BROODER thread! Post pics of your brooders!

[FarmerMack]

here is what I came up with. I used a 2.5x4 foot wooden crate that i found in my barn knock out the bottom and replaced it with some screening, put some chicken wire on the top to keep the cats out. The bubble wrap is there to hold in some heat as I'm to cheap to run the heat yet for people. LOL

Tweetie at after her flight in from Texas - 3 days old

Farmer Mack

 

[BantyChickMom]

Here's my new brooder I just built myself

It's 63in. X 27in. X 24in high.
It is divided in half by hardware cloth but can be easily
removed to make one big brooder.
I have 4 week old silkies on one side and 3 chicks (1 week old) from my first hatch last week on the other side.

I figured with this setup I could keep all my babies together in one area of the house.
They can also see each other, so maybe I can put them together when they get a little older without so much bickering.

 

[JudyMcKinn]

Just thought I would toss this in. Some of you have mentioned needing to keep raising your heat lamp so it isn't too hot. You can save electricity by just reducing the bulb size. I had worked down to a 40 watt bulb by the time mine were ready to leave the brooder - and this was last winter, in the garage. I keep a 250 watt heat bulb, a 100 watt, a 75 watt, a 60 watt, and a 40 watt bulb on hand, and adjust the heat in this way.
Here is my brooder. Each side lifts up--either the screened lid, or the solid one, so I can get to everything to clean it.

The extra bulb hanging on the outside was when it was warm enough in the spring,in the daytime, I turned it on and turned the inside one off, so they had some extra light, but not the heat.

 

[Flufnstuffs~FluffySilkies]

I made 3 of these. To attach the wire I drilled holes in the lid and used zip strips. $10

This is twice as big as the one in the Picture above it is a big x-mas tree tote $20

OUT DOOR BROODER
Its hard to see but I stapled on super thick clear plastic to keep the heat in.
If I did not have a hen to help care for these chicks I would
use 2 lights and 2 bulbs that way if one blows they will be OK
because they would still have one heat source.

 

[TerrasCritters]

I love everyones ideas on brooders.
I kept seeing some that I drooled over and wish I was able to build some like the ones I saw.

We used to use the dark totes for our brooders, and my husband made a wooden square frame that we put hardware cloth on that would fit over the top of the box. At the time I didnt think about cutting a hole out of the lid, why? Its a perfectly usable box after the chicks grow out of it!!! I am a pack rat...
Speaking of rats, we needed a top on it because we didnt want any unwanted critters to get ahold of our babies.

But then I saw something else, pretty much the same thing, but the top of the lid was cut out, and they used CLEAR boxes GREAT! My kids are getting HEAVY to pick up to show the chicks in the brooders.

So we buy the totes at about $9.00 USD and we make these, we are hatching more now so they are specificly bought for the birds and not storage for other things.

You can see pictures here at my website.
http://www.freewebs.com/terrascritters/xourbroodersx.htm

 

[allen wranch]

Terra,
I like your brooders. I use a similar setup. One of the things I did that you might think about is to put the screws that hold the hardware cloth pointing up instead of down into the brooder. I have seen some rambunctious chicks jump around in the brooder and nearly impale themselves on the screws.

 

[TerrasCritters]

We actually use a Nut Washer and Bolt system that does not leave any sharpness.

 

[earthnut]

Quote:
That's a great way to do it! Also, if you use flood lights, instead of standard light bulbs, they're also more efficient. I have a 40 watt PAR-shaped bulb in my brooder, that provides plenty of heat for 2 new chicks. I would have to use a 75 watt standard bulb to get the same heat. (plus it would overheat my plastic lamp...)

Here's my brooder, it's a clear tub with a desk lamp. The lamp was unsteady on the shavings, so I weighted it down with a package of CD's.

The room with the brooder. DH is away, so I'm sleeping with the chicks instead!

 

[LUVMYCHICKS]

earthnut

 

[tknjk]

Well I'm getting ready for spring. All I have to do is build my coop now. I got bored tonight, and decided to build a brooder. I had a bunch of scrap wood laying around, and this is what I came up with. The dimensions are 36" wide x 20" high x 22" back to front. I had some 8x10 glass left over from some picture framing I was doing at one time, so I incorporated it into the front to see in. I still need to build a lid, and get a lamp, but that easy. I plan on having 7 chicks in it the first time. Think they will fit??? Tell me what you think, and remember it was all scrapwood, and I didn't put my all into it basically because it's just a box. I do better work I promise. Also the drill is just to show size comparison.