Ended Contest #2 Creative Brooder- 5th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long

[Ilovemyduckies]

Here's the brooder I have now



Had some plastic shelves that no one was using. So I lined it with cardboard, added two 100 watt flood lights and voilà



Made out of a plastic shelf that I don't use anymore and lined with cardboard. The bottom is lined with a plastic sheet so all I have to do to clean it is take it out, replace it with another, and add new wood shavings. Easily reused and disassembled. The plastic sheeting protects the the cardboard, making it last pretty long. To disassemble, all I have to do is take of the cardboard and take apart the shelf into it's four legs and top.

 

[chickenlisa]

This is my brooder, for baby chicks, ducklings, goslings and in between, it holds all of our packages of paper towels, etc in our basement...it is a horse water trough from TSC, but they put a hole in it with a fork lift, so I got it really cheap. I divided it in half with an old window screen to keep babies of different ages/varieties separate. I weigh down the top screen so my cats can't get the babies, they like to sit on top and watch them though...

When the chicks get too big, they go out to the rabbit hutch on the porch, then out to a portable chicken tractor in the yard, then into the big bird pens.

 

[imthegrt1]

Ill start this contest off I built a Dresser Brooder last year. It was an old clothes dresser(actually mine from when I was a child) After my DDs all used it and the drawers kept falling out DH was gonna burn it or trash it. I said no way! And I repurposed it.

Do the bottom drawers come out looks very clean great idea

 

[chicken pickin]

Do the bottom drawers come out looks very clean great idea

No the drawers were all removed. I took the face off of 2 drawers and then used wood glue to glue the faces back on over the bottom openings.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Kept the kids busy coloring on a snow day, and washes out very easily.

 

[Beekissed]

Creativity: Using a heating pad brooder heater in an outside/open air brooder setting. Using hay bales for walls.

Reusable: Brooder heater is a heating pad that is definitely reusable...I'll be warming my seedling trays with it soon and had already used it as an incubator, and can always be used for home therapy. The walls of the brooder are hay bales that I will store under shelter and use time and again. The floor is a piece of plywood that I will be using again and again for this purpose and also is used in the winter time as a windblock. The topper is green plastic mesh that is later used for trellising tomatoes, peas, beans and cukes in the garden.

Ease of cleaning: This brooder requires no cleaning at all, as I am using the deep litter I've been cultivating for over a year that I just rake from the coop floor onto the plywood base of the brooder and it will just be left in place when the brooder is removed and stored away. The loose hay used in the brooder will just be incorporated into the deep litter as well, there to compost along with all the other materials. I'm using a nipple water bucket, so clean water at all times and will be used to water these chicks as they grow out. The feeder is homemade and is built high enough out of the bedding to require no cleaning either.

Ease of storage: This brooder can be broken down and stored in under 5 minutes.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Here is my brooder setup. I use large dog kennels and stack them. Access from the front for easy sweep-out of shavings. The bottom one has a PVC pipe feeder built in, (My friend made it!) and I use the hanging feed bucket for water, i can raise it as the chicks get older to keep it from getting shavings in it. I also hang a bunny nipple bottle over it for water reserves, and it drips into the water reservoir so it does not make a mess in the brooder. I put the lamp inside and run the cord out the ventilation holes. I have it lowered in these pics because we are weaning to a 60 watt bulb. The thing I like the most is when brooding season is over, the kennels come apart and stack inside each other so it takes up little space to store for winter. The shavings they kick out the front? I have a shop vac next to them, and just vacuum the mess around the brooders each evening. They are in the garage.

 

[chiklee]

Yes I hope you win because I bought the same pack and play for 5 bucks and it works well easy clean and easy storing the best investment we could of bought . Beats a cardboard box any day.

 

[chiklee]

Hopefully I can at least get an honorable mention for the cheapest-find for a brooder!

Nothing like a Pack N' Play in perfect condition at the Salvation Army store for $3!

hope you win I bought the same one and it works wonderful beats a card board box any day easy clean easy storage good luck

 

[cindynkidsd]

So my Daughter found a rabbit hutch at a Thrift store for $25, called and of course I said "get it"! It fits thru the doors, so into the dining room it went. Covered the pull out shelf underneath and the wire floor with vinyl flooring, then cut strips to go along the three open sides. 1) to keep the shavings inside and 2) to keep the four dogs from going crazy staring. Heat lamp attached to a dining room chair and chairs circling brooder to keep dogs back. I'm on my second set of chicks. It works great!