I have four eggs set to hopefully hatch the first of the week and was faced with the fact that my primary brooder is being occupied by 5 3 week old chicks I purchased at Orscheln's 2 weeks ago.
First off, I recycle everything I can. We have so much stuff that we save for such projects and it's my habit to use what is on hand and buy the minimum. Sure, the store bought brooders are great but creativity is better and hey, as long as they are safe and warm and well fed, the chicks don't know the difference between high tech and a Walmart box.
My supplies were a large plastic tote, a roll of half inch hardware cloth, the discared dust cover to an old stereo and a handfull of cable ties. Tools were a pair of wire cutters, a hole puncher and a box cutter to cut out the holes for the hardware cloth and the plexiglass dust cover. Construction is pretty self explanatory. The biggest hurdle was burning through the quarter inch plexiglass. I used a solder gun for that and if you go that route, make sure you do your melting outside as the fumes are pretty potent.
I plan to use a heat lamp situated over the larger hardware cloth opening on the top of the lid and an arduino powered heat regulator but you can go with a simple slide type control cord that you can use to adjust light levels from a lamp with the same results. I was just blessed with a husband who is a genius when it comes to electronics.
Here is the finished brooder waiting to be wiped out and filled with chips:
First off, I recycle everything I can. We have so much stuff that we save for such projects and it's my habit to use what is on hand and buy the minimum. Sure, the store bought brooders are great but creativity is better and hey, as long as they are safe and warm and well fed, the chicks don't know the difference between high tech and a Walmart box.
My supplies were a large plastic tote, a roll of half inch hardware cloth, the discared dust cover to an old stereo and a handfull of cable ties. Tools were a pair of wire cutters, a hole puncher and a box cutter to cut out the holes for the hardware cloth and the plexiglass dust cover. Construction is pretty self explanatory. The biggest hurdle was burning through the quarter inch plexiglass. I used a solder gun for that and if you go that route, make sure you do your melting outside as the fumes are pretty potent.
I plan to use a heat lamp situated over the larger hardware cloth opening on the top of the lid and an arduino powered heat regulator but you can go with a simple slide type control cord that you can use to adjust light levels from a lamp with the same results. I was just blessed with a husband who is a genius when it comes to electronics.
Here is the finished brooder waiting to be wiped out and filled with chips:
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! Thanks!
