A wool hen - creating one today

[azygous]

I have no clue about this concept.....don't think I've ever heard of it.
I'd think you'd want the floor space to be big enough they could all sit side by side without piling,
and some extra room around the edge that is sheltered from any drafts.

Don't understand the "wool string pompom"......make sure its nothing they could get tangled in.

My concern, precisely. I've seen chicks get tangled in stringy stuff, and was lucky to be there when it happened. Mrs K, I would be inclined to use strips of wool felt instead of yard. it can't possible get looped around little necks. You can get it where they sell crafts supplies, and you can cut it into any width strips you desire. It's easily (hot) glued to the ceiling of your foam cooler.

 

[Folly's place]

Then there's that old wool skirt or shirt hiding in the back of the closet; don't pretend you don't have one too... Mary

 

[Folly's place]

And I forgot about the totally unusable old wool blanket... Mary

 

[Jensownzoo]

Hmmm...I may try making one of these to use on field trips outdoors. I have no shortage of litter buckets, so I think I'll rummage around in my stash to find a wool blanket/garment to line the halved bucket. I do like the idea of wool felt strips hanging down instead of string. I guess you could create them yourself by crocheting/knitting yarn into strips and then felting them in the washer. I know I have wool yarn...not sure about felt (other than the acrylic stuff). Thanks for the ideas!

 

[aart]

@Mrs. K is this the type of concept you are going for?

My 3 week old chicks graduated from the inside brooder w/ the feather duster mom to the outside coop w/ the broody bucket.

hole drilled about the size of a pencil, fabric is polar fleece, next time I will make longer strips, they are short this time b/c I was planning of filling the bucket w/ straw, which they keep scratching out.





This works really well as does the "blue mom" or feather duster broody mom.

 

[shortgrass]

Neat idea.... I'm curious how its going to keep them warm. Just body heat getting trapped in there by the wool?

It's way too cold here already to even try something like that; I'm afraid they'd freeze to death

 

[donrae]

I tried a very simple version of this last night and it didn't work so well

.

I was thinking not so much of brooding littles, but to put in the grow out pen so I can move them out sooner. I've got a batch of chicks in the brooder that are 4-5 weeks old. they're sex linked, so I decided the cockerels would make great test subjects. I've got eggs heading for lockdown today, so was wanting to move the bigger chicks out of the brooder if possible.

My brooders are galvanized steel tubs, in my uninsulated, unheated garage. Not sure how low the temp gets in there at night. I think outside temp was in the high 40s last night.

My wool hen was very simple. A cardboard box, just the one layer. I cut strips of fleece, couldn't find wool. Hung them pretty dense, I thought. I'll add pics from my phone here soonly.

Put the 3 cockerels in a brooder with no heat lamp, just the box. Had to go out and put them IN the box after dark, but that's understandable. They've been raised with a heat lamp.

Went out this morning and removed the box. 2 cockerels were huddled together, very puffed out and cool to the touch. 3rd boy was apart from them and not doing great, very puffed and lethargic. I moved them all to the brooder with the heat lamp. The 2 recovered reasonably soon. The 3rd literally fell on his side and wouldn't move for a good hour or so, then stood hunched and puffed up at the edge of the heat lamp. I finally moved him closer under the heat and about an hour later he was moving around some on his own.

I'd thought since these chicks are older, it might work. Not so much.

Ideas to try-----insulating the box is my first thought. I'm thinking just to put it inside a larger box and stuff with newspaper or Styrofoam, etc.

Maybe 3 was too small a number of chicks? maybe more would have kept each other warmer, I don't know. I just wasn't thrilled about risking my for sure pullets

.

I could try adding more strips to the box, and see if that would help hold heat better.

For littles, I would cut the edges of the box down more, so the strips are in better contact with the ground. I may give that a try also, although I don't think that would have been an issue.

Welcome any input.....

 

[donrae]

Okay, here's pics. It's just a large Priority Box from USPS. Folded the one flap up so they could get in and out. I started with the strips much closer together, in the first pic, but I thought they were maybe too close so I spread them out some, as you can see in the pic of the top.

Maybe I do need to cut the edges back down a bit, the strips don't reach the ground well. That may have contributed to the chilled chick......

 

[donrae]

Well, the lone little chick died

. Not sure if it's worth experimenting more.

 

[aart]

Well, the lone little chick died

. Not sure if it's worth experimenting more.

Bummer