Some brooder questions!

[BCollie]

I placed my order with McMurray yesterday! Yay! I'm getting my chickies around the 1st of May. By the time they're 6 weeks old, it'll be mid-July. Here in July our average daily 'high' is 99 degrees, and the daily 'low' is 66. Would they be able to start living outside at this time?

I had to meet the minimum of 15, so I ordered a bunch of chicks that I will put up for sale on Craigslist after they arrive. RIR's, so there should be no problem getting rid of them. I also ordered Blue Andalusians, 4 of them since only about 50% will come out blue...And I'd like to keep them for a few weeks to see which one I like best, then sell all but 1 of them. In short, I want to make this brooder box big enough to hold between 5 and 8 chicks until they're about 6 weeks old.
I have a plastic tub in the garage that's 32" by 18", and 19" tall(but I do plan on covering it with chicken wire). Would this be big enough for them?

I'm also wondering how to keep them from smelling bad, because I heard that's a common problem. I read on this forum that someone used Sweet PDZ with sand, but couldn't find the thread again. Any advice?

 

[Judy]

Here's a guideline for brooder size

up to 2 weeks: 0.5 sq ft per chick
2-4 weeks: 1 sq ft per chick
4-8 weeks: 2.5 sq ft per chick

You can probably put them in your coop by around the third week, especially if you take them out for outings during the day before that, and decrease the heat as much as they are comfortable with. I brood in the coop entirely. When I've raised chicks in the coop, I've removed the heat lamp entirely at 3 weeks, because they were avoiding it, sleeping several feet from it, cuddled together.

Sweet PDZ with sand, or either one alone, is fine to use for litter. If they are in your house, they will smell unless you change or clean the litter quite often, even daily.

 

[BCollie]

I thought it was .5sqft up to 6 weeks, hmm.
So for between 5 and 8 chicks, how big would it need to be? Due to my moms cat and stepdads dogs, the only safe place to put it is in my room, so that they'll be safe behind a metal gate..but my room is pretty small..

 

[BCollie]

Anyone?^

 

[showbarnmom]

A plastic tote 4 ft by 4ft would *probably * be enough room for 8 5-6 week old birds. However, mine go outside between 4-5 weeks. Especially if its over 60 degrees outside. At night I turn their red lamp on inside their coop if it get below 40. After 10 weeks, I don't really bother with the lamp unless its really cold or rainy/windy.

If your room is small, I recommend stackable totes. You can start with a small 2 ft by 2 ft, then work up. And they just stack in each other until you need them.

 

[BCollie]

We have some scrap plywood in the backyard from my brothers old, weathered fort that we tore down. Maybe I could use that to build my own little 4x4 brooder?

I won't be able to have anything like a heat lamp in my coop. It's going to be in the very back of my large yard - no way to plug anything in.

 

[showbarnmom]

That would work. Here's an idea for easy maintenance.

Lay down some painters plastic, you can get it almost anywhere. Comes in a roll, fairly inexpensive. Lay it down, and use a corner of your room for 2 of the 4 sides of the box. Then you would only need twopieces of plplywood.

The plastic will keep chicken nasty off your floor, and its disposable, so you can just wrap up whatever your using for bedding inside of it, and throw it all away.

 

[BCollie]

That would work. Here's an idea for easy maintenance.

Lay down some painters plastic, you can get it almost anywhere. Comes in a roll, fairly inexpensive. Lay it down, and use a corner of your room for 2 of the 4 sides of the box. Then you would only need twopieces of plplywood.

The plastic will keep chicken nasty off your floor, and its disposable, so you can just wrap up whatever your using for bedding inside of it, and throw it all away.

That's a good idea, but I don't really have any open corners in my room! Large windows with low window sills(chickies could get out), and a biigggg fish tank would make it difficult!
Maybe I could do the 4x4 brooder with plastic as the bottom, with sand/sweet PDZ? Staple the plastic to the outside wooden sides of the brooder?

 

[showbarnmom]

That's definitely an idea. However, they won't need that size right away. I recommend starting in a storage tote for the first 2-3 weeks, then into the bigger box for 2-3 weeks. Then outside.

 

[BCollie]

Okay, thanks. Why should they be in a smaller one at first?