Brooder set up, does this look right? Safe?

[tuckertori]

This is all great advice. My 3 thoughts are: it will be too small rather quickly, so have your next plan ready. be sure they have a spot to got to to get out of the heat. The towel is a good idea, just be sure it is far from the light. I would definitely get a thermomenter as it is easy to over heat and they are so sensitive when they first arrive! Enjoy.

 

[CitySilkies88]

Yes they will definately out grow it fast. My chicks will be 3 weeks old on Monday and the rabbit cage is proving too small. They are starting to pick on each other ect....So I went to the Uhaul store and bought two EXTRA LARGE boxes. I am going to attach them together to make an even bigger box. I am going to line the entire bottom with the rubber mat like I mentioned before. And then when they hit about 5 weeks I am going to move them into a large wire dog crate, and that should house them well until they are fully feathered and ready to go outside.

 

[KimKimWilliamso]

I have 4 chicks in a tupperware tote with hardware cloth covering a huge square we cut out of the lid. Initially, I just had the plastic lid resting at an angle at the top, but at 2 weeks they started climbing the feeders and perching on the edge of the tote, and I have dogs, so we cut a hole in the lid, added the hadware cloth and use that now.

When my 100 watt bulb became too hot for them, no matter how high I put it above the tote, it still heated them up pretty good, so I switched it to a 60 watt bulb, and that worked great, dropped the temp by ten degrees and gives them a lot of escape from the heat on the non lit side of the tote s it sits at a nice 65 degrees and they are now 4 weeks old I think.

My feeder and waterer MUSt be elevated as they do fill them with shavings every five seconds otherwise. But at four weeks, they have outgrown the tote, and tommorow we will build something similar to a whelping pen to house them, and I may shut the light off as its always about 70 deggres in the house.

 

[Mrs. Feathers]

I thought rabbit/hamster waterers didn't work with chickens! I am all for this plan if it's a tried and true since they won't get as much water in the bedding too... Plus I plan to get them on nipple waterers when they go into the coop.

My friend found a nipple waterer for her chicks like the big girl/boy one in mini form. I was not thinking of more chicks (silly me ....like I would not have more chicks) when she bought hers and when I went back to the store they are no longer carrying them...not sure why as they are great. One of these days I am going to switch my big girls to the nipple waterer because I must say that the #1 issue I have with chicken care is the stinkiness of wet bedding. If you keep things dry the poop is not an issue...as soon as it gets wet

 

[uc4tuna]

Second the idea of it being too small. My 4-day old chicks were already outgrowing the small rubbermaid bin I had them in, so I moved them to a large wire dog crate and they seem much more comfortable, zooming around the cage, lots of space to get away from the heat lamp so you don't have to worry so much about the actual temperature. CitySilkies' idea of getting extra large boxes sounds like a good one.

 

[aggiemae]

We got our six chicks today. I swear that you can literally watch them grow. One one of the RIR had tiny wing feathers this morning but now they are about 1/2 long and the vague fuzz on her back has changed to distance lines. The other RIR's was all fuzz this morning now look like the larger one did just 12 hours ago so you should probably have a bigger box with a cover ready to go!

Even thought I was told that a large rubbermaid bin would be big enough for up to ten chicks I had my doubts, and also, I though that even with the top off plastic would cause the air to get too damp. I used a kitchen cabinet I found (for free) the ReStore. It's 24"x 38" (six square feet) and pretty tall. I stapled wire over the top to allow for day light and ventilation. I lined the bottom with a piece of vinyl flooring. Then I ran a 1x1 down the center to hang the lamp from. I put a latch on the door to keep the chicks safe from our nasty kitty. In under hal and hour the chicks had a nice draft free coop. It did take a while to get the temperature right. At the recommended 95 degrees they where all sticking to the two far corners so I kept raising the lamp every 15 minutes. It's about 88 degrees in the hottest spot and the chicks are (relatively) quite, eating, drinking and scratching like mad. They are using the whole space. so I think it's good.

We added some branches for perching and hopping to the brooder. The chicks were going under them this morning but by this evening they are hopping onto them and sometimes right over them...like I said they grow FAST.

BTW there is a nipple you can put on a rodent feeder to make it work for chickens, but baby chicks seem to drink alot of water (ours went through about 32 ounces in the first 10 hours). I observed that they all seem to want to do the same thing at the same time so it seems like unless you have several of them a nipple feeder would make make them peck at each other.

I will post pictures tomorrow because I know that none of you have ever seen baby chicks as cute as these!

 

[aggiemae]

My feeder and waterer MUSt be elevated as they do fill them with shavings every five seconds otherwise. But at four weeks, they have outgrown the tote, and tommorow we will build something similar to a whelping pen to house them, and I may shut the light off as its always about 70 deggres in the house.

Someone suggested that I use an old towel instead of covering the whole floor with bedding. I did put two cups of those paper pellets on the side furthest from the food and water so the chicks have some entertainment, The waterer is staying clean, but even so, at the rate these girls are growing I will be to raising them off the floor pretty quick anyway.