GQF Brooders

[Pinckney]

I put together and started using a GQF Brooder this week for some 1 week old Muscovies. Love the concept but need to figure out how to keep my floor clean, which is what I expected this brooder to help with. I am graduating from a kiddie pool with hardware cloth and a hover plate.
They definitely need automatic water.
I haven't figured out the spacing of the openings to food and water. They aren't eating as much food as I expect, but it could be the vast difference in size between the old feeder and the huge trough (7 lbs of food).
Water trough needs to be filled up throughout the day but I'm just using 1 so I need to go to two. But they are making a mess on the floor which I was hoping to not have to deal with.
I'm still liking the upgrade but I'm wondering if the Brower brooder is better for ducklings? I've got another 35 shipping in 2 weeks so I was planning to go full board with 2 grow out pens and the additional brooder that they sell as a set.
Thoughts? Other than should I really be spending this kind of $ right now (with COVID 19)

As a side note I bought from Freedom Ranger and Metzger for delivery the same week just to see what the difference would be. I had planned to band them to distinguish between the 2 hatcheries but couldn't take the time needed due to work pressure. But my general impression was there was a noticeable difference between the 2 groups of birds. Metzger was the clear winner for how robust the birds looked.

 

[DiYMama540]

I'm not familiar with a GQF brooder...have any pics of it?

 

[DiYMama540]

Costs quite a bit of money up front, but I use a giant stock tank as my brooder.

Always plenty of room, easy to clean, and I'm not dealing with escapees!

 

[Pinckney]

This is the brooder http://www.gqfmfg.com/brooders/0534-universal-box-brooder/
I’ve got the second batch of ducklings arriving so spent some time cleaning the brooder between batches. The floor needed cleaning too.
The pull out tray works really well for the droppings.
For height it didn’t take long for them to grow too tall, so the extension is needed after 2 weeks so I ended up putting them in a stall in the barn.
I think I am going to put a sheet of plastic on the floor, maybe that will work well.
I will say they were much calmer in this thing versus the old setup.

 

[DuckyDonna]

This is the brooder http://www.gqfmfg.com/brooders/0534-universal-box-brooder/
I’ve got the second batch of ducklings arriving so spent some time cleaning the brooder between batches. The floor needed cleaning too.
The pull out tray works really well for the droppings.
For height it didn’t take long for them to grow too tall, so the extension is needed after 2 weeks so I ended up putting them in a stall in the barn.
I think I am going to put a sheet of plastic on the floor, maybe that will work well.
I will say they were much calmer in this thing versus the old setup.

I wouldn't use plastic if they are going to walk on it. Could cause a lot of leg problems.