If they get chilled, they run back under mama’s fluff to warm up, then reemerge.

Very soon, they peek out from under their mama, and then as she rises to eat, drink, and scavage and scratch for food, they follow and mimic her. When new chicks emerge from their eggs, weak and wet, they rest and then dry, and then gain strength, all under the hen’s body and soft downy feathers that warm them from above. In the wild, mama chickens set on their eggs (brood them) for 21 days. (Diane will be the first to share that it’s not her method her post about this method was the one that caught a lot of eyes, has remained active over years, and still has her present on it to answer questions-again and again!) This widely known, modern adaptation to natural brooding is generally known as the Mama Heating Pad (MHP) method. It’s new to me, but the method that Diane introduced mimics the way that God created the brooding process for chicks. There’s Nothing New… Or Is There? Broody Hen I am so glad that I had the humility to explore her method, even though I was at the time so excited about my own. She supported the Hover Brooder I had built, but also related that it was possible to raise chickens outdoors without heat lamps and in a way far more natural to the rhythms of life and growth of young chicks that God originally ordained. In response, a wonderful, experienced, and kind chicken keeper, named Diane, commented on my post. So, after I discovered and built my first Hover Brooder, I was excited to share about it with that community and added a post to an existing thread about brooders. When I first started keeping chickens, it was my daily (often hourly) go-to spot nowadays, I often go there for recreation or just to surf and learn. There is a wealth of experience and a wonderful supportive, welcoming atmosphere on the forums at.

One of the best resources for me (especially since I lack a mentor in real life and live on an isolated mountain farm in WV) is the community called Backyard Chickens. I love learning new things about keeping chickens, even though I’m four years young in the hobby. You Learn Something New… If You’re Willing to Learn

This post will offer echos of all of these. The Apostle Paul wrote, “I will show you a more excellent way.”.King Solomon famously wrote, “There’s nothing new under the sun.”.Anonymous Proverb: “You learn something new every day.”.Let me start by quoting three wise sayings: This post will tell about a hard left turn that I took this week in my chicken keeping practices.

Heating pad system