Newbie brooder question

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littlelune810

littlelune810

Chirping
Nov 6, 2015
106
4
58
Washington State
I only plan on getting 3 or 4 chicks my first go round. will a 22 gallon Rubbermaid be sufficient for the entire brooding process or will I need to upgrade to a larger container before transitioning to the coop?
 
I have a brooder around that size, and although It's nice, It isn't very big. Since it is cold out, you will need to keep the chicks inside much longer than in the summer (unless you are getting chicks next spring). You will soon find that after the girls are about six-seven weeks old, it will be very crowded in there. I like to transition my chicks from a small brooder to a bigger one when I can (like a rabbit cage to a Rubbermaid tub to the shower) because they revel in the extra space each move. Either way, yes, you will have to get a bigger container before they are ready for outside temps if you use this tub.
If you try to put them in the coop with a heat lamp after they get to big for their container, please note that they (the lamps) can cause fires and if they suddenly go off (like in a power outage during a storm) your chicks will suffer in the unexpected and severe temperature change.
 
littlelune810 said:
I only plan on getting 3 or 4 chicks my first go round. will a 22 gallon Rubbermaid be sufficient for the entire brooding process or will I need to upgrade to a larger container before transitioning to the coop?
Click to expand...
If your chicks will grow up to be large size fowl , like Rhode Island Reds and Sussex ( that is, not a bantam size chicken) if your chicks are large fowl chicks you will need one sq. ft. per bird till about one month old. Then you will need 1 1/2 -2 sq. ft. per birds till 4 months old. Do not include the space for the feed and waterer when calculating. These sq. ft. measurements are for space for the birds to move around. Try a 96 gallon tub. That should work fine until they are ready to go into the coop. Extra room for the chicks is a good thing. More exercise for them, smile.
Best,
Karen
 
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Then it should be fine, as long as you move them into the coop after six weeks. This means having the coop built in time, a major problem many chickeneers face.
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I kept mine indoors in the shower (only at night) until they were almost 13 weeks old, because the coop wasn't finished.
 
My chicks are almost 4 weeks old. We are here in Florida where the temps have remained in the 90s-80s. Our winter is very mild obviously and it probably won't even get "cold" until January. Do you think 6 weeks is ok to put them outside in their coop, with this weather? They are RIRs. Thanks :)
 
ManfreChickens said:
My chicks are almost 4 weeks old. We are here in Florida where the temps have remained in the 90s-80s. Our winter is very mild obviously and it probably won't even get "cold" until January. Do you think 6 weeks is ok to put them outside in their coop, with this weather? They are RIRs. Thanks :)
Click to expand...


Ok so I don't even have chickens yet but the Murray McMurray book says that between 4 and 6 weeks of age you can start moving them to their "grown-up" coop as long as they either have their feathers or as long as its not too cold outside. It says to make sure their coop is at about 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. So if It gets colder at night you would want a heat lamp out there but I guess otherwise you should be ok. Maybe someone with more experience can chime in but like I said this comes straight from the book called "Chickens in 5 Minutes a Day" from Murray McMurray Hatchery. Hope this helps.
 
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Hi there!

Our lows are mid 70s right now at night. The lowest projected temp for the next two weeks is 68.

We've already turned the heat lamp off in the garage for their brooder because they were sleeping away from it and separately because I think it was too warm after they were 3 weeks old.
 

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