Brooder Idea

[bcmama]

I don’t know if anyone would be interested but on our third time raising baby chicks we have finally found a brooder that seems to work. We have an extra bathroom in our house with a shower. We usually place our large dog crate in there but this time my son came up with a good idea. We got a cheep tarp at Harbour Freight and duck taped it to the sides of the shower. He also placed cardboard up to keep them in and used the handle to hold the light. It has given them the extra space and it is so easy to clean. Just an idea if anyone needed one.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yeah I did my first batch of chicks in a bathtub. Did long strips of paper towels instead of the tarp (but was still easy to pick it all up to toss).

That said, never brooding indoors again. Even "easy clean up" was too much clean up!

 

[Mamatomany123]

Yeah I did my first batch of chicks in a bathtub. Did long strips of paper towels instead of the tarp (but was still easy to pick it all up to toss).

That said, never brooding indoors again. Even "easy clean up" was too much clean up!

Yup. Just picked up my 2nd batch of chicks today. The brooder is part of the coop this time.

 

[fwyatt]

I don’t know if anyone would be interested but on our third time raising baby chicks we have finally found a brooder that seems to work. We have an extra bathroom in our house with a shower. We usually place our large dog crate in there but this time my son came up with a good idea. We got a cheep tarp at Harbour Freight and duck taped it to the sides of the shower. He also placed cardboard up to keep them in and used the handle to hold the light. It has given them the extra space and it is so easy to clean. Just an idea if anyone needed one.

We have watched multiple YouTube videos on chicks/chickens and one really impressed us. We got a huge watermelon cardboard crate from the grocery store, used drop cloth in the bottom, and used duck tape to secure it a couple of inches from the bottom. Covered the small holes on walls with duck tape (on the inside so sticky is to the outside). Put paper towel in the bottom and the shavings over the top Our 7 girls are happy and content! *Had them in a 60 gallon tote until 2 weeks then moved them to crate* we also used the an aluminum baking pan and put it deep in the shavings. Put cooling each over the top for water to go on, this way any water spilt inside is caught in the aluminum pans and don't mess up shavings, box, ECT..

 

[rosemarythyme]

We got a huge watermelon cardboard crate from the grocery store, used drop cloth in the bottom, and used duck tape to secure it a couple of inches from the bottom.

That's a really nice way to set up a cardboard box brooder, good job!

 

[FoxySonia]

I don’t know if anyone would be interested but on our third time raising baby chicks we have finally found a brooder that seems to work. We have an extra bathroom in our house with a shower. We usually place our large dog crate in there but this time my son came up with a good idea. We got a cheep tarp at Harbour Freight and duck taped it to the sides of the shower. He also placed cardboard up to keep them in and used the handle to hold the light. It has given them the extra space and it is so easy to clean. Just an idea if anyone needed one.

I did the same thing, but in a tent, taped a tarp in Hope's that the tent will remain in usable condition after being used for a brooder this Spring and Summer. Since I'm starting with 54 bantam chicks and getting more chicks next month, I wanted a larger space for them and this was the cheapest option for me. I got an 8' x 8' tent, covered the floor and part of the sides with a tarp, using stiff poster boards I sectioned off 5' x 5' space for the chicks to start with, once they've grown enough will remove that so they'll have the whole 8' x 8' space until they can be moved to outdoor coop. The 5 days I had the chicks they lived in a rabbit cage, but with the 16" x 24" brooder heat plate, waterer and feeder, they barely had any space to move. I used 2 hanging heat lamps to help keep them warm in the tent when they are out eating and drinking, but they were so comfortable that they stopped going under the brooder heat plate, so I removed one of the heat lamps, and now most sleep under the brooder heat plate, though they spend a lot of time out eating, drinking and exploring.