Brooder requirements?

[AnimalFriend<3]

How big should my brooder be for three chicks? Would a plastic tub work or should I build something fancier?

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Welcome to BYC. I just started with chickens over the summer and the people of BYC have been very very helpful. Feel free to drop by my BYC page which has my informative or amusing blog links.

I have seen pics by others here that used clear plastic storage tubs with hardware cloth over the top. One member, who has a regular system for doing this, even cut half the top out for hardware cloth so the other half would help retain heat better.

The usual rules of brooding apply. Make sure the chicks can get close enough to the heat to be warm and far enough away for comfort. They will need room for food, water, and walking around. Make sure the sides are high enough and the floor space is big enough for the final size they will attain before you evict them.

 

[Gypsy07]

You can start off small and move them to a bigger brooder once they grow a bit. I built a 4'x2' brooder, but with new chicks I always partition it off so that they only ahve access to about a third of it for the first week or so...

 

[AnimalFriend<3]

Thanks for the help! Everyone has been so nice and helpful!

 

[Petej]

Jeez.... I must have the mother of all home brooders!

A new (read: Corrected) Video:



I corrected some issues regarding feed that I had stated in the first one.....

Edited for change out of video....

 

[colby318]

A plastic tub from Walmart works just fine. When the chicks start flying in a couple of weeks you'll have to make a wire cover. DH makes me a light wood frame with chicken wire stapled to it. My heat lamp is attached to a cheap/ small dog chain hooked to the beam in the basement ceiling so I can raise and lower the lamp as needed for heat. I never use paper for chicks since they can slip and become spraddle legged.

 

[Petej]

After week, you can use paper sheets. You can use shredded paper for newly hatched chicks. It compacts down into a firm surface.

What works even better for new hatched, is the rubber shelf liner. It's soft so it gives, but it's also grippy so they don't get spraddle legs. Easy to clean too!

 

[nwfl]

I have used the antislip rubber shelf liner too. Cut two sheets to fit so that you can have a clean piece ready. I use them in my animal carriers for transporting older birds too. I use modified wire animal crates for brooding which works well until chicks can go into outside coop brooder. I like to keep them closer until they learn a bit. Some breeds catch on quicker - my brahmas began roosting at 3 days EE over a week.