It's time to get serious with brooding - Our new brooder!

[travifive]

After having raised Cornish Cross for the past 5 years my wife and I decided that we felt comfortable enough to start raising more so we could sell pastured chicken(Salatin style) to our little community. My brooder designs have improved from year to year but one thing that always bothered me was the feeling that the chicks were outgrowing the brooder before I felt comfortable putting them out to pasture. On top of that we have been getting a large number of requests for eggs as we were advertising our meat birds. So this year I decided to really go big. We see the potential to need space for possibly 300-400 chicks at a time within the next year so I built the brooder house 10 x 20 with a partition in the middle making 2 10x10 brooders.





I also have two 36"x42" brooder boxes that can be inserted where ever needed to handle day olds for a few days until I feel comfortable moving them to the full side. The walls are 32" high and the roof is broken up into four panels that are hinged to allow for easy access and increased ventilation on those hot south louisiana afternoons. As you can see in the pics there is a 3" vent that runs along the sides with gable vent on both ends. There is also a ridge vent.



While I was building it the laying hens decided that I must be building this for them and two of them immediately started nesting in one side and both layed an egg while I was cutting and screwing the roof on. So I cut the aluminum a little short to make a door and gave them some places to nest. Since the pictures I've covered their side with about 4" of hay.




This batch is a straight run of aprox. 60 heavy breed layers. I will be going through this weekend to remove the cockrels and bring them to the poultry sale at our feed store. The cornish are already in their tractor in the yard. These guys seemed to love their new space!.

I wanted to post this 1.) so I could show off a little

. and 2.) I need a few more sets of eyes on it to see if there is anything that I may have missed or improvements that need to be made.

 

[HEChicken]

Wow, I am impressed. I can only dream of a set up like this!

 

[travifive]

HEChicken - Dont be too impressed. Most of that was built with reclaimed materials I've picked up here or there. The only thing I had to purchase was the metal and wood for the roof. It helps to be a hoarder every once in awhile. But thanks for the compliment. I wish all my projects turned out like this one.

 

[missnu01]

That's awesome. I'm stuck already trying to build a duck house. We need a coop for the ducks and also one for our meat birds...it's not going well. My husband was supposed to help me, and sometimes he helps me build things without infuriating me...but not this time. You know how you start building a building with the frame first? He tried to start with the floor and then tried to make each wall separate as in he made the frame and the wall as one piece...needless to say the walls mysteriously wouldn't stay on...just would pull out of the floor if you pushed a little. I guess that's why people build the frame first like I told him! Makes me mad. I mean I get it, he didn't feel like building that day, but maybe felt bad about laying around all day when we have so many projects to do, but come on man! Do it right, or do not do it at all

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken - Dont be too impressed. Most of that was built with reclaimed materials I've picked up here or there. The only thing I had to purchase was the metal and wood for the roof. It helps to be a hoarder every once in awhile.

But thanks for the compliment. I wish all my projects turned out like this one.

Those are the best kinds of builds! Most of my coop is built with reclaimed materials - you can see it on the "My Coop" page in my profile. I did have to buy the framing lumber and OSB new, but the siding, roof, doors and windows are all reclaimed materials. Then I built a hoop coop purchasing next to none of the materials. The 10' boards I had "lying around" were the old deck at our old house. Before putting it on the market, we replaced the deck so I held onto the old deck boards, knowing I would find a use for them sometime - and I didn't have to wait too long. The hog panels I purchased used off Craigslist. This morning I "reclaimed" a new chick brooder of my own. The previous owner of our house left a rusted out water tank full of rocks and trash. This morning I emptied it out and though it is no good any more for holding water, it will make a GREAT chick brooder. It is round, 3' diameter and about 2' tall. There are two rust holes that I will cover over so there aren't any injuries to chicks, but other than that, it is good to go. I love finding a way to repurpose something or reuse materials - so much better than having to go out and spend, spend, spend all the time.

 

[travifive]

I completely agree about repurposing. You have to be resourceful when it comes to livestock of any kind or else you'll quickly end up drowning in debt. I found an old trailer that was left also by a previous owner. It is by no means "road worthy" but it is going to make an awesome mobile coop. I tore out the rotten floor boards so far. Next I will build nesting boxes on either side as well and a roof and side walls. Then I will be able to move my layers around and rotate them through my gardens after each harvest. You gotta love free fertilizer!!!

 

[RedRidge]

We also repurposed...
My adults free range during the day, but I needed a safe place to put broody hens with chicks and hatchlings from the incubator.
So... there was an old rabbit hutch in the barn when we moved here and hubby enclosed the bottom, put a partition in the top, and then we added plastic corrugated board to the floor of the top (rot prevention).
It's worked out pretty well, so I thought I'd share since it's full right now and I was taking pictures.

 

[travifive]

RedRidge- that is a great use of space. One day when I get around to building a barn I would love to have a place like that for broody hens or quarantine or whatever else.

 

[New Morning]

So, how has this been working for you? Any modifications or problems?