Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[JenellYB]

Now this is first class! Can't imagine anything better.

 

[Beekissed]

Excellent feedback! Two different styles but many similarities....no measuring temps for the "right temp for chicks", plain water given, pretty standard equipment, etc.

Don't feel bad, Jenell, a lot of the terms on here I'd never heard before either.

Never had those problems and never had the need to learn the terms...this forum has been a real eye opener though.

 

[seamsewnice]

I really like Fred's Hen set up, it's brooding simplified. I am keeping my chickens in what was a brooder "house" back in the 50's, can't imagin how it actually was set up. The roosts are still in there and the poop board, the rest of the equipment is long gone. It is concrete floor, and hardware cloth over the side window and seems like it would have housed a large bunch of chicks. It certainly is larger than most modern day coops for full grown hens.

 

[JenellYB]

I've seen some set-ups kind of like that...but usually called "brooder-grower houses", or just "broiler houses.". hey way I've seen people use them for growing out large batches of broilers was setting up portable 'panels' of wood and wire in side the big area, making smaller enclosed areas, over which they'd hang brooder hoods/lamps. The chicks were brooder in those smaller areas, the panels keeping them from wandering too far from the brooder and getting lost, chilled, but as they grew, the panels were removed, and eventually the brooder hoods/lamps I've seen several in which those brooder hoods were rigged so they could be pulled down for use or pulled back up toward the ceiling when not needed. The chicks then had the run of the whole area and were grown out right where they had been brooded.

I really like Fred's Hen set up, it's brooding simplified. I am keeping my chickens in what was a brooder "house" back in the 50's, can't imagin how it actually was set up. The roosts are still in there and the poop board, the rest of the equipment is long gone. It is concrete floor, and hardware cloth over the side window and seems like it would have housed a large bunch of chicks. It certainly is larger than most modern day coops for full grown hens.

 

[Beekissed]

My new batch of meaties will get that same treatment...they will be brooded right where they will be sheltering for their growout. I am building a hoop house/cattle panel structure for a portable coop that will house my brooder space and then will be moved around for the growing birds.

They will free range along with my LGD for safekeeping but will return to the hoop house for feeding, watering, sleeping, shade, etc.

For the brooding, I will lay down thick cardboard flooring(as the ground may be still a bit cold), covered with bedding, and surround the area with hay bales for containment and warmth. The warming lamps will be set up for adjustable hanging and a platform of bricks will be directly below the lights to absorb the heat and provide radiant warmth from below...I've never tried this before and it will be entirely experimental. If it doesn't work, the bricks come out.

I'll be using an option like Fred's by covering the brood area with plywood pieces if needed to contain the warmth.

I'll be brooding 40-50 chicks there. I'll take pics of the finished brooder when I'm done.

I'm not at my usual place of residence right now(visiting with my mother), so my normal brood building is not available to me...I loved it and it was perfect for brooding out chicks, needed very little tweaking. Just place the bedding, put in the chicks, adjust the lamp, feed and water. I really miss my old coop and brood pen at this time of the year.

ETA: Since I'll be having a dirt floor in this new coop structure, I'm moving to nipple watering for these chickens. Anyone interested in doing the same should know that the cheapest I've found the nipples was a pack of 5pk./ $9.25+ free shipping on Amazon.com. Anywhere else I've found them was going to cost me 4 pk./$22 with shipping.

 

[Fred's Hens]

One added security benefit of using a rack with multiple lights is that if one bulb burns out, let's say the 250 watt, and you have the 90 or 150 also burning at the time, the chicks aren't going to go nuts during the night. Oh sure, they'll have to change positions and re-gather until the remaining bulb, but as a keeper, you just feel better knowing that it is highly unlikely both bulbs are going to burn out at one time. I don't check on them from 9 pm until 6 am chores the nest morning. So,..........

When you brood in temps as low as I have the last few years, this is just a smart thing, I feel. These aren't chicks brooded in a tote at the foot of my bed,

 

[scottcaddy]

Brooding


I would never brood indoors. My wife would never approve of the dust, filth and smells. In the old days, we brooded right on the floor of the chicken coop under a hood. Wish I knew whatever happened to that hood. We'd brood 250 chicks at a time. Coop was 12x20 give or take.



I remember granddad having 4 brooder coops that used about 6 ft. X 6 ft. hoods ( he didn't like alot of his chicks in any one building, I don't remember the story of why not

) I also wish I had at least one of them old timey hoods here and now! Hmmmm.. I know a good metal man and I'm good with wires <BG> maybe just maybe.

 

[GardenerGal]

Brooder stuff... I was always very lackadaisical about brooders! Mainly because I have hens that go broody at the drop of a pin. I let my hens hatch and brood their own eggs and chicks. But when I do order chicks from a hatchery, I keep it very simple: I just hang a traditional red-light brooder lamp over a crate (if a lot of chicks, a kids' wading pool with steep sides is good) with a wire cover, and I observe the peeps for the first day or so to see if they show signs of needing more or less heat. I adjust the height (off the ground) of the lamp to the point where they all seem comfortable and not trying to either huddle under the light or escape into a far corner of the brood box.

The one thing I've learned over the years is to get just the right bedding. You read all this stuff that says don't use shavings with new peeps, but I believe it comes down to finding a source such as a sawmill that can give you shavings that aren't too big and aren't sawdust or grain-sized thick wood bits the chicks might eat. There's a happy medium for shavings size and thickness and I have been fortunate that my farm co-op sells it. But if they didn't, I'd plane my own wood shavings to give new chicks the right size and absorbancy of bedding. At least when the peeps are very small. After the first week or week and a half, you can be less concerned about the Perfect Shavings.

I absolutely won't keep peeps on shredded newspaper. The ink, even though it's non-toxic soy-based stuff now, gets on their feet and fluff, and they can still spraddle their legs on newspaper. I'll use sheets of newsprint to line the brood box, but an inch of pine shavings goes over it.

 

[scottcaddy]

I've seen some set-ups kind of like that...but usually called "brooder-grower houses", or just "broiler houses.". hey way I've seen people use them for growing out large batches of broilers was setting up portable 'panels' of wood and wire in side the big area, making smaller enclosed areas, over which they'd hang brooder hoods/lamps. The chicks were brooder in those smaller areas, the panels keeping them from wandering too far from the brooder and getting lost, chilled, but as they grew, the panels were removed, and eventually the brooder hoods/lamps I've seen several in which those brooder hoods were rigged so they could be pulled down for use or pulled back up toward the ceiling when not needed. The chicks then had the run of the whole area and were grown out right where they had been brooded.
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[JenellYB]

Uh...Scott....that was me. Lol.