Foam insulation board hover brooder

[Ad97]

Has anyone ever made a hover/Ohio brooder out of foam insulation board? I'd like to build one but I'm trying to decide on materials. I plan on putting a brooder plate in it instead of the heat lamp and also using an incandescent light bulb for the light. Maybe try and make it to where I can assembly and disassemble easily for storage. It will be going in my coop. I can't keep the chicks in the house due to the dust

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Has anyone ever made a hover/Ohio brooder out of foam insulation board? I'd like to build one but I'm trying to decide on materials. I plan on putting a brooder plate in it instead of the heat lamp and also using an incandescent light bulb for the light. Maybe try and make it to where I can assembly and disassemble easily for storage. It will be going in my coop. I can't keep the chicks in the house due to the dust

Not exactly, but I've observed that any foam insulation is hugely attractive to chickens and chicks to peck. So it should be completely covered in some way, like with packing tape, or cardboard (they can't peck cardboard that well and tear it apart when they're small chicks, but loose edges they will).

I see your profile says "ISO Florida..." Are you in Florida?

The main thing with brooders, wherever you brood, is to provide draft-free ventilation, a dry area to roam, and a good place to go and warm up. You don't need insulation necessarily, as long as the chicks can get up against the plate, but that depends on how cold your climate is. A brooder plate in ambient 10F will probably not be enough. That being said, many people make "mama heating pads" in many forms and use them in winter, one of which I've seen is a small styrofoam box (surface covered so they don't eat it) with a heating pad or brooder plate in it, within their larger brooding area.

Just need to keep everything dry (thus my caution about insulation, which traps moisture!) and draft-free, yet with air exchange.

I've brooded chicks inside and have not noticed lots of dust though. Little feathers (so cute) and the shed pin feather encasements. But I don't provide a super dusty dustbath, just some real dirt, and large pine shavings after the first few days.

 

[Major_in_MS]

A brooder plate will not work in an "Ohio Brooder," the brooder plate requires the chicks to be able to press up against the plate for warmth.

The basic concept behind the Ohio Brooder is that it provides an insulated draft free area that can be warmed efficiently by lower wattage heat lamps or even regular bulbs. I'm currently using a 2' x 4' Ohio Brooder with two 175 watt red heat bulbs with 4 inches of pine shavings on top for insulation. I built mine from the instructions on this website.