BROODER thread! Post pics of your brooders!

[dtynd888]

My brooder...

 

[Tala]

I have mine in a dog crate. Helps keep the dog OUT. She's in an XL one now, this is her old medium-sized one.

2 concerns: a chick tried to fly through the slats and she almost could - potential for them to get stuck? May need to put hardware cloth on the outside of the crate or move them to an airline crate (smaller holes) BUT the only time she did that was when I had the door open messing with them, when they are not being stressed they don't seem to be interested in escaping.

Along those same lines, my cats can stick their paws through the slats as well, so they have to get locked out of the chicken bedroom when I'm not supervising. They would not be able to reach through the airline crate slats.
However, I like being able to look in the top of the crate, and can't do that through a plastic top. Tough luck kitties, ya gotta sleep somewhere else!

 

[MTChick2009]

HI Tala,

I have a similiar set up as you, we used our old wire dog crate, we just cut up some cardboard and lined the inside of the crate about 3/4 the way up. it works great to keep them from flying into or sqeezing out of the bars and it helps to keep the pine shavings inside the crate and off the floor

That should keep the kitties from getting too close too. We have dogs that love to sit and look above the cardboard and watch the chicks.

Hope that helps

 

[wings]

Quote:
ADORABLE VIDEO!!! How did you take that?

Just a little note: your chicks seemed to be crowded under the lamp. Maybe they're a little chilled?

 

[Tala]

Quote:
DH said one came out through the wires this morning (un"provoked" by my messing with them because I was asleep) So I moved them to the airline crate when I changed their water and shavings.

I'm having a terrible time with their light now though, because the crate plastic won't hold up the weight of the light, and the red 150watt bulb is too hot to hang directly on the wire door. I switched to a 60watt heat bulb that is actually sold for heating reptile tanks, and they seem cold because they are staying right in front of it (it's 91degrees so not terribly cold but they are young) so I'm going to try to buy another bulb, there's an 85watt option that I haven't tried yet.

Apparently the MOST fun thing to do right now is scratch away the shavings and peck the bottom of this crate. At least it makes a pleasant sound!

 

[cluckylisa]

Here's my brooder with our chicks!



We keep it covered all the time as the cat can't be trusted.
The bin is a 120 qt bin from Wally World and we're using the door from the dog crate as part of the brooder cover. The girls are in our laundry room and get handled quite a bit through out the day. I love having the clear bin as I'm short and can see what's going on in there without having to be on tip-toe or a stool. DH is going to pick some pine branches from the backyard to add for roosting.

 

[sangel4you]

Here's my brooder with my girls...DH did that in about 10 minutes with hardware cloth, and a straightedge and those plastic zip ties. He also has since cut a two foot 1/2" dowrod in half and screwed it into the sides for roosting as our girls are about 2 and half weeks and having fun experimenting on their "bouncing off rods" lol.
unfortunantly, I don't have any good pictures of the lid...

 

[sheps4her]

Here is my brooder....when they get a little bigger they will be moved to a rabbit cage (minus the rabbit

).

 

[xadika]

...

 

[eponagirl]

Here is our brooder, it's starting to look like lot's of people have done this...but it's great...they have plenty of air ventilation, natural light because they are by the window (plus has red lamp for nighttime). The dogs can safely check up on them and the cat's can't paw at them. Oh and shavings won't kick out too much either.

It's so exciting!!