The BEST re-usable brooder money can buy! ($25-40) - 36 to 63 SQ FT

[PrudentPrepper]

So, I'm raising 90 chicks right now (Barred Rocks, Buff Orpingtons, Silver-Laced Wyandottes, RIRs, and Black Jersey Giants and one California White hen named Henry). I am currently living in a 1300 SQ FT house in a city in Kansas. I will be moving in 3 weeks to a 240 acre piece of land in the Ozarks. My wife and I wanted to get a jump start on our chickens before we moved so about 4 weeks ago for 50 of them and 6 weeks ago for 40 of them we bought some chicks to start. Unfortunately the cages I had soon became way too small to hold the fast growing chicks. I was desperate to figure out a new brooder system for them that I could use inside my house (it is kind of illegal to have chickens here so they can't go outside until we move) I came up with TENTS. Yes, tents. You can buy a nice tent at Wal-Mart for 25 bucks for a child size 6x6 or 30-40 bucks for a 7x7 or 9x7. I bought a 9x7 for the 50 and a 7x7 for the 40 so they all have more than a square foot of space. They have worked wonderfully. They have not torn through them, escaped, nor have they made a dusty mess of my house as they did in their cages. The ventilation is great- you just leave the tarp off the top, or leave the windows undone (screen only - not tarp) . The dust gets trapped in the screen mesh and does not get into the house. Once a week I vacuum the dust off the tents and add another couple inches of bedding. Works perfect, is cheap, and re-usable as the tarp material that makes up the bottom can be cleaned out with a hose and left to dry in the sun. Anyways, just a tip for those of you out there trying to raise a bunch of birds inside and not wanting to build some elaborate brooder. It is easy to set up and easy to take down.





FYI - The fencing is to keep my Great Pyreneese pups from jumping on the tents and startling the birds. If you don't have other animals it wouldn't be necessary.

 

[azygous]

Genius! It's always a problem to come up with a suitable brooder for dozens and dozens of chicks! You solved it!

Your ingenuity will serve you well when you move to your large spread! Good luck!

 

[PrudentPrepper]

Thank you. I thought of all the typical solutions, but for the amount of chicks I have it was either this or try to find huge cardboard boxes that would end up wet and have to be thrown away, plus I'd have to find a way to seal the top so my cat couldn't get in, and my chicks wouldn't fly out. This seemed to be the best solution after scouring multiple stores for hours thinking of different ideas. I also thought about buying a chain link dog kennel that was 5x10 and putting chicken wire around the bottom of the fencing, but that would have cost considerably more and been a huge hassle to set up inside the house LOL.

 

[3riverschick]

Hi,
I hope you can get your chicks out of Kansas. The avian flu epidemic has everyone worried. I don't think it will be long before we see limits on interstate travel of personal poultry. Would not be good if you got to the Ozark country border and found you couldn't enter with them. Kansas stopped all public exhibition of poultry along with several other States. More than 35 million layers have died. You might to do some checking around to see what's necessary to move poultry of a certain age interstate. No need to explain you already have chicks.
Best
Karen
Here is the latest insider newsletter for June from Poultry Show Central on the avian flu problem:

Hello, PSC Insiders! The avian influenza cancellations and restrictions continue to pile up and we're doing our best to keep all our visitors up-to-date on the latest changes. At this point, I'm counting everything on the website as "subject to change" because we hear of more changes almost daily! I do hope that the summer will bring a slow-down or even hiatus on the spread of disease so that many of the fall shows can proceed as planned.

Cancellations, Changes and Corrections (since last update):
**The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship announced an order to cancel all live bird exhibitions at county fairs, the Iowa State Fair, and other gatherings of birds due to avian influenza. The Department’s order begins immediately, is effective through the end of 2015, and also prohibits live birds from being sold at livestock auction markets, swap meets and exotic sales.
**Live poultry exhibitions, sales and swap meets have been banned in West Virginia.
**To protect Indiana’s poultry from potential exposure to H5 avian influenza virus, the members of the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) have ceased all bird movements to events in the state that allow commingling of birds from different locations. This includes shows, exhibitions and public sales (such as flea markets, swap meets, sale barns). This prohibition will stand until further notice, likely through the end of 2015.
**In Ohio, the Agriculture Department is strongly recommending that all fairs, including the 95 county and independent fairs in the state, prohibit poultry entries from H5 avian flu states.
**The Michigan Association for Fairs and Exhibitions (MAFE), Michigan 4-H leadership and the Michigan Allied Poultry Industry, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s State Veterinarian Dr. James Averill made the difficult decision to cancel all 2015 poultry and waterfowl exhibitions in Michigan to prevent the comingling of birds from different locations. This includes, but is not limited to shows, exhibitions, swap meets, petting zoos at fairs, game bird and waterfowl fair displays, and Miracle of Life exhibits.
**Out-of-state birds will not be allowed to compete in Illinois exhibitions until further notice. This restriction includes county fairs, FFA and 4-H fairs, Illinois State Fair, and the DuQuoin State Fair.

**Poultry from Chippewa, Jefferson, Barron, and Juneau Counties in Wisconsin will not be permitted entry to poultry swaps due to the avian flu outbreak within those counties. There may be restrictions in other parts other parts of the country as well where AI has been reported so please check with the organizers before you attend if you are in the affected areas.
**Wisconsin Department of Agriculture has released the quarantine of bird movement to shows, exhibitions and swap meets in Chippewa, Barron, Juneau and Jefferson, as of May 31, 2015 since there have been no new detections of avian flu in the area.

**CORRECTION: Texas State Fair - Dallas, TX - Date changed from October 10-11 to October 17-18, 2015

Summary of Statewide Cancellations and Restrictions due to Avian Flu as of 6/6/15:
**All Shows Cancelled and no live birds allowed at swaps/auctions in Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Indiana, Iowa, and Minnesota
**All Fair Poultry Shows Cancelled in Pennsylvania and New York.

We look forward to hearing from you regarding any 2015 dates not yet updated on the website or for any new restrictions that are put in place due to the avian flu.
Your fellow fanciers,
Kevin, Valerie and Kara Miller

​

 

[AKMotherClucker]

This is absolutely brilliant. I have a small cheap tent just like this that I bring camping as a back up tent for my dog (in case he gets super wet etc). Do these keep the dust at least semi contained? If so, I am totally using this idea, our babies are about 4 weeks old now, and the dust is getting impossible.

 

[Mims]

I am doing this tonight, until my coop is finished. You are brilliant!! Thank you for the great idea!

 

[TRMFAM]

Outstanding idea! Thank you for sharing and I am totally jealous of the new spread...Ahh, 240 acres, in the Ozarks no less, beautiful country.

 

[snow5164]

I'm going to get my tent.....where did I put it????

 

[PrudentPrepper]

3riverschick - you are absolutely right. It is bad here. To the point they have also removed the outdoor birds at the Sedgwick County Zoo for fear of contamination. This is partly why I am keeping them inside as well (the other is nosy neighbors lol ) I don't really care what the laws are, my chicks are healthy and I don't plan on being pulled over on the way to my property, but thanks for the heads up I will be moving in a little over 2 weeks, they will be either 7 or 9 weeks at that time.

To everyone else - the dust is very well contained. It builds up in the mesh screen that covers the tops and windows of the tent, and a little slides down the tent onto the floor if you don't keep the screens clean, but it doesn't get into the air and travel at all. The only dust is in the screens and a little that makes it to the floor directly beside the tents. It's a breeze to clean up. Most tents also have a little loop of material directly at the top of the tent on the inside that works perfect to zip tie the brooder light on. I will upload some more pics later. I place the water and feed on top of some paver stones to keep them high enough so they don't get chips in them.

 

[3riverschick]

Real interesting about the dust collecting. I am wondering if they will eventually cancel the National Poultry Show in OH in Nov. .
Best,
Karen