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!!
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....
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.
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.
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...
