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Oh, so the weather people DIDN'T make it up!!!
Sounds like a lot of roof work still ahead potentially - stay safe up there! At least you guys are getting precipitation, I guess...
I'm tired - I DON'T WANNA DO MY CHORES!!!!!!
(Well, that didn't help me feel any better - guess I ought to go ahead and do 'em...)
- Ant Farm
What kind of chicks do you hatch? My babies are smaller than milk caps for about the 1st 4 weeks so i just use rubbermaid tubs and these brooder plates..Thanks! I made it as a mini version of my big brooder that I designed for large batches of chicks - that one is 6x3 and 3ft tall. Worked great - and I can put a divider in the middle when I have two groups of chicks that I want to eventually merge. After last year's brooding was over, it turned into my chicken infirmary, and I decided that I wasn't sure I could clean it sufficiently to put babies back in (and also I like having it available for injured birds at a moment's notice). So I'm building two more, and they'll go over in the little "main house" (the one with the leaky roof that I treat as storage and garage).
Here it is partially set up last year for the first of two batches of chicks 1 week apart. The divider is screen and it comes out.
This little one (2x4) I built because I realized I would want something nearby for hatching and for their first nights to hear them if they wandered away from the MHP and got cold. I'll move them when they get bigger - I'll need to brood them indoors longer anyhow because it's so early in the year (even here in Texas - after all, it was 21F this AM!!!)
Agreed!
Ugh... TMI...
- Ant Farm
Oh, so the weather people DIDN'T make it up!!!
Sounds like a lot of roof work still ahead potentially - stay safe up there! At least you guys are getting precipitation, I guess...
I'm tired - I DON'T WANNA DO MY CHORES!!!!!!
(Well, that didn't help me feel any better - guess I ought to go ahead and do 'em...)
- Ant Farm
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Various large fowl - mostly naked necks. Also, sometimes get shipments of chicks (and those will be 20-25 in a brooder). I designed this after being completely fed up after brooding a group of chicks. I can keep 25 chicks in one of these things very comfortably for 6 weeks, so that's handy. I also built this so that it's a lot more pleasant for me - it's on a table and the chicks are at eye level when I'm sitting down, I don't have to loom over them (and frighten them) to tend them or change water, really easy to clean. And I seem to always hatch escape artists/early fliers, so this allows some vertical room without allowing escapes.
I had the Brinsea heating panels, but didn't end up liking them as much as a "Mama Heating Pad" that I put together. So I gave the panels away and use the MHP instead. In one case I needed to move them outside at 4 weeks (Naked necks, so fewer feathers), so I moved a large MHP out into their coop with them. That worked well when we had a cold snap. While I can do that again if I need to, I'd rather move them out when they don't need heat any more this year, hence the multiple brooders...
Just ate some fruitcake. Can you tell I'm avoiding chores?!
- Ant Farm
Edit to add: OK, so it's a little snug for the chicks after 5 weeks...
I scaled down my LF for now.. More seramas and time for the shows. The are easier for me with my wrist issue and I like the tabletop competition and the friends I've made. I have more than enough for eggs for us and whoever else seems to want them.. yeah chores...Various large fowl - mostly naked necks. Also, sometimes get shipments of chicks (and those will be 20-25 in a brooder). I designed this after being completely fed up after brooding a group of chicks. I can keep 25 chicks in one of these things very comfortably for 6 weeks, so that's handy. I also built this so that it's a lot more pleasant for me - it's on a table and the chicks are at eye level when I'm sitting down, I don't have to loom over them (and frighten them) to tend them or change water, really easy to clean. And I seem to always hatch escape artists/early fliers, so this allows some vertical room without allowing escapes.
I had the Brinsea heating panels, but didn't end up liking them as much as a "Mama Heating Pad" that I put together. So I gave the panels away and use the MHP instead. In one case I needed to move them outside at 4 weeks (Naked necks, so fewer feathers), so I moved a large MHP out into their coop with them. That worked well when we had a cold snap. While I can do that again if I need to, I'd rather move them out when they don't need heat any more this year, hence the multiple brooders...
Just ate some fruitcake. Can you tell I'm avoiding chores?!
- Ant Farm
Edit to add: OK, so it's a little snug for the chicks after 5 weeks...
I scaled down my LF for now.. More seramas and time for the shows. The are easier for me with my wrist issue and I like the tabletop competition and the friends I've made. I have more than enough for eggs for us and whoever else seems to want them.. yeah chores...
Its both Whites... TENS unit at therapy helps with pain for a bit but the weather is terrible for the hand and wrist. When he did the surgery he found there was ligament involvement that couldnt be repaired-only cleaned up and it doesn't get blood flow to heal. its a mess but Im going to OT and hoping for the best-whatever that may be
Mine are only a pound each so they're used to cages. They dont know what to do in runs sometimes... But put em on a yoga mat or carpet on the table and watch em go!! hey are in their glory!!!
