Anyone successfully made a portable brooder-coop?

[rosemarythyme]

Define "portable" - I mean I drag mine all over the run but it's not technically portable like with wheels or anything. It's just light enough for me to pick up one end and drag it, or lift and carry with 2 people.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/short-on-time-recycle-a-prefab-brooder.73985/

 

[Say-ruh]

Define "portable" - I mean I drag mine all over the run but it's not technically portable like with wheels or anything. It's just light enough for me to pick up one end and drag it, or lift and carry with 2 people.

I was thinking of putting wheels on mine but not sure yet. If the design is big enough for a brooder but still lightweight enough to carry that would be good too

 

[Egg Snatcher]

You could make them a small chicken tractor and or coop. I use the grander fencing from Lowes. I stack the fence up with fence post.

 

[aart]

I was thinking of making one soon for my next batch of babies in the spring. I’d like to get them on grass as soon as possible but also be able to keep them close by an electric outlet for their heater (or hot plate). Then when it’s time to introduce them to the older girls, I can let them forage in their portable brooder next to the main coop. Has anyone done this & if so, how well did it work? TIA!

One of those tiny prefab coops would make and excellent brooder coop.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I was thinking of putting wheels on mine but not sure yet. If the design is big enough for a brooder but still lightweight enough to carry that would be good too

Mine's probably 30 lbs or so? My original plan was to remove it from the run when it wasn't in use, but now I just leave it in with the chickens full time and have it serving double duty as a rain shelter during storms.

 

[moonsafari]

I just used a small animal cage (a pretty big one) with a DIY mama heating pad that I just put in the coop. When I took them outside, I just took off the cage bottom and plunked it on the grass. In this pic, it's lined with bird netting because they are bantams, and when I got them as day olds, they could squeeze through the bars!
View attachment 2288032

Is that a silkie I see

 

[Aunt Angus]

Is that a silkie I see

Yeppers! 2 of them, actually! The white chick is a splash, and in the back you can kinda see a black one! Here they are now:

Dandelion

Violet

 

[moonsafari]

Yeppers! 2 of them, actually! The white chick is a splash, and in the back you can kinda see a black one! Here they are now:

Dandelion
View attachment 2289076

Violet
View attachment 2289092

Beautiful birds you have there. May I ask how old are they in the pictures, and which hatchery or breeder you got them from?

 

[Buckeye Amy]

My brooder coop saved my chicks’ lives this morning. A red tail hawk tried to find an easy breakfast. Hawk: 0 humans: 1