Here's Megabrooder, a 4'x8'x2' brooder/grower made from 3 sheets of plywood, a bunch of 2x2 lumber, some 1x2's for the lids, a 1x4 for the center piece, and 3 rolls of 1/2" hardware cloth. I'm brooding 30 chicks in it right now with a divider in the middle to keep them at the warm end. I'll take that out and put in more bedding once they hit 4 weeks old or so. In the full setup I figure I could brood up to 75 or so chicks if I needed to until the 4 week mark.
Thankfully I already had most of the materials already sitting around out in my barn, so my out of pocket expense wasn't much.
Wow! You guys have some awesome brooders! I'm so glad I ran across this thread. Chicken owners are some of the most imaginative and ingenious people I know!
Here's my very simple setup. We cut a plastic barrel in half and we're using both halves for all the chicks we have. They won't be able to stay in them for long but they work great to begin with. We duct-taped a 1"X4" board to one of the barrels to raise the light up (to lower the temp) and it seems to be working pretty well.
These are my pullets (I hope...fingers crossed!)
These are the roos (with two Golden Comets pullets...the pullet barrel was too full)
I love some of your ideas! I don't have any perches in my brooder barrels but plan to get a couple in them tomorrow after seeing yours!
This is my first time to try posting a pic, hope it works . I have newspaper on the bottom now but I have bought a bag of pine chips to put in there right before I get my chicks. They are supposed to be shipped from Ideal on April 30. Seems like it will never get here.
A 36" tall dog x-pen lined with the cardboard brooder liner I got from McMurray a few years ago.
Right now they stay on the side with the heat lamp (250 watt), eventually they will move around more once they can tolerate cooler temperatures.
Nothing original but still a work in progress. Not sure how big to make the entrance to the feed area. Need to do a few more bits and then I will see if a 100W Red floodlight keeps it warm enough and I'll put a dimmer on it to reduce the heat. total cost, $3.50 for a light holder, $1 for the bulb, and what ever the wire mesh will cost. I found the wood on Craigslist so it's been a freebe pretty much
Oh the dimensions are just over 2ft x 2ft x 4ft. Hoping to raise 20 Buff Orpingtons before the hen house is built.
The brooder:
Four (soon to be six) 2' x 4' frames, covered in tileboard and hardware cloth, and just stuck together with some screws. I'm putting together some 2'x4' chicken wire lids to set on top. The bottom is just an old plastic tarp with about four inches of shavings on top, then 32 birds on that just for looks.
I figure these panels can be re-used in the coop to make exclusion pens, bachelor cages, or a brooder area if I need to.
I'll eventually post some details on construction, the chicken tractor that's almost finished, and the coop on our farm blog: http://wikkitgatefarm.blogspot.com
