
and warm.
Carey (00:48):
Let's talk about how not to burn your barn down.
Jennifer (00:51):
Don't use heat lamps.
Carey (00:55):
And the, here's what kills me is in every chicken
group this time of year,Somebody posts at least one news
article that has a picture of aflaming barn, and it talks about
the use of heat lamps, butpeople still do it.
Jennifer (01:14):
I think people think it's not going to happen to
them, but those stories arereal.
Carey (01:19):
They do happen.
Jennifer (01:20):
Yes, I actually know a lady in Florida and her barn
burned down and she lost.
All of her quail not too longago, actually, maybe in the
spring
Carey (01:34):
in Florida.
Jennifer (01:35):
Yes.
I don't know why the barn burntdown, but it does happen is what
I'm getting at.
Carey (01:41):
I really hate that for the individual and for the
birds,
Jennifer (01:44):
but.
Carey (01:46):
Which, this year I talked to RIP and they're having 30s
already in Florida SouthFlorida, so it happens.
Jennifer (01:57):
Yep.
If you have a heat lamp, whichgets, I don't even know how hot
a bulb gets.
I have no idea.
But too hot to touch.
And then the metal around itgets too hot to touch.
And you get some dust and somestraw or, who knows a feed bag,
(02:17):
I mean anything would ignite.
Carey (02:20):
Oh yeah, feed bags, they're not only are they good
for starting fires in your burnbarrel, but they will also
rapidly accelerate one in yourbarn.
Jennifer (02:29):
Yep, and then we hear people say we'll use the ceramic
bulbs.
I have tried those and they getjust as hot.
Carey (02:38):
I was gonna say, they, they get just as hot too.
Jennifer (02:41):
Yeah.
So
Carey (02:43):
I just don't
Jennifer (02:44):
use them.
Carey (02:44):
I brewed I do winter hatches and I have a barn that I
hatch in.
And with that, so in order formy brooder plates,'cause I use
the big brooder plates, in orderfor them to be able to do their
job, I did mount a heater in theroof of my barn that is designed
(03:10):
for barns.
It is a commercial heater.
And even with that, I getnervous, but it's hooked up to a
thermostat.
It only comes on when it goesdown below 50 inside the barn,
but it's a real deal.
Jennifer (03:30):
I only use brooder plates.
I I would guesstimate that Iwould be on the medium to larger
side of hatching, barn size.
And I still use individual tubs.
And I still use individual 10 or12 inch brooder plates, and I
(03:52):
may have at any given time.
I think I think 13 or 14 isabout my limit.
I have nine on as we speak.
Carey (04:04):
I was going to say how many you say you're on a.
So, you do hatch a few birds.
Jennifer (04:10):
I do hatch a few birds, but I'm in between
hatches right now, so there'sfive brooders empty.
I only have nine plates goingright now.
Carey (04:18):
Wait till Friday.
Jennifer (04:21):
I hatch on Tuesdays.
On Tuesday, we will have 14plates going.
Yep.
Carey (04:27):
But those plates, a lot of people say, oh, these plates
don't get hot.
A bird's internal temperature islike a hundred and four to a
hundred and ten.
And it's designed for them to beable to have contact with it.
So I
Jennifer (04:44):
have to educate a lot of people on how to use brooder
plates.
They are used incorrectly and ifyou don't use them correctly,
they're not going to work right.
So first of all, a brooder platewill not heat up the space.
It will only heat up the chicktouching it,
Carey (05:02):
right?
Jennifer (05:03):
It's like wrapping yourself in an electric blanket.
It's not going to heat up theroom.
It's just going to heat you up.
touching it.
So the floor can't be cold.
So all my brooders are up offthe floor.
You set the brooder plate itselfon an angle.
(05:23):
Depending on which speciesyou're hatching.
If it's quail, it might be ahalf an inch on one side and two
inches on the other side.
If it's a chicken chick or ATurkey pulp maybe two inches on
one side and four inches on theother side.
What, and what that does is itallows the chick to go
underneath of it and pick, do Iwanna be squished up and,'cause
(05:46):
I'm chilly and I wanna besquished up and touch as much of
it as I can.
Or do I just want to letsomebody else be squished up and
then I touch them and suck theirheat out?
So it and as they get older,they don't need as much
supplemental heat and then theycan gauge it themselves that
(06:06):
way.
They will get on top of it.
They will make a mess.
That's just a fact of life.
I see people put Saran wrap inparchment paper and all kinds of
stuff.
I do not do that because I feellike that is a.
Fire hazard myself.
Carey (06:24):
Wait, you mean plastic melts and catches on fire?
Jennifer (06:27):
Oh, yeah.
Carey (06:28):
When it gets hot.
Jennifer (06:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I won't ever tell anybody to dothat so I just take a scraper.
They have Harbor Freight.
I always get the two.
Junk tool stores mixed up.
I call them junk stores.
Harbor freighter, that otherone.
Yes, thank you.
You can go in there and I thinkyou can get a six pack of
(06:51):
plastic assorted size for 4 orsomething.
And I have scrapers all over mybarn and.
You just scrape it off and goabout your day.
Just part of having poultry issomething's going to get messy.
Especially if it's ducks.
Now, if the ducks can brood withbrooder plates and it can
(07:12):
survive the wetness of ducksthen you're doing really good.
Carey (07:17):
And ducks, people talk about winter hardiness and that
kind of I've seen ducks swimmingin the water.
while it was snowing.
Jennifer (07:29):
Do you know how they can do that?
It's just a little triviatidbit, but do you know how, why
they can do that?
Carey (07:35):
There's got to be something to the down that's in
their feathers.
Jennifer (07:38):
Nope.
So in their leg, their arteryand their vein are side by side
touching.
And so the warm blood coming outof their heart keeps the return
blood in their vein warm sotheir legs don't freeze.
Carey (07:54):
There you go.
Jennifer (07:55):
Yep.
Pretty cool design, huh?
Carey (07:58):
Almost like it was done on purpose.
Jennifer (08:00):
Yeah.
So my ducks will be out thereswimming in what about a two
foot diameter circle sometimes,and they're perfectly fine.
Carey (08:12):
So how do you suggest people heat their hen house?
Jennifer (08:17):
I don't right now I, everywhere I see people are
buying the painter's plastic andstapling it up.
If you want to, if you gotnothing better to do, but my
walls are wire, and the wind isblowing probably 40 mph right
now, and it's about 30 degreesoutside.
(08:38):
My chickens are just fine, upuntil people had fancy coops,
they lived in trees.
The wind blows in the trees andthe trees move
Carey (08:47):
and C2, when you put that plastic on, if it's not 110
percent secure, every time itmakes a little ripple sound or
something like that's going tostress your birds out.
And when they're stressed out,their health is not as good.
Their fertility is not as goodand they don't chicken.
(09:10):
They're nervous.
They're afraid someone's tryingto get them.
Like mine.
So for me, I've got wire cagesand my, I have in some of them,
I have metal like sheets ofmetal around the bottom to help
ward off predators because Ilive in the woods and I have a
(09:31):
lot of raccoons.
And I have the metal there.
So if they, when chicks hatchout and they poked their head
out or whatever, that doesn'thappen.
But.
I've got some of my single comblarge fowl that they won't, they
don't want down there.
It's in the thirties and thewind's blowing outside right now
(09:51):
and they're up on the top roost,fully exposed to the wind and
they're, they got their combjust flopping in the wind and
I'm like, dude, you gotta becold, My, one of my Rhode Island
Reds, his name is Houdini and,he's just flapping the thing in
the wind and I'm like, I don'twant you to get frostbite.
(10:14):
So I actually did get a barrierand stick it up there on the
side where the wind mainly comesfrom.
And I bolted it to the Kate, thefencing or.
Yeah, the fencing to the post toblock it right at the roost,
because, chickens ain't thatsmart.
(10:34):
But aside from that, I'm notputting a heat lamp in there.
Jennifer (10:39):
So let me tell you what happened to me.
It'd be.
Not last year, but the yearbefore when that Arctic freeze
came through at Christmas and itwas like zero.
And that was the reason why Iinsulated the barn.
Okay.
So my barn faces South.
My coops are the main, are thelean to's.
(11:02):
side.
So one lane two, which is themain coop, faces west, which is
where the weather comes from.
And the other side faces east,gets the morning sun.
No wind on that side.
When that Arctic cold camethrough here, I had zero issues
with the birds on the west sidethat were getting the full brunt
(11:27):
of the wind.
The coop filled with snow.
Zero issues.
Nobody was sick.
Nobody got frostbite.
Nothing happened to any of thosebirds.
The east side that was protectedfrom the wind, every one of them
birds got frostbite.
(11:48):
Now both sides are wire walls.
Now you explain that one.
That doesn't follow everythingon social media at all, does it?
Carey (11:57):
No, it don't.
But see last year one of myRhode Island Reds did get
frostbit on his comb.
And because I didn't putVaseline or none of the other
crap on there.
Because they're chickens.
Jennifer (12:12):
I didn't either.
Carey (12:14):
That Houdini is, he's special.
I just put that up there toblock the direct wind and, I
will say that if it's going tobe down below freezing for an
extended period of time he doeshave a nice little cozy space
inside the barn.
Jennifer (12:33):
Yeah.
Carey (12:33):
That he'll come into.
Jennifer (12:35):
So if I if it gets like that Arctic freeze again
comes through something likethat, I'll just bring out the
show cages and bring everybodyinside the barn, but I'm not
going to do the frostbite again,but that will be the ones that
are, first of all, the showbirds.
But the ones that are on theeast side of the barn, not the
(12:57):
ones on the west side of thebarn.
They'll be fine.
Carey (13:00):
They're on the west side.
Jennifer (13:01):
The upper west side.
Carey (13:02):
That's right.
So let's talk about commercialstyle breeders like the GQFs and
the Hats and Times.
Like the
Jennifer (13:12):
tower ones.
Carey (13:13):
Yeah, Tractor Supply used to, they actually, I want to say
last year they quit making them.
They do still have some stocksomewhere around.
I think Producers Pride is whomade it for them.
But I've asked locally and theysaid they can't get them anymore
because I actually found one ofthose units for a little of
(13:33):
nothing.
And I need, it needed somepieces.
So I was trying to see how muchthey were.
Did
Jennifer (13:41):
you ever go look at it up close?
Carey (13:43):
Yeah,
Jennifer (13:44):
okay.
Yeah, that's a big piece ofequipment
Carey (13:49):
They're massive.
Jennifer (13:50):
Yeah, and you need to be able to access all four sides
Carey (13:54):
Which means you need to have it essentially in the
middle of the floor
Jennifer (14:00):
Yep There was a guy locally that had a five sack of
one and it was just basically agiveaway price and I went over
there actually twice Trying totalk myself into getting it
because I could use it And Ijust couldn't bring myself to
give up that much for space.
It's just, it was massive andall it basically is a metal, I
(14:25):
don't know, shelving unit with atractor supply heat plate in it.
Did you look at that?
That's all it was.
Carey (14:32):
The heat plates that they have are the producer pride, the
big ones that have the low andthe high.
Jennifer (14:40):
Yep.
Carey (14:41):
And I have in my wooden brooder box, the one that's like
a coffin.
I actually have, it's two feetwide.
No, yeah, it's two feet deep andeight feet long and it has a,
Barrier in the middle.
The thing does look like acoffin now.
I have since retrofitted it witha couple of feeders that I can
(15:05):
know spills that I can accessfrom the outside and but inside
of it, I've got some of thosebrooder plates that go in the
tractor supply tower.
Because they're huge.
It's like the what is thatcompany?
Renicot, the one that makes thegood cups and all that.
(15:28):
It's as big as their a hundreddollar one.
It's huge.
They work pretty well, so yeah,but those brooders, they're
nice, but they're not veryportable.
Jennifer (15:42):
They're very heavy
Carey (15:43):
and when you're not hatching, they're in the way.
Jennifer (15:46):
When is that?
Is there a time when we're nothatching?
Carey (15:52):
Okay.
Valid point.
So they're just in the way.
We
Jennifer (15:58):
have a mutual friend and she has several of those.
She likes them.
They work great.
And, but she has them in themiddle of her floor so she can
access all four sides.
I
Carey (16:07):
say there, she's got them in the middle of her floor and
she has rows of, cages on eitherside of them,
Jennifer (16:14):
but
Carey (16:15):
they're, she's, they're easily accessible.
Jennifer (16:17):
Yes.
Carey (16:18):
And for me, I could brew differently and have more cages
there.
Now I will say the Hatch andTime Brewers, Do take up less of
a floor like a footprint on thefloor.
Jennifer (16:34):
Yes, they do fit up against the wall.
Carey (16:37):
Yeah They have a
Jennifer (16:40):
nice heater they
Carey (16:42):
do
Jennifer (16:42):
they have a thermostat on them so you can adjust the
temperature.
Carey (16:46):
Yep
Jennifer (16:48):
the hatching Time Brooders would be fantastic for
somebody that doesn't have a lotof space, can push them up
against the wall.
It has a light place, a placefor a light bulb inside the
heaters on a thermostat and theboxes on these commercial
(17:08):
brooders, they don't let a draftin and that's what we're always
talking about.
They're up off the floor.
They don't get a draft so that.
That ambient heat from theheaters, from the, that brooder
plate.
In that case, it does heat upthe space because those are
built to retain the heat inthere.
(17:29):
Plus you've got all that bodyheat from the chicks.
Carey (17:34):
And another thing that I do like about them, they're not.
I would call them like half atower because they're not as
wide and you can fully accessthem from the front.
When you do get, cause I havethree or four of them that are,
I have three or four stacks thatare, or high.
(17:54):
When you do get to the pointwhere one of them is empty, just
wheel it out of the barn, crankup your pressure washer, boom,
clean, ready to go.
Spray it with some sanitizer.
Let it dry.
You're ready for another.
A lot of hatching.
Jennifer (18:15):
And that was another thing when I was looking at that
producer's pride one.
And honestly, I'm not going tosay the GQF because I've never
put my arm inside the GQF one,but I could not reach across the
producer's pride one.
They're physically
Carey (18:30):
the same size.
Jennifer (18:31):
Oh, okay.
So I couldn't reach, therefore Iwouldn't have been able, the
chicks run away from your arm,trying to grab them.
I would not have been able toreach them all.
And so I would have either hadto have help on the far side or
used a little net.
Carey (18:46):
Butterfly net going in there.
Jennifer (18:48):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Carey (18:50):
See for me, the thing that, that turned me off on
those is.
The whole point in having a lotof brooder space is for a lot of
chicks and the poo tray was likehalf inch deep and if you didn't
empty it out a couple of times,if you had it full and you don't
(19:10):
empty it out a couple of times aday, you're going to be in
trouble with the hatching timeones, they're set up like
they're quail cages and you canlet the poop stack up.
Or you have to take it out.
Jennifer (19:24):
Yeah.
We like the lower maintenance,don't we?
Carey (19:26):
Lower maintenance, the better.
Jennifer (19:28):
All right.
Now let's talk about theoriginal chick heater.
The
Carey (19:33):
hen.
Jennifer (19:34):
Now I've got some coachins and them are some
broody mamas.
They want to set all, I thinkthey are really close to being
as broody as silkies, the Sword.
The silkies.
So they will set on those eggsand keep them nice and constant.
And then they'll keep thosechicks warm.
(19:56):
I'm all about, if you're a, justa backyard breeder and you don't
need to brood, let those broodyhens take care of those chicks.
They're going to be the best lowmaintenance way of doing it.
Carey (20:09):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I've got, so with it being ascold as it is right now, I
actually have in one pen somesix week old chicks that have
never been inside of a brooderand in another pen some four
week old chicks that have neverbeen inside a brooder, unless
you consider the five gallonbucket laying on its side where
(20:31):
they hatched from the brooder.
Because when they were, beforethey got to where they could fly
up on a roost.
The hen would get them insidethe nesting box at night and she
was their brooder plate.
Jennifer (20:47):
Let me just tell you how broody these coachins are.
So I brought them into the barnbecause I ran out of space on
the east side of my barn and hadto bring two brooder sets inside
the barn.
And of course the lightstimulated them and they have,
laid one egg a day.
So there's four hens in one andtwo or three hens in the other
(21:10):
one.
And each one has laid one egg ineach pen and I went in there
yesterday to get the egg Andthey were fighting over who was
going to sit on the one egg Oneegg and there's four big massive
birds.
I'm gonna sit on that egg
Carey (21:29):
I'm like, you
Jennifer (21:29):
haven't even started laying yet.
They're
Carey (21:32):
fighting for it.
It's a thing like I have, thisis going to be my first chicks
that have never been inside of abrooder or an incubator for me.
And I'm actually excited to beable to hatch off of those
because to me They're gettingthe full experience in the
(21:52):
colder months.
So hybrid vigor should be way upthere in these birds.
Jennifer (22:01):
Okay.
So let's talk about the literaluse of using a hen for a
brooder.
So you do not need to put a heatlamp on her.
Cause then you're just going tocook her.
So a hen does not needsupplemental heat when she has
chicks on her.
We see that a lot on Facebook.
(22:22):
And you, she does need a quietspace.
There seems to be a lot ofcontroversy of do you separate
her?
Do you not separate her?
The technical answer is no, youdon't really have to separate
her.
She will take care of thosechicks and keep them safe from
the other birds in there.
The reason why I encourage youto separate is because you
(22:47):
can't.
Physically give chick starterand water to the chicks because
the other birds will eat it,knock it over, drink it, and the
chicks won't get it.
So the separation is literallyfor the chicks nutrition more so
than any other reason.
Carey (23:07):
So what I've been doing because of that is the ones in
those pens I started giving thema 20 percent All Flock.
Here's a special offer fromCarey Blackmon.
It's Carey's Christmas bundle,and it's a 10 pound bag of show
pro poultry supplement and acopy of Jeff Maddox's book,
(23:29):
Niche Poultry.
Regularly, the two items wouldcost you 86.
95.
Now you can get them both for aneven 70, saving you 16.
95.
Plus we'll pay the shipping too.
Go to www.careyblackmon.comThat's MERRY at checkout.
(23:54):
This special Christmas bundleoffer runs through December
31st.
So get it now before it's gone.
Yes, that's a little low for a chick, but I gave them
some of that, put some breedersupplement in it, stirred it up,
mixed it with the oil and allthat stuff like you're supposed
to.
(24:14):
And, at four weeks old, thesechicks were fine.
Getting up on a roost is threefeet off the ground.
They're obviously eating andgrowing healthy and strong, but
that's because I had the samething.
Do I separate them?
Do I not, where do I put them?
Because I did not want to putthem inside.
I wanted them to grow up outsidein that natural habitat.
(24:38):
As natural as a pen can be.
So I just.
Started feeding them all acrumble.
Jennifer (24:46):
Now, what I have done is I have put up like a little
piece of fencing with two bytwo, two by four holes in it and
a hoop in there and put theirfeed and water inside of it so
they could come and go and getto it.
but the bigger chickenscouldn't.
(25:07):
And then mama would still, couldstill nest on them at night,
wherever she wanted to.
But, and that was usually rightbeside that, is where I would
put that.
Now, the bad side, there's somedownsides to using a hen.
Not all hens are good mamas.
Sometimes they knock them out,they get cold different things
(25:29):
can happen.
Snakes, rats other birds can bemean to them.
Gotta be mindful and observantof your hen.
And make sure she's going to bea good broody.
Carey (25:43):
that was me, and I was worried about the rooster, but
no issues.
Jennifer (25:48):
Yeah, they don't care.
I've never had one care.
He just wants to make sure hetags that mama as soon as she's
back in there and ready again.
That's the only thing.
Carey (25:59):
Look, I'm going to tell you this.
I have seen her come out at likewhen they were little.
He'd come out of the nest box.
He would be, he would go overthere and do his little dance
and take care of his business.
And then he would actually crawlin the nest box while she would
go eat.
Jennifer (26:17):
Oh, that's sweet.
That
Carey (26:19):
was a good brood fowl.
He knew his job.
Jennifer (26:24):
Yeah.
All right.
I think that's the only fourways of heating your your
chicks.
Now I can give you a coupletips.
Carey (26:33):
Let's do tips and tricks.
Jennifer (26:35):
If your electricity goes out, I have everything in
my barn is on the battery backupsurge protectors.
And obviously they're only goingto last as long as you have a
draw on there.
But it will last you at least anhour and give you time to get
(26:55):
out there, cover them up, makealternate plans.
You're not going to be in apanic.
What it's doing is it's buyingyou time to find out how long
the electric's going to be out,And make some plans, which you
should have some plans.
You need some heat packs onhand.
You need, tubs to put them in tocontain their own body heat.
(27:20):
Also cardboard box works finewith some hand warmers or heat
packs.
Um, like those shipper packsthat I don't even know what
they're called.
That I put the heat packs in theboxes.
It's
Carey (27:33):
the heat packs.
Jennifer (27:35):
Is that what they're called?
Carey (27:36):
Actually, I actually think that there is a brand of
them out there that says heatpack.
Jennifer (27:41):
Yeah.
I just have a big box of themout there.
When I'm shipping chicks, theyjust stick to the side of the
box and I put them in there.
But anyway, they're good for 72hours.
So you need to, they're notexpensive, maybe what, 2 a piece
or something just to have a boxof them on hand.
Carey (27:56):
Yeah, and if you got if you got a bunch of those, you
can take them out.
The ones that I get when youopen the cellophane or mylar or
whatever it is, the airactivates them that takes them a
little while to build up heat,but you'd shake them up real
good and stick them in there andyeah, they're good for three
days.
Jennifer (28:16):
Yeah.
You can just put them in a, putthem in a cardboard box.
That's not overly huge.
It needs to, be smaller tocontain their body heat and to
contain that heat from that heatpack and some air holes.
And, they'd be fine.
Just think about if you shippedthem across the country, they'd
be fine in there for a few days.
Same concept,
Carey (28:35):
I'll say this.
That place that we talked aboutearlier, Harbor Freight, you can
go to Harbor Freight and if youplug all your brooder plates
into a surge protector, like youshould, you unplug that thing
out of the wall, plug it into anextension cord.
Run it outside to your littlefour or five hundred dollar
generator that you have.
(28:57):
Cause a thousand watt generatorrun 10 of those plates.
Jennifer (29:00):
Yeah.
And keep your refrigerator coldtoo, huh?
I actually
Carey (29:04):
do that.
Jennifer (29:06):
And yep.
I think that's about it for heatsources, emergency and then the
four main ones.
I can't think of anything else.
Carey (29:16):
Oh, that's it.
Jennifer (29:17):
Yeah, all then that's a wrap as far as I'm concerned.
Carey (29:20):
Y'all have a good one.
Jennifer (29:21):
Bye.
Carey (29:22):
Thank you for joining us this week.
Before you go, be sure tosubscribe to our podcast so you
can receive new episodes rightwhen they are released.
And they're released every week.
Feel free to email us atpoultrynerds at gmail.
com to share your thoughts aboutthe show.
Until next time, poultry pals,keep clucking, keep learning,
(29:44):
and keep it egg citing.
This is Carey signing off fromPoultry Nerds.
Feathers up, everyone.
Mhm.
Hi, and welcome to the Poultry Nerds Podcast.
I'm Carey Blackmon, and I'm herewith my co host for the show,
Jennifer Bryant, and we're hereto help you figure out how to
raise the healthiest, happiest,and highest quality birds
possible.
(00:24):
So since it's winter time andall that good stuff.
We're going to talk about heatsources.
Jennifer (00:32):
Yeah, I could use some heat right now.
It's cold.
The wind's blowing.
Carey (00:37):
I don't have heat in my house except for what's in the
fireplace.
Jennifer (00:43):
My stove's been going all day, so the kitchen's nice
and warm.
Carey (00:48):
Let's talk about how not to burn your barn down.
Jennifer (00:51):
Don't use heat lamps.
Carey (00:55):
And the, here's what kills me is in every chicken
group this time of year,Somebody posts at least one news
article that has a picture of aflaming barn, and it talks about
the use of heat lamps, butpeople still do it.
Jennifer (01:14):
I think people think it's not going to happen to
them, but those stories arereal.
Carey (01:19):
They do happen.
Jennifer (01:20):
Yes, I actually know a lady in Florida and her barn
burned down and she lost.
All of her quail not too longago, actually, maybe in the
spring
Carey (01:34):
in Florida.
Jennifer (01:35):
Yes.
I don't know why the barn burntdown, but it does happen is what
I'm getting at.
Carey (01:41):
I really hate that for the individual and for the
birds,
Jennifer (01:44):
but.
Carey (01:46):
Which, this year I talked to RIP and they're having 30s
already in Florida SouthFlorida, so it happens.
Jennifer (01:57):
Yep.
If you have a heat lamp, whichgets, I don't even know how hot
a bulb gets.
I have no idea.
But too hot to touch.
And then the metal around itgets too hot to touch.
And you get some dust and somestraw or, who knows a feed bag,
(02:17):
I mean anything would ignite.
Carey (02:20):
Oh yeah, feed bags, they're not only are they good
for starting fires in your burnbarrel, but they will also
rapidly accelerate one in yourbarn.
Jennifer (02:29):
Yep, and then we hear people say we'll use the ceramic
bulbs.
I have tried those and they getjust as hot.
Carey (02:38):
I was gonna say, they, they get just as hot too.
Jennifer (02:41):
Yeah.
So
Carey (02:43):
I just don't
Jennifer (02:44):
use them.
Carey (02:44):
I brewed I do winter hatches and I have a barn that I
hatch in.
And with that, so in order formy brooder plates,'cause I use
the big brooder plates, in orderfor them to be able to do their
job, I did mount a heater in theroof of my barn that is designed
(03:10):
for barns.
It is a commercial heater.
And even with that, I getnervous, but it's hooked up to a
thermostat.
It only comes on when it goesdown below 50 inside the barn,
but it's a real deal.
Jennifer (03:30):
I only use brooder plates.
I I would guesstimate that Iwould be on the medium to larger
side of hatching, barn size.
And I still use individual tubs.
And I still use individual 10 or12 inch brooder plates, and I
(03:52):
may have at any given time.
I think I think 13 or 14 isabout my limit.
I have nine on as we speak.
Carey (04:04):
I was going to say how many you say you're on a.
So, you do hatch a few birds.
Jennifer (04:10):
I do hatch a few birds, but I'm in between
hatches right now, so there'sfive brooders empty.
I only have nine plates goingright now.
Carey (04:18):
Wait till Friday.
Jennifer (04:21):
I hatch on Tuesdays.
On Tuesday, we will have 14plates going.
Yep.
Carey (04:27):
But those plates, a lot of people say, oh, these plates
don't get hot.
A bird's internal temperature islike a hundred and four to a
hundred and ten.
And it's designed for them to beable to have contact with it.
So I
Jennifer (04:44):
have to educate a lot of people on how to use brooder
plates.
They are used incorrectly and ifyou don't use them correctly,
they're not going to work right.
So first of all, a brooder platewill not heat up the space.
It will only heat up the chicktouching it,
Carey (05:02):
right?
Jennifer (05:03):
It's like wrapping yourself in an electric blanket.
It's not going to heat up theroom.
It's just going to heat you up.
touching it.
So the floor can't be cold.
So all my brooders are up offthe floor.
You set the brooder plate itselfon an angle.
(05:23):
Depending on which speciesyou're hatching.
If it's quail, it might be ahalf an inch on one side and two
inches on the other side.
If it's a chicken chick or ATurkey pulp maybe two inches on
one side and four inches on theother side.
What, and what that does is itallows the chick to go
underneath of it and pick, do Iwanna be squished up and,'cause
(05:46):
I'm chilly and I wanna besquished up and touch as much of
it as I can.
Or do I just want to letsomebody else be squished up and
then I touch them and suck theirheat out?
So it and as they get older,they don't need as much
supplemental heat and then theycan gauge it themselves that
(06:06):
way.
They will get on top of it.
They will make a mess.
That's just a fact of life.
I see people put Saran wrap inparchment paper and all kinds of
stuff.
I do not do that because I feellike that is a.
Fire hazard myself.
Carey (06:24):
Wait, you mean plastic melts and catches on fire?
Jennifer (06:27):
Oh, yeah.
Carey (06:28):
When it gets hot.
Jennifer (06:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I won't ever tell anybody to dothat so I just take a scraper.
They have Harbor Freight.
I always get the two.
Junk tool stores mixed up.
I call them junk stores.
Harbor freighter, that otherone.
Yes, thank you.
You can go in there and I thinkyou can get a six pack of
(06:51):
plastic assorted size for 4 orsomething.
And I have scrapers all over mybarn and.
You just scrape it off and goabout your day.
Just part of having poultry issomething's going to get messy.
Especially if it's ducks.
Now, if the ducks can brood withbrooder plates and it can
(07:12):
survive the wetness of ducksthen you're doing really good.
Carey (07:17):
And ducks, people talk about winter hardiness and that
kind of I've seen ducks swimmingin the water.
while it was snowing.
Jennifer (07:29):
Do you know how they can do that?
It's just a little triviatidbit, but do you know how, why
they can do that?
Carey (07:35):
There's got to be something to the down that's in
their feathers.
Jennifer (07:38):
Nope.
So in their leg, their arteryand their vein are side by side
touching.
And so the warm blood coming outof their heart keeps the return
blood in their vein warm sotheir legs don't freeze.
Carey (07:54):
There you go.
Jennifer (07:55):
Yep.
Pretty cool design, huh?
Carey (07:58):
Almost like it was done on purpose.
Jennifer (08:00):
Yeah.
So my ducks will be out thereswimming in what about a two
foot diameter circle sometimes,and they're perfectly fine.
Carey (08:12):
So how do you suggest people heat their hen house?
Jennifer (08:17):
I don't right now I, everywhere I see people are
buying the painter's plastic andstapling it up.
If you want to, if you gotnothing better to do, but my
walls are wire, and the wind isblowing probably 40 mph right
now, and it's about 30 degreesoutside.
(08:38):
My chickens are just fine, upuntil people had fancy coops,
they lived in trees.
The wind blows in the trees andthe trees move
Carey (08:47):
and C2, when you put that plastic on, if it's not 110
percent secure, every time itmakes a little ripple sound or
something like that's going tostress your birds out.
And when they're stressed out,their health is not as good.
Their fertility is not as goodand they don't chicken.
(09:10):
They're nervous.
They're afraid someone's tryingto get them.
Like mine.
So for me, I've got wire cagesand my, I have in some of them,
I have metal like sheets ofmetal around the bottom to help
ward off predators because Ilive in the woods and I have a
(09:31):
lot of raccoons.
And I have the metal there.
So if they, when chicks hatchout and they poked their head
out or whatever, that doesn'thappen.
But.
I've got some of my single comblarge fowl that they won't, they
don't want down there.
It's in the thirties and thewind's blowing outside right now
(09:51):
and they're up on the top roost,fully exposed to the wind and
they're, they got their combjust flopping in the wind and
I'm like, dude, you gotta becold, My, one of my Rhode Island
Reds, his name is Houdini and,he's just flapping the thing in
the wind and I'm like, I don'twant you to get frostbite.
(10:14):
So I actually did get a barrierand stick it up there on the
side where the wind mainly comesfrom.
And I bolted it to the Kate, thefencing or.
Yeah, the fencing to the post toblock it right at the roost,
because, chickens ain't thatsmart.
(10:34):
But aside from that, I'm notputting a heat lamp in there.
Jennifer (10:39):
So let me tell you what happened to me.
It'd be.
Not last year, but the yearbefore when that Arctic freeze
came through at Christmas and itwas like zero.
And that was the reason why Iinsulated the barn.
Okay.
So my barn faces South.
My coops are the main, are thelean to's.
(11:02):
side.
So one lane two, which is themain coop, faces west, which is
where the weather comes from.
And the other side faces east,gets the morning sun.
No wind on that side.
When that Arctic cold camethrough here, I had zero issues
with the birds on the west sidethat were getting the full brunt
(11:27):
of the wind.
The coop filled with snow.
Zero issues.
Nobody was sick.
Nobody got frostbite.
Nothing happened to any of thosebirds.
The east side that was protectedfrom the wind, every one of them
birds got frostbite.
(11:48):
Now both sides are wire walls.
Now you explain that one.
That doesn't follow everythingon social media at all, does it?
Carey (11:57):
No, it don't.
But see last year one of myRhode Island Reds did get
frostbit on his comb.
And because I didn't putVaseline or none of the other
crap on there.
Because they're chickens.
Jennifer (12:12):
I didn't either.
Carey (12:14):
That Houdini is, he's special.
I just put that up there toblock the direct wind and, I
will say that if it's going tobe down below freezing for an
extended period of time he doeshave a nice little cozy space
inside the barn.
Jennifer (12:33):
Yeah.
Carey (12:33):
That he'll come into.
Jennifer (12:35):
So if I if it gets like that Arctic freeze again
comes through something likethat, I'll just bring out the
show cages and bring everybodyinside the barn, but I'm not
going to do the frostbite again,but that will be the ones that
are, first of all, the showbirds.
But the ones that are on theeast side of the barn, not the
(12:57):
ones on the west side of thebarn.
They'll be fine.
Carey (13:00):
They're on the west side.
Jennifer (13:01):
The upper west side.
Carey (13:02):
That's right.
So let's talk about commercialstyle breeders like the GQFs and
the Hats and Times.
Like the
Jennifer (13:12):
tower ones.
Carey (13:13):
Yeah, Tractor Supply used to, they actually, I want to say
last year they quit making them.
They do still have some stocksomewhere around.
I think Producers Pride is whomade it for them.
But I've asked locally and theysaid they can't get them anymore
because I actually found one ofthose units for a little of
(13:33):
nothing.
And I need, it needed somepieces.
So I was trying to see how muchthey were.
Did
Jennifer (13:41):
you ever go look at it up close?
Carey (13:43):
Yeah,
Jennifer (13:44):
okay.
Yeah, that's a big piece ofequipment
Carey (13:49):
They're massive.
Jennifer (13:50):
Yeah, and you need to be able to access all four sides
Carey (13:54):
Which means you need to have it essentially in the
middle of the floor
Jennifer (14:00):
Yep There was a guy locally that had a five sack of
one and it was just basically agiveaway price and I went over
there actually twice Trying totalk myself into getting it
because I could use it And Ijust couldn't bring myself to
give up that much for space.
It's just, it was massive andall it basically is a metal, I
(14:25):
don't know, shelving unit with atractor supply heat plate in it.
Did you look at that?
That's all it was.
Carey (14:32):
The heat plates that they have are the producer pride, the
big ones that have the low andthe high.
Jennifer (14:40):
Yep.
Carey (14:41):
And I have in my wooden brooder box, the one that's like
a coffin.
I actually have, it's two feetwide.
No, yeah, it's two feet deep andeight feet long and it has a,
Barrier in the middle.
The thing does look like acoffin now.
I have since retrofitted it witha couple of feeders that I can
(15:05):
know spills that I can accessfrom the outside and but inside
of it, I've got some of thosebrooder plates that go in the
tractor supply tower.
Because they're huge.
It's like the what is thatcompany?
Renicot, the one that makes thegood cups and all that.
(15:28):
It's as big as their a hundreddollar one.
It's huge.
They work pretty well, so yeah,but those brooders, they're
nice, but they're not veryportable.
Jennifer (15:42):
They're very heavy
Carey (15:43):
and when you're not hatching, they're in the way.
Jennifer (15:46):
When is that?
Is there a time when we're nothatching?
Carey (15:52):
Okay.
Valid point.
So they're just in the way.
We
Jennifer (15:58):
have a mutual friend and she has several of those.
She likes them.
They work great.
And, but she has them in themiddle of her floor so she can
access all four sides.
I
Carey (16:07):
say there, she's got them in the middle of her floor and
she has rows of, cages on eitherside of them,
Jennifer (16:14):
but
Carey (16:15):
they're, she's, they're easily accessible.
Jennifer (16:17):
Yes.
Carey (16:18):
And for me, I could brew differently and have more cages
there.
Now I will say the Hatch andTime Brewers, Do take up less of
a floor like a footprint on thefloor.
Jennifer (16:34):
Yes, they do fit up against the wall.
Carey (16:37):
Yeah They have a
Jennifer (16:40):
nice heater they
Carey (16:42):
do
Jennifer (16:42):
they have a thermostat on them so you can adjust the
temperature.
Carey (16:46):
Yep
Jennifer (16:48):
the hatching Time Brooders would be fantastic for
somebody that doesn't have a lotof space, can push them up
against the wall.
It has a light place, a placefor a light bulb inside the
heaters on a thermostat and theboxes on these commercial
(17:08):
brooders, they don't let a draftin and that's what we're always
talking about.
They're up off the floor.
They don't get a draft so that.
That ambient heat from theheaters, from the, that brooder
plate.
In that case, it does heat upthe space because those are
built to retain the heat inthere.
(17:29):
Plus you've got all that bodyheat from the chicks.
Carey (17:34):
And another thing that I do like about them, they're not.
I would call them like half atower because they're not as
wide and you can fully accessthem from the front.
When you do get, cause I havethree or four of them that are,
I have three or four stacks thatare, or high.
(17:54):
When you do get to the pointwhere one of them is empty, just
wheel it out of the barn, crankup your pressure washer, boom,
clean, ready to go.
Spray it with some sanitizer.
Let it dry.
You're ready for another.
A lot of hatching.
Jennifer (18:15):
And that was another thing when I was looking at that
producer's pride one.
And honestly, I'm not going tosay the GQF because I've never
put my arm inside the GQF one,but I could not reach across the
producer's pride one.
They're physically
Carey (18:30):
the same size.
Jennifer (18:31):
Oh, okay.
So I couldn't reach, therefore Iwouldn't have been able, the
chicks run away from your arm,trying to grab them.
I would not have been able toreach them all.
And so I would have either hadto have help on the far side or
used a little net.
Carey (18:46):
Butterfly net going in there.
Jennifer (18:48):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Carey (18:50):
See for me, the thing that, that turned me off on
those is.
The whole point in having a lotof brooder space is for a lot of
chicks and the poo tray was likehalf inch deep and if you didn't
empty it out a couple of times,if you had it full and you don't
(19:10):
empty it out a couple of times aday, you're going to be in
trouble with the hatching timeones, they're set up like
they're quail cages and you canlet the poop stack up.
Or you have to take it out.
Jennifer (19:24):
Yeah.
We like the lower maintenance,don't we?
Carey (19:26):
Lower maintenance, the better.
Jennifer (19:28):
All right.
Now let's talk about theoriginal chick heater.
The
Carey (19:33):
hen.
Jennifer (19:34):
Now I've got some coachins and them are some
broody mamas.
They want to set all, I thinkthey are really close to being
as broody as silkies, the Sword.
The silkies.
So they will set on those eggsand keep them nice and constant.
And then they'll keep thosechicks warm.
(19:56):
I'm all about, if you're a, justa backyard breeder and you don't
need to brood, let those broodyhens take care of those chicks.
They're going to be the best lowmaintenance way of doing it.
Carey (20:09):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I've got, so with it being ascold as it is right now, I
actually have in one pen somesix week old chicks that have
never been inside of a brooderand in another pen some four
week old chicks that have neverbeen inside a brooder, unless
you consider the five gallonbucket laying on its side where
(20:31):
they hatched from the brooder.
Because when they were, beforethey got to where they could fly
up on a roost.
The hen would get them insidethe nesting box at night and she
was their brooder plate.
Jennifer (20:47):
Let me just tell you how broody these coachins are.
So I brought them into the barnbecause I ran out of space on
the east side of my barn and hadto bring two brooder sets inside
the barn.
And of course the lightstimulated them and they have,
laid one egg a day.
So there's four hens in one andtwo or three hens in the other
(21:10):
one.
And each one has laid one egg ineach pen and I went in there
yesterday to get the egg Andthey were fighting over who was
going to sit on the one egg Oneegg and there's four big massive
birds.
I'm gonna sit on that egg
Carey (21:29):
I'm like, you
Jennifer (21:29):
haven't even started laying yet.
They're
Carey (21:32):
fighting for it.
It's a thing like I have, thisis going to be my first chicks
that have never been inside of abrooder or an incubator for me.
And I'm actually excited to beable to hatch off of those
because to me They're gettingthe full experience in the
(21:52):
colder months.
So hybrid vigor should be way upthere in these birds.
Jennifer (22:01):
Okay.
So let's talk about the literaluse of using a hen for a
brooder.
So you do not need to put a heatlamp on her.
Cause then you're just going tocook her.
So a hen does not needsupplemental heat when she has
chicks on her.
We see that a lot on Facebook.
(22:22):
And you, she does need a quietspace.
There seems to be a lot ofcontroversy of do you separate
her?
Do you not separate her?
The technical answer is no, youdon't really have to separate
her.
She will take care of thosechicks and keep them safe from
the other birds in there.
The reason why I encourage youto separate is because you
(22:47):
can't.
Physically give chick starterand water to the chicks because
the other birds will eat it,knock it over, drink it, and the
chicks won't get it.
So the separation is literallyfor the chicks nutrition more so
than any other reason.
Carey (23:07):
So what I've been doing because of that is the ones in
those pens I started giving thema 20 percent All Flock.
Here's a special offer fromCarey Blackmon.
It's Carey's Christmas bundle,and it's a 10 pound bag of show
pro poultry supplement and acopy of Jeff Maddox's book,
(23:29):
Niche Poultry.
Regularly, the two items wouldcost you 86.
95.
Now you can get them both for aneven 70, saving you 16.
95.
Plus we'll pay the shipping too.
Go to www.careyblackmon.comThat's MERRY at checkout.
(23:54):
This special Christmas bundleoffer runs through December
31st.
So get it now before it's gone.
Yes, that's a little low for a chick, but I gave them
some of that, put some breedersupplement in it, stirred it up,
mixed it with the oil and allthat stuff like you're supposed
to.
(24:14):
And, at four weeks old, thesechicks were fine.
Getting up on a roost is threefeet off the ground.
They're obviously eating andgrowing healthy and strong, but
that's because I had the samething.
Do I separate them?
Do I not, where do I put them?
Because I did not want to putthem inside.
I wanted them to grow up outsidein that natural habitat.
(24:38):
As natural as a pen can be.
So I just.
Started feeding them all acrumble.
Jennifer (24:46):
Now, what I have done is I have put up like a little
piece of fencing with two bytwo, two by four holes in it and
a hoop in there and put theirfeed and water inside of it so
they could come and go and getto it.
but the bigger chickenscouldn't.
(25:07):
And then mama would still, couldstill nest on them at night,
wherever she wanted to.
But, and that was usually rightbeside that, is where I would
put that.
Now, the bad side, there's somedownsides to using a hen.
Not all hens are good mamas.
Sometimes they knock them out,they get cold different things
(25:29):
can happen.
Snakes, rats other birds can bemean to them.
Gotta be mindful and observantof your hen.
And make sure she's going to bea good broody.
Carey (25:43):
that was me, and I was worried about the rooster, but
no issues.
Jennifer (25:48):
Yeah, they don't care.
I've never had one care.
He just wants to make sure hetags that mama as soon as she's
back in there and ready again.
That's the only thing.
Carey (25:59):
Look, I'm going to tell you this.
I have seen her come out at likewhen they were little.
He'd come out of the nest box.
He would be, he would go overthere and do his little dance
and take care of his business.
And then he would actually crawlin the nest box while she would
go eat.
Jennifer (26:17):
Oh, that's sweet.
That
Carey (26:19):
was a good brood fowl.
He knew his job.
Jennifer (26:24):
Yeah.
All right.
I think that's the only fourways of heating your your
chicks.
Now I can give you a coupletips.
Carey (26:33):
Let's do tips and tricks.
Jennifer (26:35):
If your electricity goes out, I have everything in
my barn is on the battery backupsurge protectors.
And obviously they're only goingto last as long as you have a
draw on there.
But it will last you at least anhour and give you time to get
(26:55):
out there, cover them up, makealternate plans.
You're not going to be in apanic.
What it's doing is it's buyingyou time to find out how long
the electric's going to be out,And make some plans, which you
should have some plans.
You need some heat packs onhand.
You need, tubs to put them in tocontain their own body heat.
(27:20):
Also cardboard box works finewith some hand warmers or heat
packs.
Um, like those shipper packsthat I don't even know what
they're called.
That I put the heat packs in theboxes.
It's
Carey (27:33):
the heat packs.
Jennifer (27:35):
Is that what they're called?
Carey (27:36):
Actually, I actually think that there is a brand of
them out there that says heatpack.
Jennifer (27:41):
Yeah.
I just have a big box of themout there.
When I'm shipping chicks, theyjust stick to the side of the
box and I put them in there.
But anyway, they're good for 72hours.
So you need to, they're notexpensive, maybe what, 2 a piece
or something just to have a boxof them on hand.
Carey (27:56):
Yeah, and if you got if you got a bunch of those, you
can take them out.
The ones that I get when youopen the cellophane or mylar or
whatever it is, the airactivates them that takes them a
little while to build up heat,but you'd shake them up real
good and stick them in there andyeah, they're good for three
days.
Jennifer (28:16):
Yeah.
You can just put them in a, putthem in a cardboard box.
That's not overly huge.
It needs to, be smaller tocontain their body heat and to
contain that heat from that heatpack and some air holes.
And, they'd be fine.
Just think about if you shippedthem across the country, they'd
be fine in there for a few days.
Same concept,
Carey (28:35):
I'll say this.
That place that we talked aboutearlier, Harbor Freight, you can
go to Harbor Freight and if youplug all your brooder plates
into a surge protector, like youshould, you unplug that thing
out of the wall, plug it into anextension cord.
Run it outside to your littlefour or five hundred dollar
generator that you have.
(28:57):
Cause a thousand watt generatorrun 10 of those plates.
Jennifer (29:00):
Yeah.
And keep your refrigerator coldtoo, huh?
I actually
Carey (29:04):
do that.
Jennifer (29:06):
And yep.
I think that's about it for heatsources, emergency and then the
four main ones.
I can't think of anything else.
Carey (29:16):
Oh, that's it.
Jennifer (29:17):
Yeah, all then that's a wrap as far as I'm concerned.
Carey (29:20):
Y'all have a good one.
Jennifer (29:21):
Bye.
Carey (29:22):
Thank you for joining us this week.
Before you go, be sure tosubscribe to our podcast so you
can receive new episodes rightwhen they are released.
And they're released every week.
Feel free to email us atpoultrynerds at gmail.
com to share your thoughts aboutthe show.
Until next time, poultry pals,keep clucking, keep learning,
(29:44):
and keep it egg citing.
This is Carey signing off fromPoultry Nerds.
Feathers up, everyone.
Mhm.
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