Help me brainstorm!

[Rozzie]

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[Rozzie]

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[JJMR794]

Rozzi Your Working Too Hard To Do All This

You Were Closer With Your Brainstorm When You Thought Of The Sterilite Totes.... This Is Just For Your Consideration But Will Be 1. More Durable For Wear Over Time. 2. Way Less Labor Intensive To Make And Or Clean 3. Way Cheaper Throughout

Here's How I Brood Chicks--- I Do Thousands A Year Like This And Am A Single Father Who Works Full Time And Parents Alone, So I Have Fine Tuned It To Be Both Maximum Cost Effective And Efficient In Use

30 Gal Rubbermaid Or Sterilite Totes ( Cheapest Place- Big Lots, Or Dollar General Store) With Lid
Cut The Middle 2/3's Out Of The Lid And Zip Tie Chicken Wire Or Handware Cloth Over The Opening
These And A Stack Of Towels Are The Basics--- Here's How It Works Here:

Whats That Sound? Peepin' Coming From The Hatcher? Uh=ho Better Set Up A Brooder--- Out To The Barn We Go!
Grab The Following.... 1 Tote Bin With Lid, 1 Towel, 1 Light Assembly, A Water Font, And An Open Feed Dish.... Drag 'em Back In The House And Assemble--- Towel For Flooring/ Bedding, Water Font Filled And Ready, Food Dish Filled And Ready--- Dig Through My Pocket And Find A Nickel Or Dime... There We Go Throw That On Top Of The Food, Place The Lid Over The Brooder, Plug In Light Assembly And Turn On.... Quietly Curse While Fetching A New Light And Changing Out The Bulb... Then Allow To Warm Up For A Few Minutes, Then Fetch The New Fuzzballs And Insert Into Their Temporary Nursery.

Time Goes By...... Brooder Needs Cleaning....

See Brooder Assembly Above! Once Done Change Over Light And Babies To New Clean Brooder And Drag Old Dirty Brooder Outside... This Can Be Cleaned At My Leisure(yeah Right As If That Ever Happened!....)

For Brooder Cleaning Day I Simply Remove The Towels And Rinse Thouroughly With The Hose To Remove All Solid Debries... The Brooder Lid Gets Sprayed Off And Set Up To Dry... The Food And Water Fonts Get Disassembled And Set Aside For A Moment. The Brooder Gets Sprayed Out To Remove As Much As Possible, Then Filled With Bleach Water And Allowed To Saok For At Least 30 Min. The Dirty Food And Water Dishes Are Placed In The Bleach Water Solution And Allowed To Soak As Well For Sanitization. Once Done The Bleach Water Is Poored Off Into The Next Brooder Or Discarded And The Now Clean Brooder Is Rinsed And Allowed To Completely Air Dry And Placed On The Bottom Of The Brooder Stack For Re-use Later As Needed. The Towels Get Laundered With Strong Bleach Solution And Dried Outdoors On Clothesline And Folded For Later Reuse. I Have A Cabinet 1/2 Full Of Feed Dishes, Water Fonts In Various Sizes And New Light Bulbs. I Have 1 Couple Of Dozen Light Fixtures For Heating That Hang In The Brooder Room. I Keep Extra Set-ups Ready To Go At A Moments Notice And If I Have A Water Font Leak Or A Surprize Hatch Or Just Need A Brooder Everything Is Out There Ready For Use Or Re-use. Its Just A Revolving Cycle.... About Every 2 Yrs Or So The Totes Will Just Wear Out And Start Cracking And Need Replaced--- I Do This In A Gentle Ongoing Manner--- I Pick Up Some When I Think About It And Add Them To The Bin Stack--- As They Wear Out I Send Them To The Garbage. The Lids Seem To Outlast The Bins And As Long As You Get The Same Size And Type Of Tote Are Readily Used On The New Brooders--- This Helps Reduce Any Labor Needed To Replace Worn Out Equipment And Expense As Well---- So Long As You Use Metal Wire In The Lids You Can Set Your Light Directly On The Wire Without Difficulties--- Kinda Handy When Heating A Brooder. I Actually Have A Shelf System In My Brooder Room That Can House 3 Tiers Of Totes At Any Time Along 2 1/2 Walls .... I Currently Have 12 Brooders On The Floor Or Lower Level, 8 On The Middle Level And 4 On The Top Level With Many Empty Spaces Left Open At This Time

Most Of The Expense Is Re-useable Equipment---- Water Fonts, Feeders, Lids, Light Assemblies Etc...

I Dont Know If That Will Work For You But It Has Been Working Very Well Here For Years. The Brooders Work Great For Infirmaries, Long Term Housing, Emergency Housing, Moving Birds, Or Just About Any Reason To Contain A Bird Short Or Long Term. Couple It With A Rack Or Shelf System And You Have A Brooder Area

 

[JJMR794]

Forgot To Add.... For Older Birds And Chicks (once Spraddle Leg Is No Longer A Possible Problem) I Change From Towels To Old Newspaper For Bedding. The Difference Is The Towels Will Wear Longer With Less Use And The Newspaper Is Disposable And Free.

 

[Rozzie]

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[shelleyd2008]

Seriously, use a rubbermaid tote. I've never had one injure itself by 'boinking'. If you're all that worried about it, cut the center of the lid out (around the 'seams' that are 2-3" from the sides) and put window screen or 1/2" hardware cloth on it. Then just tip the lid up enough to put feed and water in the pen, they learn real quick to move to the other side. When you are cleaning, use a small dust pan and scoop the bedding out, but lay a large beach towel over the top of the cage so they don't escape. You really don't need a 'cage' for buttons, they are very easy to please. Plus the opaqueness of the rubbermaid's sides (if you get a 'clear' one) gives them a bigger sense of security since not everything is going to scare them when it goes by.

ETA: I wouldn't recommend cages made from wood and wire for buttons. They should never be on wire, and most wood would be pretty difficult to clean properly. You can always get a 'pretty' tote and cut the side out, then you'd be able to see them pretty good and they'd still have that sense of security

 

[BWKatz]

How bout a xmas tree tote? It would be bigger and u can get it with wheels.

 

[JJMR794]

I Have 2 Pairs Of Buttons That Have Never Been Housed In Anything But The Tote Brooders.... Both Are Over 2 Yrs Old. If It Helps They Make Lots Of Pretty Colored Totes Now...

The Biggest Problem I See With Cloth Is Moisture.... It Will Get Wet And Be Difficult To Clean, As Well As Allow Moisture To Seep Thru The Fabric Onto Whatever You Have It Sitting On. Whereas The Tote You Just Get A Few More Than You Need... When Cleaning Day Comes Simply Set Up A New One And Transfer The Lil Boogers And Your Done.... You Can Then Clean And Sanitize The Dirty Tote At Your Leisure

 

[CoopCrazy]

I agree with the sterilite tubs... I just used one of the clear ones and used windo screen for the top .. Its springy so no head injuries...

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
I built GQF style roll out pens then mounted them on 5'-6' pieces of PVC pipe with hose clamps they work well for my corturnix. David from Plain View farms built some nice button quail cages last year about Christmas there is a picture of them here some where.