Hi all!
So we are getting chicks this week, and right now we have a 30-gallon tote set up as a brooder. We have a hanging heat lamp, food and water dispensers, and about an inch of pine shavings (plus extra of course).
I was thinking of making something bigger, and wondered what you thought of this. This is a material that you can get cheap at Home Depot, and I have seen mini-brooders mad bout of the same stuff.
Corrugated plastic sheets
A 6' by 3' panel costs $14. From one such panel I could make a 2' x 3' piece and a 4' x 3' piece. If I did that twice, and got another piece for the bottom, I could make a lightweight and sturdy brooder that is four feet long, two feet wide, and three feet high. Or four feet long, three feet wide, and two feet high.
This would give our six chicks a ton of room to run and play. I was thinking of putting a nesting box at one end, with just a 1" lip to keep the pine shavings in, with the heat lamp suspended over that.
Comments and advice are welcome. Thanks!!
So we are getting chicks this week, and right now we have a 30-gallon tote set up as a brooder. We have a hanging heat lamp, food and water dispensers, and about an inch of pine shavings (plus extra of course).
I was thinking of making something bigger, and wondered what you thought of this. This is a material that you can get cheap at Home Depot, and I have seen mini-brooders mad bout of the same stuff.
Corrugated plastic sheets
A 6' by 3' panel costs $14. From one such panel I could make a 2' x 3' piece and a 4' x 3' piece. If I did that twice, and got another piece for the bottom, I could make a lightweight and sturdy brooder that is four feet long, two feet wide, and three feet high. Or four feet long, three feet wide, and two feet high.
This would give our six chicks a ton of room to run and play. I was thinking of putting a nesting box at one end, with just a 1" lip to keep the pine shavings in, with the heat lamp suspended over that.
Comments and advice are welcome. Thanks!!
