BROODER thread! Post pics of your brooders!

[aart]

It may be on the small side (2' by 2.5') because I didn't expect to get a 75% hatch rate my first time out!

They won't fit in there for long....is the coop ready to go?
Check your heat on the floor of brooder, it doesn't look like they can get away from it to regulate. Over-heating is one of the most common chicks raising issues.

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:

They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
-If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
-If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
-If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. If you do use a heat bulb make sure it's specifically for poultry, some heat bulbs for food have teflon coatings that can kill birds. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.


Or you could go with a heat plate, commercially made or DIY: http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate

 

[RaineyTN]

I use this big plastic stock tank thing my neighbor gave me it’s pretty big weighs close to 100 pounds.

 

[aart]

it’s pretty big

Looks good.
How big is it....gonna guess 3' x 6' x 2' deep??

 

[RaineyTN]

Looks good.
How big is it....gonna guess 3' x 6' x 2' deep??

Hah I’m goin to measure it when I get home because I think your pretty dang close

 

[RaineyTN]

3.5 x 6.5 x 2 pretty good guess

 

[aart]

3.5 x 6.5 x 2 pretty good guess

Thanks for measuring, good size for a brooder.
Most those lights are 10-12", I used that for 'scale'.
Designing equipment for a couple decades gave me a pretty good eye.

 

[RubenRO]

This is ours. Is the fact that three of the chicks are huddling in the corner a sign the lamp is too close? The whole day they were using the whole brooder. The temperature is 35 degrees celsius (95) (on the digital meter seen behind the lamp)

 

[aart]

This is ours. Is the fact that three of the chicks are huddling in the corner a sign the lamp is too close? The whole day they were using the whole brooder. The temperature is 35 degrees celsius (95) (on the digital meter seen behind the lamp)

View attachment 2050738

COuld ver y well be so @RubenRO

Is that a full on 250W heat lamp?
If so, it's way too big for that tiny tote.
They are going to grow out of that tote very quickly.

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:

They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
-If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
-If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
-If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. If you do use a heat bulb make sure it's specifically for poultry, some heat bulbs for food have teflon coatings that can kill birds. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.

 

[RubenRO]

Thanks a lot for the information! I'm still new to this.

They are using all the space in the brooder, but in fact i just moved the lamp higher. I moved the thermometer on the bottom under de lamp and it was reaching 40 degrees (104F), so that surprised me. Now with moving the lamp higher it's dropping slowly the temperature now. I will keep an eye on it before I go to bed.

The chicks seems to do fine, they are eating and drinking, moving around, sleeping, more moving around, drinking.

I know the brooder is small 60cmx30cm. By the end of the weekI will make a bigger one from scrapwood that's left from the build of the chicken coop for them.

 

[aart]

I moved the thermometer on the bottom under de lamp and it was reaching 40 degrees (104F), so that surprised me. Now with moving the lamp higher it's dropping slowly the temperature now. I will keep an eye on it before I go to bed.

Also measure the temp at the other end of tote.
Have the lamp closer to one end of tote and move the feeder to the cooler end of tote.