Brooder for 3 4-wk old bantams?

[BlazeJester]

Ok... Doing my best to get my hands on three 4-week old bantams. I have no experience with bantams and have no idea how much space I'll need. I of course want as much as possible since it's wintertime and the kids will live in the house (I swore never again... but chicken math caught up to me!).

How much space am I going to need for three bantam kids for the next month? I'll be traveling for christmas so will hopefully get my hands on as large of a wire dog crate as I can find. Will this be sufficient for housing them until they get their big kid feathers? I have a Ware chick'n hutch for them to hang out in outside once they get their feathers until they get familiar with the big girls.

I just don't know if there are different space requirements for bantams.

 

[dianaross77]

I used a Christmas tree tote (50gal) for my bantam chicks. The top is OSB with wire shelving cubes. When they got bigger I made a "loft" with the shelving and added a perch for them.

edited to include pic of the loft

 

[mommto3kiddos]

I kept my 6 full size chicks and broody in a Xlarge hardshell dog crate for 7 weeks and they did fine!! The hard shell sides were AWESOME at keeping the shavings in & since it "popped" in half made it nice for cleaning!!