Brooder Ideas

[p.james]

Any ideas for a brooder to house about 75-100 babies that will be raised strictly for meat purpose? Can the brooder/grow out be combined?

 

[Schroeder]

On my BYC page under the coturnix-quail tab you can see the simple brroder I made. I think you would want 2 or maybe three of this size to accommodate that many birds to 6 -8 weeks old. I had 33 in my brooder that did fine, but they started to squabble a bit toward the end.

 

[Valley quail breeder]

Here is a homemade Brooder i use on the floor and just use griprite and newspaper easy to clean up and move.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=356657

 

[_Randall_]

Here's mine. I've got it in the back utility/wash room. That's where I do the incubating, also. It's 29" deep x 60" long x 42" high. The housing itself is 18" tall. Has a split top...half 1/4" Lexan top (hinged), and half plywood top (hinged - with window center cut out for 1/2" hardware cloth top and brooder light (250 watt) shining through (on a thermostat - thermocouple 4" off of floor inside). Has 1/2" hardware cloth bottom (covered in newspaper with a layer of paper towel on top for the first week (or two....until their feet get big enough for the wire). Has a slide-out full coverage aluminum poop catch tray when the newspaper and paper towels go away.....layered in newspaper and sparse cat litter (to knock down the poop odor). Just sent 76 Bobs to the "big bird" pen that were brooded here for 3-1/2 weeks. The brooder was plenty big enough for them up to the day they went to "bigger" places. One of the pics shows 54 Bobs just hatched 2 days ago (Monday). They love it......I love it..............Took a few hours to put it together, but it's my brooder from now on for the future Bobs!