Homemade Brooder

[koakritters]

SO after looking at all the pics on here of brooders, i figured it would be pretty easy to make one.

I took my old rabbit cage that was once used for a one legged duck i had (i'm given anything and everything that has a 'problem' with it... ) and cleaned it up real good. then i took some thin wood and with my dad's help since i can't cut straight, i cut the pieces to fit securely in 3 of the sides for warmth, painted them gray, and zip-tied them to the sides. and found a place for it in my room!

i'm going tomorrow to get stuff for it, am i missing anything on my list?
heatlamp- got one already
feeder
waterer
chick starter food
bedding/shavings
something for them to play on

what else? i've never had more than 2 chicks at a time and always raised them in an aquarium, but with my new found obsession of hatching eggs i figured i should go bigger.

here's a pic, what do you think? does it look okay for little chicks?

 

[Randy]

That ought to work just fine.

 

[chickpeaz]

Looks good! Excellent repurposing.

Just make sure you have something besides the cage wire to clamp the heat lamp to. It might be kind of close even at first, and as they get bigger you'll want to be able to move it farther up from the cage floor. Maybe find some way to attach a board or a piece of PVC to the side of the cage, so you can raise and lower the heat lamp on it as needed?