alternate brooders

[calgal98]

Has anyone successfully reared a large number of chicks without a standard type brooder? I've often wondered if using feather dusters in a warm/enhanced warmth area would be sufficient for raising new chicks. I'd be open to anyone with thoughts on this. I've been thinking of a straw/hay bale box with a partial lid where featherdusters were suspended to provide the surrogate momma. My thought is that sufficient chicks with sufficient feathers would retain heat much like a down blanket. If someone has done something like this I would sure like to know. I have other thoughts on it, but would like to know if anyone has tried something like it?

Thanks!!

 

[HEChicken]

What is a "standard type brooder"? I would call anything that contains the chicks and provides a heat source, a brooder. I've seen so many variations on how people grow their chicks out - from those who build a special thing just for the purpose and those who, like me, adapt a container they already have for the temporary purpose of raising their chicks big enough to go outside. My "brooder" is just an old laundry tub with a piece of chicken wire that fits over the top to keep the cat out, the chicks in, and provide something to rest the heat lamp on....

 

[calgal98]

Well, if all my shipped eggs hatch.........then I will need something roughly 4 times my regular heater supplemented water trough. But my goats use the water trough as a bed and it isn't available for chicks right now....and...well...there may be as many as 7-8 dozen chicks if and its a BIG if, they all hatch. So, I'm looking for something I can put outside in the barn, keep them all snug and warm and grow them. I've always kept them in my tack room but obviously this is a much larger brood than I've done before.

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

You said you had a barn. Well so do I. For that many chicks I'd use a 12 x 12 stall with lots of heat lamps. Thats alot of chicks.

Good Luck with your hatch you'll need it. You have given a new meaning to over run with chickens.

 

[calgal98]

I've had chickens for many years and even raised quail for a while. I've had lots to brood before, but always had a place to put them...Now goats are kidding at same time and occupying the stalls or else I would use those. The only other covered outside place is in the hay storage area. Hay is a great insulator and I was just trying to think of alternative methods for brooding a large group. I can make a good area with the hay, just don't like the fire hazard with a heater. I can do it the old way, but like to think outside of the box when I can...