BROODER thread! Post pics of your brooders!

[Elginchickens]

this is my brooder box...they go in there 3 days after hatching.

 

[Elginchickens]

I'll have to get pics of the inside later on today...and there is ventilation a 6in x 24in window on the other side ...I'll show that later to...plus I'll get a pic of my baby's in there..there's 7 black breasted old English bantys , 6 barred rocks...2 Rhode island reds...1 Dominique, 1 black australorp, and 1 black sex link..plus I just hatched out 7 black sex links last night that will be going in there shortly...

 

[Blooie]

So sorry to hear about your grandchild. I know that she is an extra special gift to you and your family! But your post has me freaking out a little. I have my brooder in the living room. I only have 2, 3 week old chicks right now and dust has not been bad at all. But I have 12 eggs going into lockdown tomorrow. They are all silkies, incase breed makes a difference. So I have a couple questions, because I too have a baby & young children.
1) you were concerned about the lighting. Does it make the dust worse or is there another concern? (I am seriously considering the mama heating pad for this next batch)
2) if you keep the chicks outside, do they still bond to you? Because my little guys are so friendly, they run to me!
3) why is it so bad to breath the dust particles that are in the air?
Thank you for responding if you have time!!

Hi, I think I can answer your questions. 1) ALL chicks have dust (including quails, turkeys etc.) and if you keep them inside it gets everywhere. 2) Most chicks will bond to you because you are the food provider and give them affection. When you appear, there they will come running. 3) Dust particles in the air enter into your respiratory tract and can cause severe breathing difficulties.

Oh, dear. I missed this question and I am normally much more prompt than this. I do apologize. The granddaughter that we raised came home this week with her new hubby and I've been just a tad distracted - reading and posting as I could. Somehow this post slipped under my radar, although I do remember reading it and thinking I'll get right back to it. I thank you, @ValedasLascas
for answering.

I would only add that I am not a "chickens on the lap and shoulders" kind of person. I want to be able to handle them if I need to so I can check health issues, etc, but don't want to trip over chickens as I do my chores out there, or have them flying at my face to hitch a ride on my shoulder. So that bonding you refer to isn't high on my list of priorities. They are glad to see me coming if I have the food bucket or scrap pail. And I can work freely without fear of getting pecked or having them cower in the corner. They go about their business and I go about mine. Now, a good friend on here, @azygous is using Mama Heating Pad and isn't having any difficulty with her chicks bonding strongly to her. So it totally depends on how much time you are willing to spend with them, keeping them calm and letting them come to you. Trust is a two way street....

 

[lnhackford]

Just wanted to add one more thing here about the dust since there have been more questions about it. From looking into it further, it seems that the people that have the most trouble with getting ill from the dust are people that already have respiratory problems. I am lucky in that department and haven't had any issues. I know that "poop particles" can also get in the air, but keeping things clean and ventilated is what I believe is working for me. People keep parrots inside all the time, and the parrots that have "powder down" like cockatoos and African Greys can produce more dust than chickens. I also do not have a lot of chickens like some people I've read who have 40 chicks and dust EVERYWHERE. I really like the swifter dusters to help with hidden dust that I can't see. And my coop will be finished very very soon, so I won't have to keep cleaning extensively every day anymore! I probably would brood outside or in a garage if possible, but that's just not an option for me right now. When I can get my own home and am able to have more chickens, I hope to be able to do it differently, but in the meantime, I'm healthy, my family is, and my chickies are too . And thank goodness I don't have to keep them inside for ever like a parrot haha ...even though I would love to have one.

As for the heat lamp thing, I'm not necessarily big on them either, but as a first timer , I am in the experimenting process and I wasn't lucky enough to know about byc and see about the mama heating pad which is a fantastic idea. If I end up with more chicks in my lifetime, that will probably be my preferred method. My chicks probably wouldn't need the heat lamp anymore if it weren't for my desire to keep my house like an ice box...I like it cold and aired out, and I know my chicks don't enjoy that, so the heat lamp keeps them at 70 degrees.

 

[RubyNala97]

Just wanted to add one more thing here about the dust since there have been more questions about it. From looking into it further, it seems that the people that have the most trouble with getting ill from the dust are people that already have respiratory problems. I am lucky in that department and haven't had any issues. I know that "poop particles" can also get in the air, but keeping things clean and ventilated is what I believe is working for me. People keep parrots inside all the time, and the parrots that have "powder down" like cockatoos and African Greys can produce more dust than chickens. I also do not have a lot of chickens like some people I've read who have 40 chicks and dust EVERYWHERE. I really like the swifter dusters to help with hidden dust that I can't see. And my coop will be finished very very soon, so I won't have to keep cleaning extensively every day anymore! I probably would brood outside or in a garage if possible, but that's just not an option for me right now. When I can get my own home and am able to have more chickens, I hope to be able to do it differently, but in the meantime, I'm healthy, my family is, and my chickies are too . And thank goodness I don't have to keep them inside for ever like a parrot haha ...even though I would love to have one.

As for the heat lamp thing, I'm not necessarily big on them either, but as a first timer , I am in the experimenting process and I wasn't lucky enough to know about byc and see about the mama heating pad which is a fantastic idea. If I end up with more chicks in my lifetime, that will probably be my preferred method. My chicks probably wouldn't need the heat lamp anymore if it weren't for my desire to keep my house like an ice box...I like it cold and aired out, and I know my chicks don't enjoy that, so the heat lamp keeps them at 70 degrees.

That's a good point about the parrots. I didn't think of that. I grew up having African Greys & Macaws but I wasn't incharge of the cleaning, so the dust didnt stand out until you mentioned it & I remembered. I also, only have 2 chicks indoors right now, so I'm not seeing a lot of dust. But I have 12 eggs due to hatch any day now. I was thinking of keeping them on my porch once they get to be 2-3 weeks old because I have electric out there and can run a heat light or the mama heating pad at night. This is all new to me, so I'm learning as I go!

 

[Diannastarr]

I was just thinking about these new kinds of brooders, like the EcoGlow 20 style Chick Brooder, the one thing i don't like about this style brooder is that it does not keep the chicks water warm.? , like my heat lamp does, the hatchery {{ my pet chicken }} has recommended we use , we have 8 chicks Colombian wyandotts , they are a few days old and we are using the recommended brooder light , So about these new kind of brooders they could be a cause for concern in colder climates as the
chicks may be warm under that kind of brooder , but their drinking water may be way to chilly for them...? just saying hmmmmm...?????

 

[minihorse927]

I was just thinking about these new kinds of brooders, like the EcoGlow 20 style Chick Brooder, the one thing i don't like about this style brooder is that it does not keep the chicks water warm.? , like my heat lamp does, the hatchery {{ my pet chicken }} has recommended we use , we have 8 chicks Colombian wyandotts , they are a few days old and we are using the recommended brooder light , So about these new kind of brooders they could be a cause for concern in colder climates as the chicks may be warm under that kind of brooder , but their drinking water may be way to chilly for them, my chicks water is always on the warm side with our heat lamp set up.

there is no reason to heat the chick's water. We always give our chick's cold weather and keep it out of the heat. Haven't lost any for that reason yet. Raise hundreds every year.

 

[Diannastarr]

Quote:
well since you brought this heating water thing up , warm water is much better for day old chicks & this comes from mother earth news and Recent scientific findings includes cold of any kind can harm chicks and can cause shock, and a medical condition i will post about later on , so warm water is most certainly better for day old chicks.

 

[lazy gardener]

This is prime chick brooding season for sure. Any water that sets out in my yard, or even in the coop is around 45 -50 degrees in the morning. Any naturally brooded chicks would also be running around in that same temp. We live in New England... Might I add... northern New England. Some times I go 4 - 5 days at a time without seeing the sun even once, and that's not for lack of looking. When the sun breaks through the constant cloud cover, it's cause to pause all activity, and call out to everyone within ear shot that "The sun is shining!" I agree with Mini and Blooie. If your water in your brooder is warm because of the heat lamp, either your brooder is too small, or your brooder temp is too high, or both! You can be sure that when the hatcheries figure out that folks are keeping their chicks warm with a common heating pad, they will come up with a newer and better version of what we are making on our own, and peddle it as the newer and better and much more expensive way to "naturally" brood chicks.

 

[minihorse927]

We use heat lamps here to brood all chick's as we brood hundreds at a time. We give them normal tap water fresh daily with a vitamin/electrolyte/pro biotic mix. I put the water on the far end of the brood where no light hits it. It gets to room temperature at the most. Newly hatched day Olds I will give them warm water for the first day and after that we just give them whatever temperature comes out of the tap on the cold side. The chick's will have water all night and will come running for cold water in the morning when I put it in. We run broods at 95 for week 1 and drop the temp 5 to 8 degrees weekly as they feather. I just put a group of 20 to 25 4 week Olds outside 2 days ago and they're withstanding 50° nights without issues.