Brooder box

[KylePaw]

Just wondering is this size is good right now for 7 chicks about 3-5 days old.

Obviously I’m going to move them to a bigger space as they grow.

Thanks!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Just wondering is this size is good right now for 7 chicks about 3-5 days old.

Obviously I’m going to move them to a bigger space as they grow.

Thanks!

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

The answer is no, they are too hot... see how they are crowded away from your light?

If you raise the heat, it may work for a few days. But that's WAY too crowded for any period of time.

Cuties!

 

[analyticalblonde]

No...it is already too small...

Baby chicks cannot regulate their temperature hence, the supplemental heat lamp. Too much heat can bring on pasty butt from being too hot (dehydration), a horrible and deadly killer of babies if not monitored DAILY!

I have 10 chicks that are two weeks old. I posted a few pictures of my brooder to provide an idea of the size brooder I have them in currently; it is about 5 ft long by a little less than 3 ft wide. I also taped up the sides with duck tape to add additional height to the brooder.

They are starting to do short bursts of flight and will probably be covering it with a screen that I have already prepared by next week (week 3).

I would recommend putting the waterer and food on the same side of the brooder and leave the other side of the brooder open for them to roam and sleep.

Finally, start early with introducing little roosting bars and a little dirt and grass clog (if they are older than two weeks) from your yard where they will eventually live. This helps with building their immunity and is fun for them to peck at and scratch. Be sure to give chick grit with anything that's not chick starter. Hope this helps!

 

[cmom]

Here it's the time of the year for watermelons. I have gotten a melon box. If you have a grocery store or a Walmart, they may give you a box. I put plastic in the bottom of the boxes with shavings on the plastic and use them as brooders.

 

[Karen Glatz]

If you have the room, another choice is to go to your local appliance store and ask for a refrigerator box. The top will be the bottom of your brooder since they usually pull the box off from the bottom up. You can cut it basically in half so it's only two or three feet high.

They are usually nice thick cardboard. You can use a box cutter to cut small holes in the sides to slip branches through so they can roost when they get older or just jump over and play. If you use a heat mat instead of a lamp, you can cut a small hole for the cord to exit the box.

Two foot high boxes allow you to reach in to the bottom, but you'll need some mesh, like plastic fencing or maybe chicken wire (I use plastic fencing, they can see it and don't even try to jump out). When they are a little over 2 weeks they will try to fly and can jump pretty high. The object is to get to the top of the cardboard, perch for a second, then jump down and escape.

3 foot walls make it hard to reach to the bottom (at least for me) to clean out the shavings or catch a peep.

I hear -- that it is less likely that you'll get pasty butt if you use a peeps heat mat instead of a lamp. Not as hot or dry - the temp of a broody bird. Also, the chicks are not 24 hours under light. Not eating 24 hrs per day. I had them in my bedroom and they woke up every hour all night when under the lamp. When I changed to a heat mat, they slept the whole night and were more awake during the day. The nice thing is that when peeps are not using it, it's good for a sick chicken or a arthritic cat or dog or - who knows, maybe a foot warmer on a cold night. They are only 25 watts and get to about 100 degrees. Much less expensive to run then a 250 watt bulb. You can make a little 3 wall coop out of a smallish box that will fit over the heat mat to keep the warmth in when they are very young.

This is a foam mattress shipping box (I don't have the space for a refrigerator box) it's 16x24" by 4 ft with the flaps taped upright. The light colored square at the far end is the heat mat with a cover on it. It's 9x12 inches and 6 to 8 chicks fit nicely on it. These chicks are 2.5 to 3 weeks.