Hello! Here is my brooder, it sits inside my coop. I figured when I was building one I may as well make one big enough for a few of my grown silkies for when I want eggs from certain hen and rooster combinations. It is 8 feet long 3 1/2 foot wide and at its highest 4 foot tall. The top is built to allow for chickens to roost on it with easy mess cleanup and I am able to hang up to four heat lamps in it. The main vents are two small ones at the top and the entire door is made of Hardware Cloth. One Heat lamp positioned in the middle can allow for a day-old chicks to comfortably have two area's to escape heat and one nice warm spot in the center. Seen in the photographs it has five little RIR chicks.
The floor is made of deck boards so that children and adults can easily sit inside it, the side is made of leftover fence material, the back from plywood, and the top is made from roofing sheet metal. It is framed all the way around with 2x4's and sits on large concrete blocks inside the coop.
A friend of ours asked us if we planned for 200 chicks and we just shrugged our shoulders. Y'know what can I say? I love my silkies.
It also has a removeable divider for the center of the coop that clips onto the door and back wall for if I have two stages of chicks or if I have chicks and a broody in there. All of the material save for the hardware cloth was scraps from the deck/fence/barn/projects. We were going to use chicken wire but figured that bantam chicks might be able to get a head through there or to keep mice and other scary things out.
The only upgrades I wish to make is to put a automatic chick feeder and a bigger water. Its easy to clean with a hand broom and a dust pan and my chicks are quite active and fast.
Soon I'll add pictures of my entire coop. Our grown chickens free range during the day and have a very large coop for the days when its just too wet for my little white silkies.
