BROODER THREAD! Pictures of your brooder!

[PetalAndPlume]

BROODER THREAD!

I'm interested in gleaning tips and ideas from other poultry owners on how you all set up your brooders, and what you use. Post some pictures of your brooders! I'd appreciate any advice that you all can give.

 

[DobieLover]

This is my go to incubator/brooder.

She does her thing in the built-in maternity ward which can also be used as a brooder to raise chicks.
This is looking at it from the storage room side. This is how I clean it.

I use a brooder plate with a towel thrown over the top to keep the chicks warm and reduce fire risk.

I hang a baby bottle to keep the bedding dry and the water clean. I just raise it up link by link as the chicks grow.

The brooder is visible to the adult flock. This is their view of the brooder.

When the chicks are small, they are feed fermented chick mash from a tray.

I switch them over to a suspended trough as they get bigger.

The brooder has it's own 8'x4' covered run.

There are two chick size doors that are opened when the chicks are about 3.5-4 weeks old.

This permits them to be out in the coop but they can escape back into the brooder if they want/need to.

 

[sdm111]

 

[PetalAndPlume]

This is my go to incubator/brooder.View attachment 3446184
She does her thing in the built-in maternity ward which can also be used as a brooder to raise chicks.
This is looking at it from the storage room side. This is how I clean it.
View attachment 3446189
I use a brooder plate with a towel thrown over the top to keep the chicks warm and reduce fire risk.
View attachment 3446187
I hang a baby bottle to keep the bedding dry and the water clean. I just raise it up link by link as the chicks grow.
View attachment 3446186
The brooder is visible to the adult flock. This is their view of the brooder.
View attachment 3446191

When the chicks are small, they are feed fermented chick mash from a tray.
View attachment 3446185
I switch them over to a suspended trough as they get bigger.
View attachment 3446192
The brooder has it's own 8'x4' covered run.
View attachment 3446190
View attachment 3446213
View attachment 3446203
There are two chick size doors that are opened when the chicks are about 3.5-4 weeks old.
View attachment 3446209
View attachment 3446194
This permits them to be out in the coop but they can escape back into the brooder if they want/need to.
View attachment 3446212

Thank you SO much for all of the information and tips! I appreciate it. I'm definitely going to be using these next time!!

 

[Captain13]

Here’s my large brooder. I moved the chicks in this afternoon after turning on the Mama Heater, adding bedding, watered and adding feed to the feeder. Also, I built a shelf to go over the Mama Heater because they really liked sitting on top of the small brooder heat plate. The shelf stays warm so they like to sit on it. It’s protected with Press and Seal so I can change it daily when I freshen the brooder. i just checked on the chicks and they are under the Mama Heater sound asleep. They like the size of this brooder.

If you can’t tell from the pic, the brooder is a repurposed $20 baby crib I found on Facebook Marketplace. I put double doors on top and lined the walls with cardboard. There is chicken wire on the outside so that I can remove the cardboard as the weather gets warmer.

 

[rosemarythyme]

My outdoor brooder

Entire article here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/short-on-time-recycle-a-prefab-brooder.73985/

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Oh bummer, I was hoping this thread had a lot more brooder set up pictures and stories. As per my MO, I'm moding my brooder room and looking for ideas. I have a up/down situation where it's more convenient when they're tiny to put screens up top to keep them from falling. Then I remove the screens at about 5 weeks so they can go up, down and outside to a little run.

 

[Sally PB]

For a brooder that can be used for other things, an XL dog crate is great. I use mine as a safe place to harden off garden starts. Easy to clean up, folds flat for the next use.

You need to line it with cardboard so that they can't escape through the bars when they're tiny. For this batch, I taped feed bags over the cardboard, white side out, to make it lighter, as they were in a darker corner. And yes, I colored little dots with marker to "decorate" it.

 

[DobieLover]

You need to line it with cardboard so that they can't escape through the bars when they're tiny.

Or wrap it in chicken wire.

 

[Sally PB]

Or wrap it in chicken wire.

Yes! That would work too, and the chicks could see out more/better. The cardboard did help to contain the dust.