BROODER thread! Post pics of your brooders!

[alex]

This is my brooder...I just got the chicks today...

 

[tazzy]

This is our brooder. My husband built it one afternoon. It's about six feet long and three feet wide. It has a pull-out drawer to easily change the shavings and clean it out. It's hinged on the top as well. And has rollers on the legs to move it easily when needed. We used a clip-on light when our original chicks were in there and now we have a broody hen and the eggs just started hatching last night. We won't need a light for them since momma hen is with them and temps never drop below 70 at night.

 

[DawnSuiter]

Here's our temporary brooder area/chick habitat!

Initial Setup - Large Dog Crate opening up to yard made with some old wood & an old closet door.. the whole assembly wrapped in plastic hardware cloth. Located on our screened porch, so it has 2 scrap pieces of wood blocking in their area (closing up the porch)

3 Day Old chicks.. newspaper covering all woodchips, old dog bowls for food & water

Their yard off the brooder day 4 they are choosing to nest in the wood chips available here only

We finally found chick feeder/waterers and it was time for the upgrade so here that is:
Upgraded Interior for 10 day olds. The heat lamp now hangs about 1 foot above the crate pointing directly at their interior perch, log & wooden toy sled.. they like all 3 locations all very low to the ground.

and the Upgraded attached play yard, which I put a stick in.. it's about 1.5' up in the air, the giant log is their "step" and landing buffer... a few flapping falls and they got the hang of it. All 7 have been up their together as of today!

Their OUTDOOR Run (the porch is outdoors, but screened.. this is the grass run)
An old bird cage top found at auction for $2. It has a LARGE door which we stake open. It opens up into a temporary run I made with driveway markers (tall thin yellow/orange flexi sticks from lowes) with plastic hardware cloth. I simply wove (in one hole, out two down) the sticks into the hardware cloth, stuck them in the ground. Presto.. chick cage & run! That's a pet bird waterer, they are OK with it.

Well.. that's it for them.. no more upgrades.. the hen house/brooder house & seperate rooster house is under construction now. This should house these 7 lovelies until we're done.
Hope it inspires someone...

 

[Robin L]

I just love all these pictures! I went threw them all and have so many ideas. Thank you everyone for sharing.

 

[villnave]

i I have No pics on my brooder OR chicks(of course ,Not hatched YET!)But my brooder is a standard hamster cage littered with pine sawdust and I have the light, the waterer, the food, and waitng for my CHICkS! So, I am prepared!

 

[SewingDiva]

We're using a watermelon box from Costco, which they will give away free for the asking (and they fold up too):

The lamp is from Home Depot, and the angle arm is a mike stand!

~Phyllis

 

[Robin L]

I finally got picures of my half kennel brooder.

Both halves are closed with old windows.
They were ready for more room so I added the seconded half. More room to fly lol

Heat lamp attached from beam above.
I had the kennel for many years and no longer used it so this was perfect!

 

[Chicken_Lover4567]

Hey, herechickchick. I don't know if anyone has told you, and this is so old into the posts, but it could help someone else. You shouldn't really use newspaper as a bedding when they are so young. They could slip and get a injury called "splayed leg". Just thought I might add a tip!

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

Chicken folk have got to be the most resourceful people around! I got so many ideas that I had to quit reading the thread at page 4. I love all these ideas! Yall really have some good ones!

 

[TT]

My brooder is my old baby bed. It works great. I put plastice over the side that was next to the wall and screen on the front side. The lid was originally to keep my 3 year old from giving them toys(right after we got them I caught him about to drop one of the bigger metal cars in with the chicks, could have crushed 5 or 6 at that time), now it keeps them in til I can get the coop/run finished and get them outside.