- Sep 12, 2012
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I actually keep my chicks in two different brooders.
One is a very large cage meant for a rabbit. The heat lamp stays on one end, while the other end has very little actual light, and we use paper from our paper shredder to line it. They stay in this one for about 1-2 weeks, and this brooder is indoors in our den. It's about 18 inches deep, and about 3 feet long. Their food and water sits JUST outside of the lamp-heated part of the cage, so it doesn't get hot, but they don't have to go to the far end to eat or drink.
The second one I move them to either when the first one starts to smell and needs cleaning, or when they start to get very active and loud. It's an old outdoor rabbit hutch that is about 2 feet off of the ground with small 1/2"x1/2" spaced wire bottom and sides. The overall size of it is about 5 feet long, by 2 feet deep, and 2 feet tall. The heat lamp sits in a single corner with a piece of plywood near it (but not directly under it) and a water "trough" on the far end. The side where the heat lamp is, has about 1 foot of boarded-up sides to stop drafts in that area.
The chicks do just fine moving out there at 1-2 weeks old. We keep a whole piece of plywood on top to protect them against predators, but outside of the heat lamp area, they are subject to the weather. I had some in there during the coldest days of winter this past January, but the chicks were just fine, and the lamp was plenty for them. On warmer days, we remove the top during the day to make sure they have access to sunshine. Once they start flying up to the edge of this brooder while the top is off, we move them to the coop, and they are on their own after that.
One is a very large cage meant for a rabbit. The heat lamp stays on one end, while the other end has very little actual light, and we use paper from our paper shredder to line it. They stay in this one for about 1-2 weeks, and this brooder is indoors in our den. It's about 18 inches deep, and about 3 feet long. Their food and water sits JUST outside of the lamp-heated part of the cage, so it doesn't get hot, but they don't have to go to the far end to eat or drink.
The second one I move them to either when the first one starts to smell and needs cleaning, or when they start to get very active and loud. It's an old outdoor rabbit hutch that is about 2 feet off of the ground with small 1/2"x1/2" spaced wire bottom and sides. The overall size of it is about 5 feet long, by 2 feet deep, and 2 feet tall. The heat lamp sits in a single corner with a piece of plywood near it (but not directly under it) and a water "trough" on the far end. The side where the heat lamp is, has about 1 foot of boarded-up sides to stop drafts in that area.
The chicks do just fine moving out there at 1-2 weeks old. We keep a whole piece of plywood on top to protect them against predators, but outside of the heat lamp area, they are subject to the weather. I had some in there during the coldest days of winter this past January, but the chicks were just fine, and the lamp was plenty for them. On warmer days, we remove the top during the day to make sure they have access to sunshine. Once they start flying up to the edge of this brooder while the top is off, we move them to the coop, and they are on their own after that.
