Brooding chicks in coop.

[Baymen Moe]

Hi folks, I was wondering how many people have brooded your babies within your coop. I would imagine many? I don't want to keep the babies in the house due to space issues, smell etc...

My future 8x8 coop will have power and I thought I could build a brooder within the coop which could be portable for when they get bigger.

Bill

 

[Marlinchaser]

You can brood them wherever you want, mine do not come in the house,(well occasionally one will sneak in hiding in a jacket pocket, but just for a visit), as long as you can provide them a draftfree, warm are they will survive fine. Confine them to a limited area at first so they can not wonder too far from food/water/heat then as they get older increase thier area, as you decrease the temp you keep them.

 

[2468Chickensrgr8]

Last spring my little bantam went broody and I kept her in the coop...after asking questions on BYC...I ended up placing a bottomless small dog crate over her and supplying food and water...because the big girls were wanting to lay there eggs in her spot plus so i could monitor her feed and water intake and the others wouldnt pick on her .She did all the rest...Once the eggs hatched I placed a bigger bottomless dog crate over her and the babies...first I layed down alot of newspaper (easier cleaning).Hubby made some wood sides ...high enough for the big girls to see in ..but not peck the babies....and once the babies were big enough to jump over the wood sidings I took the cage away and mom protected them...
Some people have separate broody areas in the coop....and some people just let "mom" do it all...I stepped in because this little bantam is at the bottom of the pecking order all the rest are standard sizes..Its funny to see them now because all her babies she hatched out are way bigger than her and black .....I bought fertile eggs).....hope my 2 cents helps...good luck !!

 

[CovenantCreek]

The first chicks I hatched ended up in their 8'x8' coop at 2 weeks old. They no longer fit in the brooder and I didn't have anywhere else to put them. The did just fine out there. I tried a few different litters, hay was the best initially.

The coop has windows that face each other so I laid a 2"x2" on the sills, going across the center of the coop, and hung 3 heat lamps from it. Eventually I even had the feeder and waterer hanging from it. To change the temp I'd raise the lamps closer to the 2"x2", and eventually removed one of them when they didn't need as much "extreme" heat (it was winter, so even when they didn't need it 70+ degrees anymore I still kept the lamps on so they could warm up if they wanted to. They'd move away during the day but camp out under the lamps at night.

 

[Baymen Moe]

Thank you.

Bill

 

[gritsar]

Since the coop wasn't finished before my chicks arrived, they were brooded in the shed that was bought specifically for the Harley. If you knew my SO you'd know what a miracle this was.

For about the first week we used a oil-filled electric heater and they had two heat lamps over their brooder. After that, just the heat lamps. The shed is sealed from drafts.
At about 10 days or so we actually ended up moving them with their heat lamps to our screened porch and using a tall piece of heavy cardboard as a draft guard. The move was necessary because the shed was actually getting too hot in the daytime (in late April). Of course, we live in Arkansas so Aprils are pretty mild.
ETA: This pic of our brooder setup. You can see the electric heater in the bottom of the pic.

 

[cmom]

Mine are out in the barn in their brooder from their beginning with a brooder lamp. At a week old I put them in a chick tractor during the day outside in the sun out of any drafts. I also have a brooder lamp on it and have a cover for it if it's too cold out. At four weeks they get moved into the nursery coop where I also have a brooder and brooder lamp for another week. After a week I take the brooder out of the nursery coop. I live in Florida but when the weather is predicted to get to around 40 and until they are fully feathered, I put their lamp on. Actually I have it on a timer. I don't usually leave it on during the day after they are pretty well feathered out. There are pictures on my BYC Page