Bigger brooder

I needed a bigger brooder than my tupperware bin so I built this.

http://homesteaddad.com/2015/04/27/i-built-a-box/

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Nice! I had one that was 4'x8' but I soon found it was a pain. Too big for a good lid, too big to easily catch babies without stepping into it, and a pain to clean out with sand for the bedding (which soon meant sand around the brooder from stepping i. I really wish it had been built out like yours, which looks like a 2'x8'. Much easier to reach across and to put a top on to prevent flying out.

If I did it again though I'd have at least one end where the side board slid into place. That way it could be removed to sweep out the bedding into a big broom catch-pan. I'd also elevate it off the floor so there is airflow under it. Random spillage from the waterer meant the wood would get soaked and stay wet; the sand didn't help matters but I suspect other bedding would have a similar problem unless it was super absorbent. I think the airflow underneath would have helped it dry out when that happened. Or perhaps just sealing the wood with that black spray people use on their coops would have worked, and a drain hole just in case into a Tupperware tub. Now you have me planning the rebuild!

Love your design, what are your plans for preventing flyers from escaping?

Elevating it is a good idea, I may put it on blocks.

It is 2x8'. The plan is to use the remaining 2'x4' osb and hardware mesh to cover it.

Here is the extra board to put on top.

Looks great

Here is my home made brooder. It is about 4x4 and the lid is really heavy. But I successfully raised 27 chicks in it as a beginner.

Chris, I like it. I need to make a few more feeders like that and strap them to the brooder.

Here is what will be their first outside cage.


It's 12' long and 3' high and wide. I plan to enclose a 3'x4' section and leave the rest as a run. It will be used as a transition for young birds, and possibly for meat birds.

I like the smaller coop/run designs for transition, just wish nice designs like the one above would withstand goats. Mine have to transition in converted barn stalls.

We built this for our 13 growing chicks. We got them on 4/15/15 ranging from 2-days to 1 week old.They outgrew their 60 gallon sterilite bin pretty quick, so we built and moved them into this transition mega brooder about a week ago. Next stop will be their coop. We now have food and water hanging from the top support. It has no fencing on the bottom as we built handles on the sides so that we can lift it up and put it outside for "play time". The base stays put obviously. It opens on the side for easy cleaning. Only change I'd consider is higher sides - there's shavings all over the floor! We don't have it in a drafty location, but if we did, that would require some sort of higher sides as well. I'll probably move the light to lay on top of the fencing this week.


@Chrisfraust , how did you build your feeders? Any aggression issues with one feeding outlet?