Colorado

[gardendufus]

Mo

Well Mo, I spent literally months late last fall/early this winter? looking for local breeders of the breeds I wanted and had absolutely no success. (This was when I was still too shy to actually POST anything on BYC). I ended up getting hatchery stock from Elizabeth and Kiowa.

You never know what's going to show up at the swaps. BUT, IMO, I would rather take a drive to several swaps and be able to actually SEE the chicks before I bought them. I went to the Denver swap once (it was in like January, so way before chick season) and I was seriously disappointed. BUT, at that time I didn't realize there actually was a chick season. I figured chick hatching went on all year long. At that time they only had about 8 vendors in their little parking lot, and only 3 of those actually had chickens, and none of them had chicks.

If for no other reason, if the swap was large enough it might be a good way to meet and develop a relationship with some breeders. Find out who is around and what they are dealing with. Might be a good way to start networking.

If I don't go to this new one the first month, I'll probably go the next, even tho I'm not looking for anything right now. I am SO done with brooders and integrating for this year unless I get some from WSmith.

 

[ONSTAD1]

Ok, I have a question...sort of moochy. Does any one have a brooder set up they would like to loane me for a couple of months...4-8 weeks to be exact ; ) I'll set you up with a starbucks card or a couple of six-packs. I'm looking to get 4-5 chicks in the next few weeks and am on a super tight budget after getting my coop started (how much do eggs cost a dozen again?) Or I'm open to ideas on how to economize the process of brooding.... if I figure right I need a "brooder", a light, food and water feeder...any thing else?

thanks

mo
Colorado Springs

 

[ONSTAD1]

...and a general Thank You to all who post here. This fourm has been/is an awesome resource. I feel super comfortable building a goop and getting chicks a month of pouring oveer all the information here.

Putting first screws into coop frame this morning. Super excited! I hope to have structure done by tomorrw afternoon ans trim and paint done next weekend. Building a single pitch roof coop with a 4x4 footprint. hoping to get a few lowes gift cards for my birthday in a week and a half so I get go get hardware cloth for my run...5x8 + space under coop.

Wish me luck...I've never built antthing bigger than a bird feeder in boy scouts : )

Also, to put in coop I have to dig up LOTS of purple iris. If you want any you can help your self. they are easy to dig up.

 

[wsmith]

Mo,

I have a set of brooders I built that hopefully I will be done with today, If all goes well. It is a set of two, each is 3' X 6'. One has solid walls, the other solid and wire walls. Both open from the top. The one with walls has an opening to go into the other when they are placed nexgt to each other.The one with solid an wire walls can't be used by itself, as the wall that butts up to the other one is "open", with no covering on that side. Let me know and i can send you pics or you can come see them. between the two, I have 45 chicks and two turkey poults, but they are getting crowded now that they are bigger. This setup might be too big for what you need.....

If they suit your needs, I could loan them to you until next spring, when I will be needing them again.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Ok, I have a question...sort of moochy. Does any one have a brooder set up they would like to loane me for a couple of months...4-8 weeks to be exact ; ) I'll set you up with a starbucks card or a couple of six-packs. I'm looking to get 4-5 chicks in the next few weeks and am on a super tight budget after getting my coop started (how much do eggs cost a dozen again?) Or I'm open to ideas on how to economize the process of brooding.... if I figure right I need a "brooder", a light, food and water feeder...any thing else?

thanks

mo
Colorado Springs

For small batches of chicks...use a 40 gallon breeder aquarium. They work great as a brooder and are very easy to clean, maintain and store for future useages.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Mo,

I have a set of brooders I built that hopefully I will be done with today, If all goes well. It is a set of two, each is 3' X 6'. One has solid walls, the other solid and wire walls. Both open from the top. The one with walls has an opening to go into the other when they are placed nexgt to each other.The one with solid an wire walls can't be used by itself, as the wall that butts up to the other one is "open", with no covering on that side. Let me know and i can send you pics or you can come see them. between the two, I have 45 chicks and two turkey poults, but they are getting crowded now that they are bigger. This setup might be too big for what you need.....

If they suit your needs, I could loan them to you until next spring, when I will be needing them again.

Do you have plans?

I'm looking at some land in the country and if you have a nice brooder that you trust for larger numbers of chicks...I'd like to take a look at it.

 

[larca83]

Ok, I have a question...sort of moochy. Does any one have a brooder set up they would like to loane me for a couple of months...4-8 weeks to be exact ; ) I'll set you up with a starbucks card or a couple of six-packs. I'm looking to get 4-5 chicks in the next few weeks and am on a super tight budget after getting my coop started (how much do eggs cost a dozen again?) Or I'm open to ideas on how to economize the process of brooding.... if I figure right I need a "brooder", a light, food and water feeder...any thing else?

thanks

mo
Colorado Springs

I used a series of cardboard boxes for my brooders, moving to a larger box every couple of weeks. It was super easy for me because I just moved in March and saved the ones I thought would make good brooders, but you could probably get boxes from friends or stores if you don't have any. All I actually purchased was a waterer, feeder, pine bedding, bag of feed, heat bulb and lamp cage. I used paper towels on top of pine for quite a while, which saved on the amount of pine I had to go out and buy. I miss those days. Now there is pine dust all over everything in their room!

 

[kmatt87]

there is another big fire up by buckhorn canyon.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

DANG...I hvae several friends that have land and houses in the Buckhorn....I hope that they get this under control quickly.

 

[wsmith]

I used my brooders in the garage. I wouldnt put them outside unless you have somewhere to keep them dry. I will need them again in the spring.

all the chicks are now outside. It was a lot of work. We got all the chainlink fence cut into strips and laid out as skirting around the entire chicken compound. The extra stuff was stapled vertically around the outside. The chicks took a while to come out of the coops, but now all are out and they are doing communal dust bathing. The turkey poults are the bravest, and are getting the most bugs. Photos to follow later.