Any pictures?I have brooded that many. The 30 gallon tub may get you passed the first days when they are more fragile. You are correct about the 50 gallon tub getting too small pretty quickly. We have an outdoor brooder that we made. It has a wood box that is 3x3x3 and hardware cloth section 3x5. After a couple weeks that becomes just sleeping quarters and we attach a half circle of fence for space to use during the day. I do have a heating pad in the box the first few weeks.