I made a brooder out of a garden utility dump cart that attaches behind my riding mower. I just made a frame out of 2x4's and put on some 1/2 inch hardware cloth for the cover. I used wood chips for the deep litter and just keeping adding fresh wood chips as needed over the course of about 8 weeks. Most of the time a little stirring/fluffing of the litter was all that was needed to keep it clean. Since the temps were in the 20F's when I got my chicks, I put the brooder in my attached garage and had heat lamps on the chicks 24/7. There was no smell except for the wood chips themselves. Dander was minimal for the first 6 weeks, but I started to notice it after then. The last 2 weeks the temps outside got up to the 60F's, and inside the garage it was in the 70F's, and I had to start adding more wood chips to keep the smell under control. I did not clean out the deep litter until I moved the chicks to their new coop at week 8. The deep litter in the brooder at that point was about 5-6 inches deep and did not smell.
My wife never complained about the chicks in the garage as the smell was always under control and the dander was not an issue until the very end. In the double car garage, there is a lot of air volume and the dander was minimal. The wood chips deep litter kept the smell under control very well. Having said that, I would not want to brood my chicks in the house because I think the dander would be a problem in a small spare room or bathroom. Although the wood chips kept the smell under control in the garage, I don't know how well that would have worked in the house in a small room.
I wanted to have the brooder in my attached garage because of the low outside temps (20F's) when I got the chicks and I needed to make sure my heat lamps were always on keeping the chicks warm. Also, it was easy for me to go out into the garage to check up on the chicks. I also had a power out alarm set up on my garage electrical circuit so I could hear the alarm go off if the electricity went out.
My wife never complained about the chicks in the garage as the smell was always under control and the dander was not an issue until the very end. In the double car garage, there is a lot of air volume and the dander was minimal. The wood chips deep litter kept the smell under control very well. Having said that, I would not want to brood my chicks in the house because I think the dander would be a problem in a small spare room or bathroom. Although the wood chips kept the smell under control in the garage, I don't know how well that would have worked in the house in a small room.
I wanted to have the brooder in my attached garage because of the low outside temps (20F's) when I got the chicks and I needed to make sure my heat lamps were always on keeping the chicks warm. Also, it was easy for me to go out into the garage to check up on the chicks. I also had a power out alarm set up on my garage electrical circuit so I could hear the alarm go off if the electricity went out.
