BROODER thread! Post pics of your brooders!

[AlienChick]

 

[Gifa]

Mine was 2' x 4' x 1' and was kept on a folding table in the guest room away from drafts and out of reach from my 2 indoor cats and 2 indoor dogs, a mini-aussie and a sheltie. It was constructed out of stick wood scraps plywood scraps and pegboard.

This was the set up the night before the chicks came home. I was adjusting the 125W lamp height so that it read 100 in the very center, and 85 around the perimeter. Top view / Side view.




I raised 8 chicks in here for 6 weeks. I used one 5 dollar bag of pine shavings. I raised the lamp once when they were 3 weeks old, and turned the lamp off at 5 weeks.



Their coop wasn't quite ready for them on the day they turned 6 weeks (we were waiting on the automatic door to arrive), but they spent the days of their 5th week outdoors in the run that was completed and spent the nights in their brooder.



They were moved out permanently at age 6 wks, 2 days.

 

[sbriant]

Does anyone know where i would get a watermellon box? Iv'e seen them in stores (when they were holding watermellons)but i doent know where to actually get them. Also what do you suggest as bedding? Are wood chips ok for the entire time even when they're only a few days old?

 

[EggieRowe]

Call up your local grocery store and ask for the produce department. They will probably be glad to give you one. For the first couple days you're supposed to put paper towels down over the wood shavings so they new chicks don't eat them. Mine still managed to get at some and I had to help remove a few shaving poops that got stuck...not fun for either party.

 

[sbriant]

Thank, i'll call costco or someplace like that. do you think putting a tarp down over the shavings would work. i've got a few tarps and could through them in the wash when they get dirty. I also heard that you can use puppy pads for the first few days.

 

[ONSTAD1]

Thank, i'll call costco or someplace like that. do you think putting a tarp down over the shavings would work. i've got a few tarps and could through them in the wash when they get dirty. I also heard that you can use puppy pads for the first few days.

At 2 days I put mine directly on shavings and they were fine. One had pasty butt once, but It had nothing to do with the shavings... you'd be surprised by how resilient chicks actually are.

 

[Nike]

Here's mine!

 

[Nielsen6]

I love this thread, I have 25 new baby EE's comming in 2 weeks! Great ideas everyone, I am amazed by all this ingenuity!

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

Videos of the evolution of our brooders. Doing some more work on it this weekend, will post pics when the upgrades are done. lol

old brooder pool vs plywood brooder i built.

B&W vid i shot in the new brooder

 

[BrahmaMom]

I just made this brooder box for my 11 chicks. 3 boxes from Lowes for less than $5. I put extra cardboard in the bottom for reinforcement. The chicks seem to be much more content with more space. They crashed after exploring the new digs. 18" x 68" then toss it in the compost bin. No storage required & no disinfecting.


http://www.grit.com/Chickens/Make-a-Chicken-Brooder-Out-of-Cardboard-Boxes.aspx