Brooder in shed outside?

[Quyen Le]

With 5 or 6, 40w is good enough at 15-30 celcius degree

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sectioning off an area with cardboard for a few days is a pretty good idea but don't leave it like that too long. How long depends on how you set it up, but it doesn't take all that long before they can fly really well. You don't want one flying out then not be able to get back to the heat. I've seen two week olds perform some amazing flying tricks.

I have a permanent 3' x 6' brooder built into my coop. I heat one end of that and let the rest cool down as it will. The coop itself provides pretty decent draft protection but I also have a draft guard around the brooder to keep breezes off them when the pop door to the coop is open. It's well ventilated so the far reaches of the brooder can get pretty cool, but they always have that warm area to go back to. I don't keep a thermometer in there so I don't know how cold it actually gets but the air temperature outside has been well below 10 Celcius. I'd have no concerns with them in there with the outside tempreature below freezing.

I put them straight from the incubator into this brooder. Some are more adventurist than others but most usually stay pretty close to the heat for maybe 3 days. After that, they are playing all over that brooder, just going back to the heat occasionally. They do tend to sleep in a group near the heat.

As long as that building has good draft protection and you can keep one area warm, it should work fine. Just be careful not to start a fire.

You don't have to keep the enttire area warm. You just need to keep one area warm enough. It doesn't even matter if that warm area is too warm as long as the rest can cool off. They will find their comfort zone to sleep. Their daytime comfort zone will be all over that building.

And it doesn't matter if you have a few or a lot. The more you have the more they can keep each other warm, but as long as you can keep one area warm enough and the rest cooler, they will be OK. The higher numbers are just a little insurance in case of power failure.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I agree with Ridgerunner.

I brood outdoors in a small coop. My chicks go from the incubator to this coop. The only issue I've ever had was when the heat lamp (I don't use 250 watt, I use 150 and 100 watt lamps) blew out. Luckily, I check on it every night (can see the red glow from my bedroom) so I found it before it became a problem for the chicks.

This is my coop for brooding, and I had day old chicks in here at the time this picture was taken.

 

[Quyen Le]

I use 6 small lamps so if 1 blew out, I still have 5. In your case, 2 is enough.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I use 6 small lamps so if 1 blew out, I still have 5. In your case, 2 is enough.

I now brood with an Ecoglow, so if the small wattage light burns out, they still have heat.

 

[ChickenGirl 19]

Thank you all for the suggestions! I will probably have a heat lamp, and a low wattage (25? With wire around it of course) somewhere in case the heat lamp burns out.

 

[Ashburnham]

Ceramic heat lamps are more reliable- I have one globe that I bought 22 years ago that is still going strong.
For the first week I use a bathroom heat lamp wired through a dimmer switch
that gives very accurate heat control.

 

[ChickenGirl 19]

Would this: http://mrpets.ca/Products/Product.aspx?ID=6684&&categoryid=5 and this: http://mrpets.ca/Products/Product.aspx?ID=6687&&categoryid=5 work well?

We'd probably buy them at the other feed store near us. (I think it's cheaper there)

 

[Happy Chooks]

Ceramic heat lamps are more reliable- I have one globe that I bought 22 years ago that is still going strong.
For the first week I use a bathroom heat lamp wired through a dimmer switch
that gives very accurate heat control.

I agree.

My coop doesn't have any windows or light of any kind, so I need the light more than I need the heat.

 

[Coop de Grille]

Probably five or six chicks. (Unless the little faces get to us...)

Don't underestimate chicken math My husband agreed to getting four chicks, at last count I have 51.