Alienchicks Page

My Temporary Brooder​

It all started out with a peek at the BYC forum. I knew I wanted chickens. After almost a year on the BYC forum I was ready to make the plunge.

I made myself a temporary brooder using one of the large dog crates we had. I attached cardboard around the sides for draft protection and to keep the shavings inside.

Then it was time to get baby chicks. I decided to start out with chicks from TSC, so I waited patiently for the chicks to come in. They finally arrived on February 28, 2011. I drove down to our local TSC at 10AM to check out the chicks. There were no chicks; the postman had not yet delivered them. I got in my car and drove another 30 minutes down the road to the next TSC that I knew had baby chicks (cuz I called them). They had three full pullet bins.

I got 3 Ameraucanas (Easter Eggers), 3 Barred Rocks, and 2 Rhode Island Red's. On the way home I stopped off at my local TSC and the baby chicks were there! They had three pullet bins (RIR's, Cornish X and Australorps) and one straight run bin (Leghorns). I wanted Australorps, so I originally grabbed 4, but they have a 6-chick minimum, so I grabbed two more. In hindsight, I shoulda just got two more RIR's.

As was suggested, I put paper towels on top of the shavings for the first two days:


Here they all are inside the brooder:

I met a local breeder who had Silkies and d'Uccles.
So I bought three Silkies and three d'Uccles.


Then I went to a poultry swap, and someone had 4-week-old Polish chicks. I bought four of them.

One of my RIR's died at 5 days old, so I do wish I had bought more of them at the time.
Anyway, I ended up with: