Planning Ahead

[TinyHandsHomestead105]

Does anybody have success brooding outside between March and October when the temps are 45+ overnight? I'm needing outdoor brooder ideas badly for this Fall when I raise more. My husband and boys allergies were so bad while we had chicks in the house. Our house is small and really not set up for having them inside honestly even when I was vacuuming, dusting and cleaning the bedding daily. If we had a spare room to have them in it would have worked better but they were central on the far side of the kitchen and I'd honestly like to avoid having to do that again if I can. I'm also taking into account I only hatched out chicks so early this year because I'm having my 3rd baby in less than 2 months and I needed everyone outside well before then and I dont ever plan to need to brood chicks in cold weather again really. We have no garage/shed/carport as we've only been living here for a couple years and haven't really started doing much as far as structures go. Any free standing ideas/suggestions would be great TIA

 

[Happy hen lover]

Are they going into coop? Is it built?
I brooded in coop before and it worked fine. I also have brooded in a tote but it was in our she shed.
If there is a warm place like a MAMMA plate heater I think the would search it out. But they must be protected by wind or water.

 

[TinyHandsHomestead105]

Are they going into coop? Is it built?
I brooded in coop before and it worked fine. I also have brooded in a tote but it was in our she shed.
If there is a warm place like a MAMMA plate heater I think the would search it out. But they must be protected by wind or water.

I have tractors for my adults, so no large coop to partition off or anything unfortunately.

 

[Happy hen lover]

How many chicks are you going to have?
Crazy idea but how about a small tent? (kiddos could play in it afterwards) you could put a tote inside tent ? Could still use heat until fully feathered out. Then out in tractor. Where do the hens lay eggs? And where do the they roost at night.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Does anybody have success brooding outside between March and October when the temps are 45+ overnight?

That's typical for me. It's a little bit cooler than that with my current batch as I don't usually brood this early. My brood-along for the year (with daytime temps and a few mentions of night temps), as well as how the unprotected brooder fares in the rain: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...egrate-along-from-feed-store-to-coop.1617102/

My concern with your set up wouldn't be about keeping them warm, but keeping predators away if the set up can't be enclosed in a run or something more secure.

 

[TinyHandsHomestead105]

How many chicks are you going to have?
Crazy idea but how about a small tent? (kiddos could play in it afterwards) you could put a tote inside tent ? Could still use heat until fully feathered out. Then out in tractor. Where do the hens lay eggs? And where do the they roost at night.

The tractor we have set up for our adults birds has nesting boxes along the back with an egg door. They also have two roost areas. I will get pictures if you interested in seeing the set up. A tent might work as long as high winds or tornadoes didn't pop up

 

[Happy hen lover]

The tractor we have set up for our adults birds has nesting boxes along the back with an egg door. They also have two roost areas. I will get pictures if you interested in seeing the set up. A tent might work as long as high winds or tornadoes didn't pop up

Yes I'd like to see the set up for sure. I understand about high winds ! I'm amazed at what the wind can pick up and move!

 

[TinyHandsHomestead105]

Mind you my husband insisted it be done entirely of chicken wire(don't judge, I tried)We don't have any ground predators at this point and we also keep a nose level hot wire around the tractors when my children are not out playing as an extra protection since we never know if one day we will have a predator issue. The only ones we have had active problems with were hawks.....but we haven't had that issue in over a month....we do supervised free range sometimes as well because of the hawks/neighbors that hate said chickens.
**Nest boxes are installed in the back ×2.
** Egg door with latch on back side for easy access to the nest boxes.
**Hard to see in this picture but they have two roost poles along the back as well and they aren't directly over the next boxes so they stay clean.
**Tarp higher on this side than the other to directly protect them from rain from west side.
**5 Gallon buckets used with the TSC water and feeder kits.
**Rope in front for pulling to a new spot.
**Husband added 2 wood poles closer to the ground as pictured, as he gets birds in front of it before dragging the pen and it gives them forward motivation so they don't get trapped at the back of the tractor.
If I could redo it, or give advice to others wanting something similar...use hardware cloth instead. Otherwise this is a nifty little set up. We keep 1 roo and 5 hens in(this picture you can see my younger roo in there but he got thrown in while I was collecting the ones I let free range)it comfortably and they move spots every other day.
Overall cost:$200 and all materials were brand new minus screws and the door wire.
Thought I'd give a run down in case anybody ever runs into this