Black_cat's Brooder Thread! Come see my brooder ideas/plans/questions.

[black_cat]

After thinking long and hard on what to use for a brooder, I"ve settled on this thing:

From Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/ESK-Collecti...rds=puppy+playpen&qid=1598968665&sr=8-12&th=1
It's four feet across and 2 feet high. I'll be housing 3 standard chicks and 2 bantam chicks, then 2 standard chicks and 1 bantam chick. It will be in my room on top of a tarp. The chicks will be in my room for lack of a better location-basement and garage have no temperature control and get wildly hot and cold, no extra bathrooms or rooms, and I'm the chicken person in the family so I"m making the sacrifice. I thought that this thing would be good because it is well ventilated, covered, I can grab the chicks from their level without swooping in like a hawk, and it seems pretty cat proof. Other cat proofing methods will include: Pet gate at the bottom of the stairs. He's never gotten past this before. Pet gate in front of my room. Closed door to my room should work very well as a wall. Metal playpen around brooder. The final defense: the brooder its self, which will be fully zipped. The cat also won't know the chicks are there, so he won't drive himself nuts trying to get to them.

 

[black_cat]

Heating:

I'll be using the EcoGlow Safety 600 chick brooder. I don't want fires and chicks peeping at all hours of the night. Should I start with one side slightly higher than the other to give them an option of more or less heat? I'm buying a thermometer to measure the temp under the heat plate.

 

[black_cat]

I think that I'm going to use cardboard to wall off half the brooder for the first few days, to make sure that they won't wander too far away from the heat.

 

[black_cat]

For the first 2 or so days I will be using paper towels as bedding, so that they know their food. On the 3rd day I'll put pine shavings in and offer chick grit. I'll then move the cardboard for a larger brooder.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

This should work. What will you use on the bottom? I would use puppy pads at least in the beginning, I think.

 

[black_cat]

This should work. What will you use on the bottom? I would use puppy pads at least in the beginning, I think.

I was going to just use shavings for most of the time. Should I put puppy pads under the shavings to protect the bottom?

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

This should work. What will you use on the bottom? I would use puppy pads at least in the beginning, I think.

Oh, sorry, I didn’t see your last two posts before I asked that. Paper towels are good. I’ve used them with success.

 

[RubelliteRose]

The puppy pads are a good idea for the first couple of weeks. Our main problem in the brooder was spilled water both from one chick who liked to play in it and one who liked to knock it over...daily. The puppy pads really absorbed the water so I didn't have to clean the whole brooder after every spill. I really liked the ones from Dollar Tree.

 

[black_cat]

The puppy pads are a good idea for the first couple of weeks. Our main problem in the brooder was spilled water both from one chick who liked to play in it and one who liked to knock it over...daily. The puppy pads really absorbed the water so I didn't have to clean the whole brooder after every spill. I really liked the ones from Dollar Tree.

I was thinking that I'd have food and water on bricks to keep them steady....maybe with some velcro sticking them to the bricks as chicks get older/stronger? The bricks will be on the bottom of the brooder with the shavings built up around them.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

Oh, sorry, I didn’t see your last two posts before I asked that. Paper towels are good. I’ve used them with success.

I was going to just use shavings for most of the time. Should I put puppy pads under the shavings to protect the bottom?

What I used this last time was puppy pads for the first week or so. Then I put pine chips on top of puppy pads. Paper towels work just as well this way.
Either one makes cleaning easier, you just roll it all up and then put clean ones in.