Purplegoanna's Chicken Brooder

Posted 03/28/10 • Last updated 03/28/10 • 22978 views • 14 comments

PG's Hatching & First stage Brooder

I use a large 100ltr plastic storage box from my local home store

I then cut out a square hole. I made a plastic perspex lid with a handle & breathing holes drilled in it and used hinges to attach it to the lid.

To one side i drilled a hole to put my electrical cord through and used a ceramic lamp fitting with a 100w heat bulb

To regulate the heat and save changing to different bulbs i use a 'dimmer switch' i can lower or raise the heat/glow of the bulb

And the finished brooder..

Comments (14)

RedRoosterFarm 1/23/12 at 5:57pm

I love this. I got all the stuff to make one and did it today and my chicks love it! Thanks for posting pictures, Anna at Red RoosterFarm

griffinkid02 3/1/12 at 11:00am

How many chicks would comfortably (and safely) be housed in this max? I have 25 coming in about a month and a half. I have been spending a lot of time reinforcing and expanding my coop, and just remembered today that I needed to make arrangements for brooding. I love the design because this will be my first time raising a brood from chick to cock-a-doodle-doo, and want them under my nose so that I can learn as much as possible. But I need to know how many of them I will need to safely house my babies.

pet chicken 7/7/12 at 7:59pm

I Love this idea!!!!
It looks clean and simple.
What did you use for a floor would it be suitable to use top soil?
Also does anyone have any ideas on how to make this have a removable floor?

1eggnog 7/21/12 at 2:49pm

pet chicken - you could just turn the box upsidown and use the actuall lid as the removeable floor and put the purspex on the new top (the origional bottom)

could this be used as an incubator aswell?

BButterfly 8/20/12 at 8:30am

Wow, this is such a good idea!!!

tamdeva 8/22/12 at 4:40pm

This is great! And these boxes come in all sizes. The dimmer switch is a wonderful idea. I will save this to my favs when I am ready to get some new babies. Looks likes an easier access to the chicks than plastic dog crates. Good job!

tamdeva 8/22/12 at 4:42pm

and a PS. For flooring, I would use the rubber non slip shelf linner, its washable, and will help avoid splaylegs.

chicken girl 8 9/2/12 at 11:25am

how much did it cost? Where did you get the supplies? Can you give me a list of things you used. Please.

Purplegoanna 11/22/12 at 2:38pm

im in new zealand, the bin cost $25, the cable from bunnings $8, the ceramic holder $4, the perpexs i had lying around and the dimmer cost $23.......

Purplegoanna 11/22/12 at 2:41pm

For the floor i line with newspaper and then put a small thin layer of hay or straw or if the lawn is long enough and the lawn mowing clippings get dried out in the sun i use a couple of handfuls of that too....cant be used as a incubator as you cant get the humidity correct. You can safely house upto 25 freshly hatched chicks in it, but would need to rehouse them at 2wweks for more room...+ youd have to change the bedding daily, which is easy with this i simply take the lid off, put all the chicks in a cardboard box, empty the bedding give it a spray with the garden hose the wipe out excess water, relay my newspapaer and lining and put them back in with the lid back on...