BackYard Chickens › BYC Forum › Raising BackYard Chickens › Raising Baby Chicks › Best large brooder?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Best large brooder?

post #1 of 10
6/17/12 at 4:43am
Thread Starter 

Have had a lot of success hatching small quantities of chicks but wanted to upscale :) wanted some info on a large scale brooder, something big enough for say 50 chicks. Now is it worth building it myself and if so what are the best things to use? Thanks

Reply
Reply
post #2 of 10
6/17/12 at 5:37am

my favorite brooder is a modified deep book shelf type cupboard with a door, the wood in middle of door was removed and wire stapled in its place, shelves were taken out and the back was replaced with plywood (original back was cheap cardboard) and then it is laid down and can hold quite a few chicks even when they get older. price was free or the price of gas, all items found in free section of Craigslist.

Lori

I seem to be the queen of electrolytes!!!!!

 

Reply

Lori

I seem to be the queen of electrolytes!!!!!

 

Reply
post #3 of 10
6/17/12 at 5:51am

Anything you can recycle or get free or cheap, I agree.  Lots of people use wading pools, though it will need a top to prevent flying out.  I used cardboard appliance boxes with bird netting over them.  You can even use a coop or shed with heat lamps rigged up.  An old fashioned brooder was a large metal dome with light under it and open edges, so they could go under or come out as they chose, in a barn or whatever.

Judy
Happiness is when you can look at your chickens and smile....
Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due.

Flockwatching my little bunch of mutts, a favorite pastime.

BYC Troubleshooting article -- click here

Reply

Judy
Happiness is when you can look at your chickens and smile....
Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due.

Flockwatching my little bunch of mutts, a favorite pastime.

BYC Troubleshooting article -- click here

Reply
post #4 of 10
6/17/12 at 6:03am

I like to use a box made out of 2Ftx4Ft plywood sheets screwed together.  You can put a floor in it or put a tarp under it and cover with pine shavings.  I have a frame for the top covered with hardware cloth since they will fly over at 3 weeks.  I hang a heat lamp over the top that can be raised and lowered.  The whole thing can be taken apart and stored for next year.  That works great for 40 chicks, but you might go bigger with 50.

Reply
Reply
post #5 of 10
6/17/12 at 11:16am
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/6233/brooder-thread-post-pics-of-your-brooders

Check out this thread
Hens: 16 Leghorns or California Whites, 5 Trader Joe's Leghorns, 14 Red Stars or Gold Stars, 10 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Rhodes Island Reds, 4 Silver Laced Wyandotes, 4 Ameraucana, 7 Barred Rock, 1 Silver Laced Wyandote X Barred Rock, 1 Leghorn X Barred Rock. = 64 Hens - chicks 89
Roosters: 1 Trader Joe's Leghorn Rooster, 1 Leghorn X Barred Rock Rooster
Nursing Home hatch-a-long
Reply
Hens: 16 Leghorns or California Whites, 5 Trader Joe's Leghorns, 14 Red Stars or Gold Stars, 10 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Rhodes Island Reds, 4 Silver Laced Wyandotes, 4 Ameraucana, 7 Barred Rock, 1 Silver Laced Wyandote X Barred Rock, 1 Leghorn X Barred Rock. = 64 Hens - chicks 89
Roosters: 1 Trader Joe's Leghorn Rooster, 1 Leghorn X Barred Rock Rooster
Nursing Home hatch-a-long
Reply
post #6 of 10
6/17/12 at 2:09pm
I use an old round bale feeder. Zip tie cardboard around it as a draft block and run a 2x4 across the top to hang 2 heat lamps from. Works great and I have some fencing to lay over the top when they start to fly. I have 75 chicks in it and could definitely fit a hundred.
Mixed flock of 51 egg laying hens and an EE rooster
7 Black Copper Marans, only 2 pullets
3 Turkey Poults
109 mixed breed, meat, and assorted laying chicks. yup chicken math LOVES me

6 years learning, owning, and loving chickens.
Getting married in August to my wonderful boyfriend of 6 years.
Reply
Mixed flock of 51 egg laying hens and an EE rooster
7 Black Copper Marans, only 2 pullets
3 Turkey Poults
109 mixed breed, meat, and assorted laying chicks. yup chicken math LOVES me

6 years learning, owning, and loving chickens.
Getting married in August to my wonderful boyfriend of 6 years.
Reply
post #7 of 10
6/17/12 at 11:18pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks for all the info! Really helpful :)

Reply
Reply
post #8 of 10
6/18/12 at 6:19am
This is what I use.

2011-02-02%252018.33.54-1.jpg

2011-01-31%252007.28.53-1.jpg

It's basically just a plywood box built from a full 4x8 sheet of plywood for the bottom. A second sheet was used to make the two foot high sides. The two long sides are hinged for ease of access. The top is based on a 2x2 frame covered with half-inch hardware cloth. The box is assembled with carriage bolts so that I can take it apart to stack flat for out of the way storage.

The brooder hover (the box the light is coming from) is based on a design from the Ohio Extension Service from back in the early nineteen forties. Robert Plamondon has the plans on his site here: http://www.plamondon.com/brooder.shtml

Mine is a scaled down version sized for fifty-sixty chicks.

The whole thing is lined with builders plastic so at the end of the season I can clean out the soiled bedding then throw away the plastic.

Of course if this is only going to be one time time thing then it's way more than what you need. If you'll be brooding chicks every year like I do it works great.

I also use various sizes of round or oval stock tanks.

20120320_101120.jpg

You have to fashion a top for them. This is the one I'm using at the moment. I have a larger one that I used this year as well, but it had a make shift top. I have an idea of how to make a round top to fit it, but haven't had the time to assemble it yet.
Chance favors the prepared mind.
Reply
Chance favors the prepared mind.
Reply
post #9 of 10
6/18/12 at 11:29pm
Thread Starter 

Wow looks like some setup there i do like the idea of the oval brooders, do they cost a lot or can you get them anywhere?

Reply
Reply
post #10 of 10
6/19/12 at 5:39am
Most any farm supply and many feed stores carry metal and/or plastic stock tanks. They are not cheap, but when you stop to consider you'll be able to use them for many years if you take care of them the price evens out. I keep mine on top of milk crates or buckets when in use for ease of access.
Chance favors the prepared mind.
Reply
Chance favors the prepared mind.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Raising Baby Chicks
BackYard Chickens › BYC Forum › Raising BackYard Chickens › Raising Baby Chicks › Best large brooder?