big chick brooder and little chick brooder??

[snazzyboots]

so i'm curious. how many of you have made two brooders? one for the newly hatched to be in and one for the ones that have been out for a day or two before the new babies. i found that mine that hatched were so much stronger than the ones that hatched on saturday that i needed to separate them at least til they got stronger. i now have 7 in the big chick brooder and 3 in the little chick brooder. anyone else???

 

[faykokoWV]

I usually toss them in together if they are within a week of each other. Depends on the breed and how many are in the brooder though. If there is more than a week difference I use a separate brooder. I didn't actually make them though, they are just big storage bins - I have four of them and have used as many as three at any one time. I also have an outdoor brooder for the chicks that are feathered out but not quite ready to go in with the big girls.

 

[N&MSchroeder]

I haven't hatched mine, but I definitely keep more than one brooder going. My husband built a larger wooden brooder (Juvi Hall)

for the 3 week olds to move into. They grew out of their plastic container really fast. This system has worked really well for me, but I somehow just keep filling the smaller brooder up with chicks!

 

[secuono]

I keep tossing them all together until the original chicks are 2+ weeks old. Though, new banty chicks with standard chicks, I usually go it by size.

 

[snazzyboots]

i had heard that if there was only a small difference in age like a day or few it didn't matter and they would be fine but mine were tromping on the little ones and one was dead this morning so i thought it better to separate til the little ones are stronger

 

[faykokoWV]

the problem might not be age difference but brooder size.

 

[andalusn]

We built a brooder that's 8 feet in length and 3 feet wide. It stays in the barn since I have the room. It has a wood framed wire divider in the middle so I can run two groups if I need to or take it out when they are bigger and let them run together depending upon age/size. The top is 2 wood framed, chicken wire covered doors so to speak. Depending upon what's hatching in the incubator I might use the largest plastic storage bin and keep it in my garage or take it out to the barn depending upon the weather. Then move them to the bigger brooder box.

 

[snazzyboots]

Quote:
it's possible. it isn't very small but i will def need a bigger one when they get bigger