I built this brooder from a packing crate from work. It measures 48"x 60" and houses 21 2 week old chicks right now. I used 24" poultry wire for the sides and put linoleum tiles on top of the skid for easy clean up under the shavings.
Hi everyone. This is my first attempt to post pictures. I got five lovely Welsummer chicks that are now two and a half weeks old and just getting that "ungainly" look. I am amazed at how fast they are growing and how much fun they are to watch.
I intentionally picked one runt, and named her Lillian after my Mother-In-Law. Lillian is so far the only named one. I generally wait until an animal develops a personality before I name them! Lillian is the smallest but bravest chick -- usually the first to try anything new.
Here is my brooder from the outside -- It's a Rubbermaid with a roost that's secured with screws from the outside into the ends of the stick (my wonderful husband Cliff's idea).
One of the very best things I did was to switch from a regular waterer to a nipple waterer. It looks sort of rough (it's a used drinkable yougurt bottle) but the bottle was small enough to fit into the brooder. No more shavings in the trough! I can fill it up with ice cubes and they love that the water is so cold. It is slower for them to drink and of course all 5 want to drink at once, but it gives them something to occupy themselves with as well as being very convenient and oh so much cleaner! I got a kit from Avian Water Miser (am sure I found a link from BYC).
I quickly discovered that my Welsumer girls did not like as much heat as the usual directions advise. My breeder, Will Morrow, had advised me to watch their behavior, and let them guide me. After the first week when I saw them uncomfortable even with the ceramic disk raised more than a foot above the brooder (which is about 1.5 feet deep), I dc'd it and started using electrified plastic sheets that are designed to put under seed flats. They keep the inside brooder temp in the mid-70's, probably a bit warmer at the bottom. I have one area with no heat under it so they can get to a cooler area if they want to. They are happy as clams!
Bare with me, I'm attempting to post my first pics of my first brooder. I started out with the 10 chicks in the bunny cage. Roofus keeping a watch out.
Then 4 days later I moved them to a 169 gal galvanized stock tank so they had more room and two heat lamps in case one burned out.