BROODER thread! Post pics of your brooders!

[RoseMarie1]

Our sweet nephew brought us these two wooden shipping crates from where he works. The second one he brought us wasn't the same size as the first one. It was larger and deeper. They are screwed together so I just unscrewed it and we made one almost the same size as the other one so we could hook them together like this. The reason we did this is because we have 2 sets of chicks 2 weeks a part and couldn't put them together. This is what this one looks like with the metal wire in between the two brooder boxes. We screwed the two brooder boxes together. We cut out a hole in the other one on the same side so they could see each other. All of them are sleeping up against the wire mesh on both sides of the pen. lol The bottoms are solid plywood and I just put in some thick black plastic for the bottom and up the sides some to help with cleaning them. I taped them both well with gorilla masking tape.

 

[RoseMarie1]

now THAT is precious! I was trying to figure out something for mine a roost.

 

[chixrus2013]

Mine love their little roosts..actually..I just added a 3rd one today with a stick from outside. It's a little higher than the other two and they love it..they are jumping up to it and then sitting for a bit and then they kind of fly off. Not even a week old yet....soooo cute!!

 

[AmpersatChick]

We started out with the big rubbermiad bin brooder but for 11 girls at 2 weeks old it was looking cramped with all their shenanigans and wing flapping so we expanded. Since we are on no budget we went with a plastic dog kennel we already had, with the two halves taken apart, put end to end and tied together with 2 plastic bin lids and my husband's homemade chicken wire lid. Seems to work great!

 

[RoseMarie1]

We started out with the big rubbermiad bin brooder but for 11 girls at 2 weeks old it was looking cramped with all their shenanigans and wing flapping so we expanded. Since we are on no budget we went with a plastic dog kennel we already had, with the two halves taken apart, put end to end and tied together with 2 plastic bin lids and my husband's homemade chicken wire lid. Seems to work great!

I heard that, looks like it's working to me! They sure do grow mega fast that's for sure!!! It's blowing my mind how fast mine are growing! The RIR's are one week older than my black Aust. and they're twice the size of them.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Mine love their little roosts..actually..I just added a 3rd one today with a stick from outside. It's a little higher than the other two and they love it..they are jumping up to it and then sitting for a bit and then they kind of fly off. Not even a week old yet....soooo cute!!

I've GOT to fix mine a roost! ESPECIALLY the RIR's.

 

[AmpersatChick]

We added a short roost in our brooder a few days ago. They were so suspicious of it but now they LOVE it!

 

[RoseMarie1]

We added a short roost in our brooder a few days ago. They were so suspicious of it but now they LOVE it!

Well I went out there last night before I went to bed to check on them and there was 4 roosting ON their feeder so I said OK I get the hint! So this morning I made them a roost. The RIR's were on it before I could even get the thing screwed in place. lol But the black aust. and sex links aren't really using theirs yet. They've been up there but I haven't walked out and caught them.

 

[Trina Bambina]

I have an interior design book called, "Use What You Have Decorating". Inspired by all of your posts about making brooders from what you have in your garages and barns, my family built our new brooder today using stuff in the garage and shed, and moved our chicks into it. I used a box of 14" square grids that are normally used to build shelving such as you would use in a laundry room or a kids room. I used zip ties to hook everything together. I covered a big sheet of cardboard with black trash bags, and put it under the brooder. I added shavings inside. Then I added cardboard up sides a bit to create a draft free zone.

The chicks seem to love it! They are running and jumping, trying to get off the ground. They have even attempted a few jumps from the runway up to the loft.


Just moved them in, in this pic...they are checking it out.



Full view from the front. Loft is on the upper right. I need to get some sticks to add perches (I will zip tie those in too). I thought I could use the loft for smaller chicks, or use it as an older chick hang out.



Playing King and Queen of the Hill on the thermometer.



The front panel drops down, so I can get in there to change food/water, catch anyone that needs catching, etc. I started out with three squares hooked into one panel, but have cut loose the right panel, so I can just open it (into the loft), or just the left side. I can also lift the front section of the top back, so I can reach all the way into the brooder.

We also discovered that a few of the smaller chicks fit through the square holes, so we fixed it with cardboard so we don't have anyone going kamakazi...and we covered the black plastic in the loft (seemed like a good idea at the time, to cover the cardboard), with plain cardboard, because it was too reflective and the chicks were acting kinda crazy.




My wonderful helpers...minus my dear husband!

Thanks for all the great ideas!

 

[Bens-Hens]

That (^^) is a very cool brooder. I have a similar design where I can remove the ramp part when they are small, but when they want that bit more space I put it back in. I don't have the mesh partition in place. Mine seemed to love jumping up to the lip and back down, some used the ramp. I would hide premium feed treats on the top level for them to go find.

Great work.