100% Stand Alone Outdoor Brooder

[EggsOnOrcas]

I have 30 cornishX chicks and a gosling arriving in a couple of weeks. I need to create an outdoor brooder situation. I've found several outdoor brooder ideas on this site, but most have some kind of garage or lean to thing going on that is still providing some shelter. I'm looking to do something that is a stand alone option. I have a 6'x2' stock tank that I've used before, but that will get small quick.

Any thoughts? I started playing with an idea, but I really am clueless when it comes to construction projects. Thanks for your help.

 

[Harmony Fowl]

Here’s mine, but, as you mentioned, under cover. It’s 7’ by 2’.

The boards to the right protect the inside of the brooder from rainwater dripping from the roof above. That would be my biggest concern. You will want the top to be solid, preferably sloped, and have an eave large enough that water dripping from the roof doesn’t drip right into the brooder again.

Mine opens on top. The lid is two pieces of plywood connected with hinges. A little more than half opens. Pay attention to how far you can lean over and grab something if your primary opening is on top. Mine is a shade to tall to be able to catch chicks comfortably and has no other opening for me to access them. I would recommend a second opening on the side, for access to chicks and cleaning.

If it is to serve as any kind of an integration tool, you will need to think of extra openings for chicks to slip through.

The floor. I see you have yours raised. Mine is on the dirt and that works well for me. I have not yet used bedding in it but plan to. The space is too confined for too many for too long to let it be just dirt like the run around it. If it has a floor, it is more solid against predators, but the dirt floor lends itself to easier maintenance.

If the top is solid, one or more sides are likely not to be. (A solid top keeps out the hot sun, too.) What will the chicks actually shelter in? I use a Cozy Coop heater underneath an overturned plastic tub with a doorway cut in it. So far, so good, I just find the tub too bulky and hope to replace it with a hover next time.

Lastly that I can think of, think about positioning. Mine gets late day sun and I end up putting more pieces of wood against it to block the hot sun. Morning light is easier and not so hot, just think of that when you place it.

 

[EggsOnOrcas]

Thanks for sharing this.

 

[JDN]

An IBC tote would be a bit bigger, they cut like butter with a sawzall...
Otherwise I might just buy a portable pop up picnic shelter and stick them under that...or a table. Are you using a heat lamp or a pad of some kind?

 

[EggsOnOrcas]

An IBC tote would be a bit bigger, they cut like butter with a sawzall...
Otherwise I might just buy a portable pop up picnic shelter and stick them under that...or a table. Are you using a heat lamp or a pad of some kind?

I was thinking of just having the brooder live in the pastured poultry pen. But in the long run I'll want another option as I might want to be brooding more chicks while raising an older batch of meat birds.

 

[Thyme4Chickens]

What about a Hoop Coop?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/search/24961278/?q=hoop&t=ams_article&o=date

 

[EggsOnOrcas]

What about a Hoop Coop?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/search/24961278/?q=hoop&t=ams_article&o=date

There are some nice hoop coops in that link. I was thinking about making one of these...

 

[Maeschak]

What about a Hoop Coop?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/search/24961278/?q=hoop&t=ams_article&o=date

I have a hoop coop set up that can brood chicks from day 1 outside but it needs to be near electricity. It is a 'standard' cattle panel hoop coop using 2.5 cattle panels (2 panels for the main portion and 1/2 panel for the 'back.') It is roughly 8x8 and uses a thick silver and gray tarp to shed wind and rain. Inside the hoop coop is my heating pad brooder box- which is similar to a momma heating pad but not quite.
My heating pad brooder box is basically made like a tiny oven (out of plywood). Imagine an oven with no front door or bottom- the 'oven rack' looks like a poorly made lattice frame filled in with chicken wire. I take two heating pads and seran wrap the heating pads to my 'oven rack'. The oven rack/heating pads slide into the box just like an oven rack with several different heights (I use the IKEA method for keeping the rack up- I drilled holes in the sides of the brooder box and use nails as 'pins' that the heating pad/oven rack sit on top of. I simply raise the height of the rack as the chicks grow.
If it is winter time I throw some bails of hay or straw in the hoop coop around the brooder box to block more wind.
Now, I built the hoop coop and brooder box so that I could brood from day 1 outside, but it turns out I never use it on day 1. The hoop coop is down by the barn near electricity- and I just can't go all that way 50 times a day to check on my chicks. I always have a few chicks I am watching and keep a keen eye out for poopy butt. That said, I would use it from day 1 if it was closer to the house. I keep the newborn chicks in my heating pad brooder box inside a dog cage on the deck by the house and I use clear shower curtain liners for weather proofing.

For you, the absolute easiest method might be to make a large heating pad brooder box and simply surround it with bails of straw like a corral around the brooder heating box- you can top it at night with plywood or tarps or something... Once they are brooder u can use the straw for chicken bedding or in the garden, etc.
I suppose you could also modify an actual oven or even an old defunct chest freezer- put the heating pads inside, cut a door in the side of the freezer and make a little 'run' out of wire.

Good luck to you!

 

[Maeschak]

There are some nice hoop coops in that link. I was thinking about making one of these... View attachment 1393487

One of the great things about the hoop coop is its versatility- after chicks are brooded it can be used as a bachelor pad for cockerels going to the freezer, it can be topped w clear plastic to make a greenhouse, it can be used to house sick chickens, etc.

 

[Mrs. K]

I did my first CX chicks this year. I did 15, and the growth is hard to believe. I kept mine in a brooder for a WEEK. Then they went to the coop without electricity. They eat, poop and put off tremendous heat. A good shelter they were fine and that was the first of March, where the temps were 30 degrees.