6 x 12 Pallet = New Brooder

[anthonyjames]

So I had a pallet laying around from a delivery of a slab of PaperStone for a client. As I was looking at it this morning I thought I need a new brooder that can stay outside and out of my garage. So low and behold with $30 for materials all the rest recycled and found around the house I made a 6 x 5 foot brooder/run. Actual brooder space is 2 x 5.

You can check it out here with my birds in right now and soon to be another 150 come Mid August.

http://gallery.me.com/anthonyjames420/100431

Enjoy your Saturday

 

[mburpo]

I get pallets all the time from work. I come home, strip them down, and recycle the wood into projects. I just got done making a 4'x3'x3' brooder from some along with some scrap OSB I had.

Yours looks wonderful! I should put a run on my next one!

 

[oldchickenlady]

Ooooh! I am in trouble now! I have several pallets that I stack horse hay on. DH has said 'No more chicks in the house.' Well...now I can keep them outside! Yay! Thanks for the pallet idea!

 

[anthonyjames]

mburpo,

Well I originally was not going to add add the run. I was going to make it that large and line half with the tekfoil I had laying around from wrapping pipes and stuff from a job in Wyoming I did. Then I thought. Well why not add a space for them to come out get sunshine and when the grass is gone I will start adding pine and then hopefully bugs will start coming up from beneath. And since I don't raise cornish x, but I raise Rangers, Naked Necks and Turkeys they will help turn up the shavings and look for bugs.

On the top I covered 18" and then gave them about 2' uncovered. That way I could keep the feed out of the sleeping area and encourage them out. The other reason I use the tekfoil is after one week with 100+ chicks in there I won't need a heat lamp as that tekfoil bounces the heat back at them.

oldchickenlady,

Well you can always find ways to get more birds and make things to keep them out side.

 

[oldchickenlady]

Well, I got my first batch of 12 on Aprill 22, and it was still pretty chilly here, so I kept them in a big rubbermaid horse trough in my living room. DH said that was NOT going to happen again (although he liked going in there and messing with them too). So, if I want to get more chicks, which I do, of course, I will make my brooder and keep it outside with heatlamp, etc. I want some Silver laced Wyandottes and maybe blue laced red, now I can say 'But honey, they aren't in the house!' LOVE IT!

 

[mburpo]

My DW gets super mad after a day or two of chicks, ducklings, poults, etc. being inside. She says they stink, so I made the big box. Now I have a new project on top of everything else!

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Nice! Got me thinking now!!!

 

[anthonyjames]

So I have read that the Ohio type brooder box can brood 200 - 300 chicks being 4 x 4. I am assuming this requires at least another 4 x 4 of open space for the birds to get away from the heat.

In the brooder here that I made the actual brooder space is 2 x 5. Then the outside area is 4 x 5 for them to go out and eat and drink.

Does anyone out there think this will be to small to brood 150 chicks for 2 - 3 weeks?

 

[kidsnchicks]

Pallets, my husband is gonna love this,lol. A couple questions if I may, My husband built a smallish coop on the back of the garage for our current feathered residents, they also have an outside run off the south side, it works well for our 10 hens 2 roos and 2 ducks. Now my daughter wants to show a pair of Americauna Banties and a pair of Blue Swedish ducks for 4H next year. I think that her 4H animlas should be seperate from the family flock. Would a pallet sized floor be big enough for each of her pairs that she wants to raise and show? We should be able to easily get a bunch of pallets. Now if each pair has thier own little coop and run they should be good? We can put them next to each other and have them share a divider fence and they would also be in sight of the family flock. How tall would the pallet coops need to be? They would need a nest box in each and the chickens a perch and of course enough room for a feeder and water.

Im really glad I found this sight, my husband on the other hand maybe not as glad,lol!

Thank you all

Sorry to steal the thread but I just got ideas!

 

[saginawmom]

Awesome job! Thanks for posting, just last week I "rescued" some pallets from the curb. I wasn't real sure on how to make a larger brooder ( i have 3 in a 90qt tote now). I wanted something portable, but sturdy, so i could take them outside to play.