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Niiiice!!! I may have to reintroduce NN's into my flock again. They were so cool looking.
I really like your brooder setup...the heat lamps freak me out, too! I'm so afraid of catching the brooder on fire, or one of my kids or their friends burning themselves. Plus, I don't think it is good for the chicks to always have a light on...it makes them crazy. There's no real downtime and peace to rest if there is a light blaring at them around the clock. In hindsight, I should have put that on my Christmas list. As far as the nipple waterer, how difficult is it for the chicks to figure out? And where did you get the little water bucket?
I bought the little bucket at home depot in the paint section for a few dollars. It's nice, has a lid too. Just drilled the holes in the bottom for the nipples and a small hole in the top to keep the water flowing. Chicks use it pretty much immediately out of the egg. The nipples are red so eventually one will try to peck it, and then they all will. Since I use the ecoglow and they all sleep at night, there's a mad stampede to the water every morning, but then they just peck at it while meandering around the brooder. No more nasty dirty shavings water and no more chick drowning danger.
You definitely need to get an ecoglow - get the 50 if you can swing it. I love the 20 also, but it's much smaller and less easy to adjust, where with the 50 you can adjust each leg separately, so I put the back lower than the front and can accommodate larger and smaller chicks.
Niiiice!!! I may have to reintroduce NN's into my flock again. They were so cool looking.
I really like your brooder setup...the heat lamps freak me out, too! I'm so afraid of catching the brooder on fire, or one of my kids or their friends burning themselves. Plus, I don't think it is good for the chicks to always have a light on...it makes them crazy. There's no real downtime and peace to rest if there is a light blaring at them around the clock. In hindsight, I should have put that on my Christmas list. As far as the nipple waterer, how difficult is it for the chicks to figure out? And where did you get the little water bucket?
I bought the little bucket at home depot in the paint section for a few dollars. It's nice, has a lid too. Just drilled the holes in the bottom for the nipples and a small hole in the top to keep the water flowing. Chicks use it pretty much immediately out of the egg. The nipples are red so eventually one will try to peck it, and then they all will. Since I use the ecoglow and they all sleep at night, there's a mad stampede to the water every morning, but then they just peck at it while meandering around the brooder. No more nasty dirty shavings water and no more chick drowning danger.
You definitely need to get an ecoglow - get the 50 if you can swing it. I love the 20 also, but it's much smaller and less easy to adjust, where with the 50 you can adjust each leg separately, so I put the back lower than the front and can accommodate larger and smaller chicks.
It just takes a while to process change. This will all be an old hat soon enough.
