Hello Everyone;
Lets start with I am a newbie to the world of chickens. As the mom of 4 wonderful children I try and keep my costs down. When looking at all the brooders the box brooders are great but I have cats (and dogs), so they didn't seem safe to me for my chicks. I decided to turn an old little tike's toy box into my brooder.
Here it is before I started

So I added ventilation holes to both ends

then covered it with some hardware cloth

I added hardware cloth to the top

I stapled the clothe to a board (the board is screwed in at each end.


I have not quite figured out a front latch but I will.
Material list:
old toy box
hardware cloth
nuts, bolts and washers
two boards
staples
screws