brooding off the grid

[msharvietta]

I am thinking about raising a few chickens this year and this will be my first atempt. I live off the grid and I'm wondering if any of you with experience can tell me off to brood the chicks without an electric brooder.

Thanks,

 

[cheshie]

Well, I don't have any ideas about how to make a brooder without electric, but I wanted to welcome you!

I just got my first 3 pullets on Thursday, and I am loving motherhood with these babies. they are a true joy and I hope you figure it out so that you can have a wonderful chicken family too.

 

[onthespot]

You could do it the old fashioned way and let a hen brood them for you. No worries there.

 

[SaltLakeSpice]

There are propane brooder heat sources. That may work for you.

 

[Kung Foo Chicken]

http://www.cd3wd.com/cd3wd_40/vita/poultry/en/poultry.htm

Here is some old plans on making a hurricane lamp brooder.

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

Good luck with your babies.

 

[BriteChicken]

Or you could just put them near your stove like the olden days but make sure your temp stays pretty consistent with a Thermometer and all.

 

[fshrchik]

OK, I realize this is an old thread, but in case anyone comes searching.... I am in the midst of rearing chicks off grid. When you are off grid you aren't able to manage a heat lamp - too much drain on the battery bank if you have one. So, for the first two weeks we kept the woodstove going. I was walking around the house in shorts - it was up to 80 degrees! We heated bricks by sitting them on top of the woodstove. We'd wrap towel pieces around them and put those in the brooders. The chicks would snuggle up to those or actually just perch right on top of them. I also had thick plastic 1 gallon jugs. I'd boil water and pour that into the jugs and put the jugs in the brooder. The chicks would snuggle up to those. I didn't monitor the temp, I just watched their behavior. The chicks told me by their behavior when they were chilly and needed the water reheated, or newly heated bricks. For the first 3 weeks, I was going to bed at say around 10:30p leaving hot water jugs and hot wrapped bricks for them. Then around 2am or so, I'd get up and do it all again. Then, one of us would be up around 5:30am doing it all again for them. It worked great, although I was quite sleep deprived. Now, at 3 weeks I am not getting up in the night anymore. Our house is around 70+ degrees generally (passive solar) and the chicks are fine at that temp. On a cloudy day, if we get cooler I might fill a jug with boiling water for them to snuggle up to. But, at this point, they have each other and they are doing fine.

 

[offgridhermit]

sounds like you are doing a great job living off the grid. We also live off the grid but have a back-up generator. When I had my baby chicks I had them in a large cardboard box in the house, (think it was a lawn mower box), and I used a regular 60 watt light bulb in a drop light and clamped it to a partially closed lid to keep the chicks warm till they were old enough to go outside to the coop. I started getting eggs from the leghorns at 17 weeks, the buff orphingtons haven't started laying yet. Happy farning and welcome to living off the grid.

 

[memphis]

Way cool how you made it work!