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

[TexasLisa]

It sounds like a great plan to me! I'll be doing something similar in the spring. If I don't have a broody available, any chicks I get in the mail will be brooded right in the coop in a hay bale bunker with the plywood topper. The older birds will be able to walk on the lid if they so desire, so won't lose any floor space but they won't be able to get into the chicks.

I am trying to keep up with this post, but I must have missed

your comments on the hay bale brooder. Would you please

explain it for me? I am reading everything possible to get ready to have chicks. I have all girls and I believe 2 of them are brooders. It seems like you guys are waiting till spring to have chicks, so I have a little time left to get my brooding pen ready.

Thank you!

Lisa

 

[just me]

I am trying to keep up with this post, but I must have missed

your comments on the hay bale brooder. Would you please

explain it for me? I am reading everything possible to get ready to have chicks. I have all girls and I believe 2 of them are brooders. It seems like you guys are waiting till spring to have chicks, so I have a little time left to get my brooding pen ready.

Thank you!

Lisa

Lisa,

That's probably my fault. I am following this and another (the road less traveled...) thread. I don't remember which thread Bee posted about the brooder, it was probably the other thread.

ETA: it's been recent, so you'd probably have to go back only, I'd say 20 pages or so since both threads have become so popular LOL!!

 

[TexasLisa]

Lisa,

That's probably my fault. I am following this and another (the road less traveled...) thread. I don't remember which thread Bee posted about the brooder, it was probably the other thread.

ETA: it's been recent, so you'd probably have to go back only, I'd say 20 pages or so since both threads have become so popular LOL!!

I understand totally! I step away from the computer for a bit and come back and there are 5-10 more pages added!! So much information and my little brain is trying to absorb it all.

Thanks!

Lisa

 

[just me]

I understand totally! I step away from the computer for a bit and come back and there are 5-10 more pages added!! So much information and my little brain is trying to absorb it all.

Thanks!

Lisa

Yeah, I know the feeling, there's NO WAY I can absorb all of the info in just one reading.

The info is on the other thread, I hope they don't mind this, but here are partial posts # 2094 and 2095 (copied and pasted):


Delisha: I am having problems with my baby chicks. It is really cold and I can't keep the barn warm enough. Lost three already to freeze. I think I have sectioned off a smaller space now to help contain heat, but now I worry about air circulation. It had been in the 20's at night. Them chicks just are not old enough for such deep cold all day and all night. I am taking them off wet feed at night to help conserve body heat and keep them dryer. I don't remember loosing a chick in a long time. I have some serious work to do tomorrow to stem the flow of freeze to the rest. We will be having freezing temps for a while.


Beekissed:How old are these chicks? The last group I had, I made a brooder from hay bales and placed a sheet of plywood over it to keep in the heat with one end open a bit for air flow and for placement of the heat lamp. Makes for a cheap and easy setup that can be broken down and put away when done using it.

Me (just so you know this is not a continuation of the copy and paste!): I am waiting for spring, just because I think it'll be easier to keep chicks warm. Don't take MY WORD for it, as I am a TOTAL NEWBIE when it comes to this chickening thing!!

 

[Beekissed]

Pics of the quicky brooder made of hay bales in an open air coop in early spring(Mar.)...this was topped with two pieces of plywood that could be moved easily for more ventilation or closed almost completely to conserve the heat from the lamps...always left open spots for air flow through. Chicks are tougher than we think. I kept deep bedding in it..one could even place tarping, plywood or plastic on the ground as a moisture barrier under the bedding to prevent any cold and moisture from seeping into the brooder.

If and when you open it up on warm days, you can lay a length of fencing along the bales and under the plywood toppers, pulling them back like sliding doors, so that the older birds can't get into that area.





These chicks just arrived in the mail...two days old.

 

[just me]

Thanks so much for the pics!! As I am a visual person, they really help a lot!!

IF I ever get another camera, I will take pics of my chooks for you guys (just so you can tell me everything that's wrong with them LOL). My camera got dropped in the ocean this past Sept. when I left it at the coast with DH and my three sons. The dummies dropped the camera in the water THEN caught two 9 lb something flounders!! Thank goodness one of the boys has a cell phone with a camera, I wouldn't have believed the flounder stories without the pics!!

 

[Pozees]

Pics of the quicky brooder made of hay bales in an open air coop in early spring(Mar.)...this was topped with two pieces of plywood that could be moved easily for more ventilation or closed almost completely to conserve the heat from the lamps...always left open spots for air flow through. Chicks are tougher than we think. I kept deep bedding in it..one could even place tarping, plywood or plastic on the ground as a moisture barrier under the bedding to prevent any cold and moisture from seeping into the brooder.

If and when you open it up on warm days, you can lay a length of fencing along the bales and under the plywood toppers, pulling them back like sliding doors, so that the older birds can't get into that area.





These chicks just arrived in the mail...two days old.

A muffin tin for a chick feeder - I love it! I'm trying to see how you attached the heat lamp, where is it hung from? This looks really cozy!

 

[Beekissed]

It was just clipped onto that board you see there but later I would clip it to the plywood or whatever thing that was in the area of where I needed the light. The muffin tin wasn't in use for very long as these meaty chicks outgrow their feeders rather quickly.

The old pitchfork you see turned out to be a great little roost that kept their feet warm...the metal would warm up by the heat lamp and they would perch on the warmed tines and fall asleep...and fall right off.

Later they used the handle as a perch as well.

 

[Pozees]

It was just clipped onto that board you see there but later I would clip it to the plywood or whatever thing that was in the area of where I needed the light. The muffin tin wasn't in use for very long as these meaty chicks outgrow their feeders rather quickly.

The old pitchfork you see turned out to be a great little roost that kept their feet warm...the metal would warm up by the heat lamp and they would perch on the warmed tines and fall asleep...and fall right off.

Later they used the handle as a perch as well.

LOL sort of like when one of the cats is so deeply asleep on the back of the couch they slide off I guess - then look around to see if anyone saw them fall DH says the look on their faces says, "I did that on purpose!"

 

[TexasLisa]

Thank you 'JustMe' and 'Beekissed'!! I am also a visual person. O wow, this is right down my DH's alley. Simple, cheap, and efficient!!

Lisa