Brooder System?

[Little Red Birds]

Hello! My friend and I have decided to order some hatching eggs from Myshire Farms! However, I at least am going to need a better brooder system because the Midwest is bipolar. So the hatched out chicks would be staying in the house. I have two cats (one never goes near any birds EVER) and a small dog. Anyone wanna share what the have??

 

[Nabiki]

I used to use a 30 gallon aquarium, but that was a bit too small, so I sawed a hole in the lid of an old storage bin and covered in with hardware cloth. It has latches, so the cats don't have quail mcnuggets for breakfast. It's also much lighter than the aquarium, so it's easier to clean.

 

[le_bwah]

I chained plastic bins together with tape and tunnels made of the bodies of plastic pitchers. Made cleaning out each bin less of a hassle since I never had to manually move the chicks, just shooed them from one section to another. Young chicks have trouble using the tunnels if there's an incline (shelf liner fixed that issue).

As long as the lids and tunnels can be secured (and potentially support the weight of a curious critter), cats aren't an issue. Dog might be another story.

Loved using a heating plate (most I've ever tried on it were around 30 Coturnix). I recommend using stall pellets as a brooding substrate—really keeps the smell and dust to a minimum.

 

[mdees88]

This is what I made and they work very well.....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/diy-storage-tote-quail-chick-brooder.1247747/
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