Discussion: Where do you put your brooder, and why?

[Deebot]

My boyfriend and I recently bought a home with an acre of land and I've been dying to get started on chickens for a year or two now. We're at odds on where to put them while in the brooder. I know there isn't a "wrong" place to put it as long as the chicks are comfortable and have the appropriate temperatures they need, but I am wondering where all of you place your brooders! Garage, porch, utility room? Living room? Lol.

Also, if anyone has any opinions on non-flighty, friendly, decent layers I am open to suggestions! I am strongly favoring Buff Orpingtons right now

 

[Steven Bussell]

I used my coop. It was already done and I have power to it for the heat plate.... Unless you have a big broader you'll be rushed to get your coop done in time. . We see it here all the time...
Do youryour a favor and build your coop first.. You'll have 4_5 weeks to get your run done

 

[R2elk]

My boyfriend and I recently bought a home with an acre of land and I've been dying to get started on chickens for a year or two now. We're at odds on where to put them while in the brooder. I know there isn't a "wrong" place to put it as long as the chicks are comfortable and have the appropriate temperatures they need, but I am wondering where all of you place your brooders! Garage, porch, utility room? Living room? Lol.

Also, if anyone has any opinions on non-flighty, friendly, decent layers I am open to suggestions! I am strongly favoring Buff Orpingtons right now

I have a large coop that is the basement for my workshop. I sectioned off the back part of the coop. One part of that is separated from the other and is where my 4'x4'x1' brooder is. The other section of it is used as a grow out pen once the chicks, keets or poults are out of the brooder.

 

[Deebot]

Well, we just jumped in with both feet as well. We have a spare bathroom, which is where the ducklings were brooded until ready to go out to the duck house we built, which is in an enclosure on a corner of our 1.5 acre pond. The chicks were brooded in a very large storage tote with the top cut out and hardware cloth screwed into the plastic frame. They were put in an area that is tucked away but near the spare bathroom. The keets came after the ducks were out so we started them in the spare bathroom but with temps high here, we moved them outside after two or three weeks. They are in a dog crate that is completely covered on all sides with 1/2" hardware cloth, attached with a zillion zip ties. They are going to their coop in the next week or so.

Words of experience: ducks are filthy and the next time will go out sooner than we did with our first batch. After a while, chicks get very dusty!!! All are smelly after a point.

I would recommend you keep them in an area free from drafts and high humidity.

Good luck!

Yes, my boyfriend was trying to convince me to keep them in a small room in the middle of the house, or a small bathroom. I am thinking a small, insulated room in the garage that is just steps from the house, because of the dust and smell like you mention! I mean, they are gonna be our pets, but they are still barn animals/livestock! And good to know about the coop. Maybe we'll start on that this week and order the chicks next week if we've made good progress.

 

[MROO]

We do small hatches, so we keep them inside for the first few weeks in our back room, which used to be a porch, but is now fully enclosed. Then the dust from the constant molting & growing gets to be too much and they go outside to the protected front porch, heat plate and all. As soon as they no longer need the heat plate, they move to a look-no-touch kennel in the coop - and that's where they stay until the older birds no longer pay them any mind. Then we just open the door and they walk right out into the coo. Technically, we could start them right out on the porch, or even in the coop, if we wanted, but that takes all the fun out of having chicks. We really like having them nearby while they're tiny ... indoor chickie TV!

 

[Chef JimmyJ]

The birds were got in April, spent 15 weeks in our Living Room. We built the Brooder below from Lumnah Acres, with one change. The Hardware Cloth, kept the Kittens out, but the addition of Fine Mesh Window Screening, kept the Dust to near Zero! Dust seems to be the biggest complaint of Indoor Brooding. We lined the carpet with a Water Proof Tarp and set the brooder on top. 4" of Pine Shavings and 2 Cups of Sweet PDZ, Horse Stall Deoderizer, with daily turning and Bi-weekly replacement, kept the smell down as well...JJ

This Brooder can be Set up and Taken down and stored in minutes...

 

[slippednfell]

Well, we just jumped in with both feet as well. We have a spare bathroom, which is where the ducklings were brooded until ready to go out to the duck house we built, which is in an enclosure on a corner of our 1.5 acre pond. The chicks were brooded in a very large storage tote with the top cut out and hardware cloth screwed into the plastic frame. They were put in an area that is tucked away but near the spare bathroom. The keets came after the ducks were out so we started them in the spare bathroom but with temps high here, we moved them outside after two or three weeks. They are in a dog crate that is completely covered on all sides with 1/2" hardware cloth, attached with a zillion zip ties. They are going to their coop in the next week or so.

Words of experience: ducks are filthy and the next time will go out sooner than we did with our first batch. After a while, chicks get very dusty!!! All are smelly after a point.

I would recommend you keep them in an area free from drafts and high humidity.

Good luck!

 

[sealer39]

but the addition of Fine Mesh Window Screening, kept the Dust to near Zero!

You could have mentioned that in a thread earlier this spring before I brooded 3 Speckled Sussex and 4 Leghorns in my KITCHEN PANTRY!!
I came home one day to discover they all learned how to dust bathe at the same time. They went to the coop that evening.

Just kidding of course, that’s a great idea. I’ll be framing up a screen for my next brood!

BTW, I don’t store food in the pantry. It’s on an opposite wall of an open floor plan kitchen/dining area and I use it for a tool/supply closet.

 

[MROO]

The birds were got in April, spent 15 weeks in our Living Room. We built the Brooder below from Lumnah Acres, with one change. The Hardware Cloth, kept the Kittens out, but the addition of Fine Mesh Window Screening, kept the Dust to near Zero! Dust seems to be the biggest complaint of Indoor Brooding. We lined the carpet with a Water Proof Tarp and set the brooder on top. 4" of Pine Shavings and 2 Cups of Sweet PDZ, Horse Stall Deoderizer, with daily turning and Bi-weekly replacement, kept the smell down as well...JJ

Window screening! What a GREAT idea! We're getting ready to set up the incubator for one last run before the cold sets in (what an awful thought) and I just happen to have a roll of screening stashed around here ... somewhere ...

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We had a good-sized existing coop with not many hens, when we ordered 24 baby chicks last spring. Three did not survive. We brooded the survivors is our well house in a brooder with a heat lamp. It worked out well. There came a time when we needed to move them outside so we put up a grow-out pen adjacent to the older girls' pen where they could "see but not touch" each other. It was made of panels of chain-link fencing and was originally a dog kennel, but worked great. We also got a kind of plastic storage shed for theor coop.

They no longer needed heat by this time but we left them a little night-light. Their food was separate, no layer food for them! We provided grit in a separate dish.

After a month I combined their food with the big girls' all flock and there was also oyster shell in adddition to the grit although they were a month away from laying yet. I left the gate open between the two pens. It took several days before they realized they could explore each other's digs, but there were no problems, they integrated just fine. And now I have one big flock, so yahoo!