BROODER thread! Post pics of your brooders!

[wyllyschickens]

This was my brooder for the first week and a half...

My boyfriend hung the heat lamp from a bike stand he had (he is a cyclist) and it makes it really easy to regulate the temperature. So easy.

Now I have moved them into this... It was a "chick starter package" through my pet chicken. There were lots of cardboard sides so I can keep adding a side as they keep getting bigger. On the bottom, I open up a big trash bag, then put puppy pee pads down and then put shavings on top. Every day I try to pick out the poop I see and after 5 days or so, I just roll it all up. And do it again. So easy!

 

[B4chicks]

Here is a pic of our two brooders. They will most likely be re-purposed in the future as broody coops or rooster cages. Both are about 3' x 6' with the top one a bit over 2' tall and the bottom 3' tall. 21 RC RIR in top and 19 Buff Orps in bottom.
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They are out in our old milkhouse.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

Here's a brooder that was converted from an old dresser that wasn't wanted that I got for free. Took out the drawers and found there were thin particleboard dividers between each drawer, so I kept those as options in order to separate or section off parts of the brooder. The top is some hardware cloth I found laying around that miraculously fit just about perfectly. The bottom is lined with some plastic sheeting from an old roofing project, then a layer of pine shavings, and is designed so the chicks can be sectioned off while the other part is cleaned, then moved to the clean side so the dirty side can be changed. My dog likes it too because he couldn't see over the cardboard walls of the old brooder!

Its dimensions are approx 3 feet x 3 feet and 2 feet deep, and currently has my 3-week old 16 baby chicks, 15 "heavy meat bird variety" + 1 free mystery chick from McMurray.




Pretty simple brooder that so far is working pretty well.

 

[MyNameIs86]

i don't know but perhaps an old refridgerator would be good for a brooder box.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

i don't know but perhaps an old refridgerator would be good for a brooder box.

I think a fridge without the back or door put on a tarp and bedding would work great. I wouldn't see why not!

... on a separate note I changed the pine shavings to the pellets and it's a lot less trips out there to change shavings-filled water and food. And I won't have to worry about them eating it either.

 

[MyNameIs86]

I think a refridgerator would work as well but I'm not looking to build one at this moment. I was just thinking about them for other people who are looking to build.

 

[penella22]

After reading a few books and researching what makes a good brooder, I decided to go with a very large cardboard box. It was free, easy to set up and use, and could be discarded when we were done with it. Luckily I have a friend who works at Costco, so he got a watermelon box. The box is waist-high (close to 3 ft tall) and is probably 2 and a 1/2 ft wide, by 4ft long. This means the box is big enough that I don't have to mess with temperature regulation much, even while using the heat lamp. The chicks have plenty of room to stand close or far away from it, so I don't spend a lot of time fiddling with the heat lamp, which I like. The cardboard is probably 1/2 an inch thick, so chicks will not be able to peck their way through it. It didn't have a bottom, so we set the box up and taped it back together on top of a wooden pallet, then put another piece of cardboard down as the floor. First we put garbage bags over the wooden pallet to provide a little more insulation from our cold basement floor.



On top we have a borrowed 'screen.' Normally used to dry root crops like onions or sweet potatoes, it was temporarily repurposed to be the lid for our brooder.The lid is made out of 1/2 inch hardware cloth, and wood. It's fairly easy to move back a little ways to get access to the chicks or their food or waterer. We did have to put cardboard triangles on the corner to close off the gap where very feisty chicks could have gotten out.




The chicks are 2 weeks old now and I am very thankful to have such a big brooder for them. They certainly use the room, running around, flapping their wings at each other, and hopping up on top of their feeder or waterer.



The feeder and waterer are set up away from the heat of the heat lamp or ecobrooder. The basement is cold enough that we did end up needing a heat lamp at first, in addition to the ecobrooder. Now the chicks are fine with just the ecobrooder.



(Cora loves perching on it.)

I used paper towels the first few days so I could spread their food around, but have now switched over to pine shavings which are much easier.

I hadn't thought a lot about getting feeders and waterers in sizes appropriate to the number of chicks that I had, but both the waterer and the feeder could be bigger. I have to make sure I refill both twice a day, sometimes 3 times.



It's also nice having a big brooder that I can divide in half if I need to, to quarantine a sick chick. This is another reason why I have an ecobrooder...and also a heat lamp on hand. I saved the lids from a few jars to use as backup feeder and waterer.

In addition I had nutridrench on hand for pasty butt chicks that needed extra nutrition...hand sanitizer to keep near the brooder, and I ordered electrolytes from the hatchery.

Hope someone finds these pictures / or this post useful!

 

[3riverschick]

Hi penella22

This is really nice!

You should move it over to the Brooder sub gallery
in the Coops Gallery. Congrats on a fine job!

Best,
Karen in western PA

 

[penella22]

Thanks 3riverschick!!

Kinda new to the forums still, so I'll have to research how I would move it. Glad you like it!

 

[aart]

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In addition I had nutridrench on hand for pasty butt chicks that needed extra nutrition...hand sanitizer to keep near the brooder, and I ordered electrolytes from the hatchery.

Hope someone finds these pictures / or this post useful!

Nice setup, love the lid!!

Hand sanitizer doesn't really cut it for actually killing the possible organisms that chickens can carry that can make us sick,
best to use regular soap and lots of warm water, especially if you have kids.

Best of Luck, Have Fun!