BROODER thread! Post pics of your brooders!

[csaylorchickens]

The big coop had 4 nesting boxed 4 roosting poles max 8 hens in coop. Large run makes it so the coop doesn't have to be big and the covered area is incase it rains

 

[csaylorchickens]

Also the second galvinized cage goes into the garage so they stay warm before they don't need the ecoglow 20 anymore

 

[Blooie]

I can't remember if I've posted these here or not. If I have, please forgive the duplication. This is my brooder, an old dog exercise pen we have had for years. It can be set up in any configuration from rectangle to square to octagon. I set it up in my run as a rectangle, chicks on one side, adults on the other. A little hardware cloth skirt to prevent escapes and it works fantastic. No mess in the house, no smells, no 24 hour cheeping....just peace and quiet. I'm not moving chicks all the time, stressing them and me out, and they learn to be chickens by watching the adults all around them. Adults become accustomed to the chicks, and we have full integration by the time the chicks are 4 weeks old. Pen comes down and gets folded flat, pad gets unplugged and cleaned, and we're done.


Littles in their brooder out in the run.


Gladys, one of the older birds, watching the Littles play. On the other side of the brooder you can make out Kat, so you can see that the chicks are clearly visible to the Bigs on three full sides.


Littles in the pen on the left, Bigs in the run on the right.

 

[miss_ellie]

Hello everyone!

I had several ideas about what to do for a brooder, then read someone's post about how they might use a dog crate ..... *ding!*..... we had a huge one in our garage I was about to list on craigslist!  (FYI, it is 27" x 40" and we have 6 chicks)   This was perfect for us, to protect the babies from our house dog and the two kids.  I thought it might be useful for others to see how some of us have made a brooder and get some ideas, so I will start it out!



Here it is from the outside..... it is in our living room with the light mounted on the outside.  As they have needed less heat I have slowly turned it to the left, lowering the temp each week.

Here is the inside.  Thermometer is on the left (not in photo though!).  Food and water are on a 4x4 post scrap to get it up a bit so they dont poop in it, or get shavings in it.  We still wash out the water every day.  It is also in the back so it stays cooler.   I screwed in screws to hang the oak branch in there and they love it.  The chick flapping is one of the two who are competing for the Queen of the Pecking Order.  They fight for who is on the roost, and she is clearly telling the other one to get off!  We use the deep litter method, and so need the bit of cardboard in the front to prevent shavings from coming out the front!  We also stir it up everyday.

And here is our huge Lab protecting the babies.........actually, he is scared of them and backs away when we get them close to him, but he wants to look at them!

Can't wait to see everyone else's ideas!

How long can the chicks stay in there? We are newbies, about to get our first four chicks and would love dome advice

 

[mosleym]

The chicks were too big for their dog pen brooder, so I adapted some cardboard boxes. We needed at least 10 square feet for our 10 chicks. Just had move in and so far things are going well!

 

[robcolor]

I Am trying to upload a pic of my brooder box but the app won't let me

 

[Ctptcha]

How do you all deal with the mess? It's exhausting to clean up! I put the hatchlings in a box with a heat lamp for the first two days, then I put them all in a bathtub, especially for them, and I clip the heat lamp on the rim (our bathtub rim is quite small )... Then I just take them out and rinse the tub (+remove the newspaper)...

 

[Ctptcha]

Also, I was wondering what is a good replacement for a infrared light... Can I use a 60W incandescent light instead?

 

[MESOFRUFFEH]

How do you all deal with the mess? It's exhausting to clean up! I put the hatchlings in a box with a heat lamp for the first two days, then I put them all in a bathtub, especially for them, and I clip the heat lamp on the rim (our bathtub rim is quite small

)... Then I just take them out and rinse the tub (+remove the newspaper)...

Frequent clean ups over here at my house!! I have about 30 chicks in a brooder that is about 10x4, filled with about 4 inches of pine shavings. I turn the shavings every day, and about once a week I scoop out the old stuff with a scooper I made out of a big DEF jug (diesel exhaust fluid (it's water and urea so one quick rinse and it's good to use!)... I work at a trucking company, they throw tons of them away and they make great feeders and scoopers and nesting boxes! I think its a 2.5 gal jug so I can scoop out a lot quickly. I put it in a bag and dump it on the compost! It's not fun, but it does not take too tarribly long,and it's a lot easier than dealing with litter pans and a wire floor which is what I did last time.

Also, I was wondering what is a good replacement for a infrared light... Can I use a 60W incandescent light instead?

I recently discovered even the 100w bulbs they sell now produce little to no heat (after I bought a 10 pack for some chicks lol). They changed the way they made the bulbs, I don't know much about it other than you can't get a good ol 75-100w light bulb to use for heat anymore. You have to actually buy bulbs that are heat bulbs as far as I know. I was using smaller lights (like reptile lights) and they dont take brooder bulbs, they only take a normal sized bulb. I was buying reptile heat bulbs but they are so expensive and burn out too fast/easy. They had a bunch of brooder bulbs and lights on sale a few weeks ago so I broke down and got 2 new ones. The only thing is, they produce entirely too much heat in some settings in my opinion. Other than that, I'm not sure what the other options are, other than to get one of those chicken heating mats, or to make a mama heating pad, (if you haven't seen anything about it yet, search the forum you will be glad you did!). I have a chicken mat I have yet to use (just bought it this weekend on clearance at TSC) but I use mama heating pad all the time for smaller batches of chicks or sickly ones and it is the best thing since sliced bread!

 

[Blooie]

Frequent clean ups over here at my house!! I have about 30 chicks in a brooder that is about 10x4, filled with about 4 inches of pine shavings. I turn the shavings every day, and about once a week I scoop out the old stuff with a scooper I made out of a big DEF jug (diesel exhaust fluid (it's water and urea so one quick rinse and it's good to use!)... I work at a trucking company, they throw tons of them away and they make great feeders and scoopers and nesting boxes! I think its a 2.5 gal jug so I can scoop out a lot quickly. I put it in a bag and dump it on the compost! It's not fun, but it does not take too tarribly long,and it's a lot easier than dealing with litter pans and a wire floor which is what I did last time.
I recently discovered even the 100w bulbs they sell now produce little to no heat (after I bought a 10 pack for some chicks lol). They changed the way they made the bulbs, I don't know much about it other than you can't get a good ol 75-100w light bulb to use for heat anymore. You have to actually buy bulbs that are heat bulbs as far as I know. I was using smaller lights (like reptile lights) and they dont take brooder bulbs, they only take a normal sized bulb. I was buying reptile heat bulbs but they are so expensive and burn out too fast/easy. They had a bunch of brooder bulbs and lights on sale a few weeks ago so I broke down and got 2 new ones. The only thing is, they produce entirely too much heat in some settings in my opinion. Other than that, I'm not sure what the other options are, other than to get one of those chicken heating mats, or to make a mama heating pad, (if you haven't seen anything about it yet, search the forum you will be glad you did!). I have a chicken mat I have yet to use (just bought it this weekend on clearance at TSC) but I use mama heating pad all the time for smaller batches of chicks or sickly ones and it is the best thing since sliced bread!

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