Anyone have a brooder in their coop?

[vjbakke]

Our girls are fast out growing their brooder boxes. We are planning on moving them to the coop and making it into a " brooder" the door to the run will not be opened. The coop is inside our garage and 2 of the walls have been insulated. I am thinking we may have to put both lights in it. Anyone else done this? We have 3 week olds and 2 week olds that we need to mix. I should think they will be plenty warm. Their brooders are also in the garage right now.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I keep my brooder in the coop from day 1. As long as you can keep one area in the correct temperature range, keep drafts off the chicks, and keep it predator-proof, they will do fine.

I keep one area in the right temperature range but let the rest of the brooder cool off as it will. The far corners are often 20 to 30 degrees cooler than the "correct" temperatures. The first couple of days they tend to stay in the warm spot but by the third day they are playing all over the brooder, only coming back to the heat when they want to. By the time they are 4 to 5 weeks old, they are fully feathered out and I take the supplemental heat away.

If I tried keeping the entire brooder the exact correct temperature, I'd constantly be worried. By keeping one area warm enough and the far reaches cooler, they can find their own comfort zone. My brooder is a 3' x 5', if that helps.

Good luck!

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have a built in brooder in my coop. I have a pic below but it is not a good pic. If you look to the far right of the pic, you will see a door that is latched closed. That coop has 2 individual built in brooders. The orange cord that you see at the top of the pic is for the heat lamp that I have in there. You can see one of the plastic wateres inside of the coop. I love my set up and I plan to build at least 2 more coops designed this same way with perhaps a few minor adjustments. In addition to this being used as a coop and a brooder, it is also used as a grow out pen. Once the babies in the brooder are a few weeks old, I lift the tops on the brooder and allow them to fly out in the coop and then they use the coop as their grow out pen. When they are old enough to go with the rest of the flock, I open the door and they fly out to meet their new friends.

I will try to take more pics of my coop/brooder/grow out pen if my turkey hen will let me. She is currently residing in the brooder pen on eggs and she will attack me if I go in. So, I don't want to disturb her but I will try.

 

[juliette2009]

Quote:
Great idea!

 

[speckledhen]

 

[kuntrygirl]

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Very nice!!!!

 

[Illia]

Geez guys - I've got a brooder in my coop but not one THAT awesome looking. Mine is bad enough that one of my new hens will hop into it and lay her eggs inside.

It scares the chicks because she's just about the biggest hen in the county, but, she's yet to ever harm them.



I need a handyman to build me something nice like those.

 

[juliette2009]

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Yeah, it certainly beats my plastic kiddie pool!

Juliette