How Big of A Brooder?

I go with the cardboard boxes myself, but I'll be interested to see what other people think.

 

I just got some baby bantams today and I am using a plastic storage box. Easy clean up! I would put newspaper down because plastic can make the chicks toes crooked and it is slick. But hey they work.

Mike the Rooster Man

 

I went to U-haul and got one of their big boxes. I started off just using half of it and then later expanded it (took out the partition I had added) as they got bigger.

I put it in a large metal dog cage of similar size and hung my brooder light in a corner with a metal hanger. I always used paper towels with pine shavings.

I hope to do the same thing next Sunday or Monday with the same box after I have wiped it down well with Clorox.

 

We raised 25 chicks last spring in our second bathroom. They all stayed in the bathtub for about 2 weeks, when they got pretty crowded. Then DH built a 4' x 5' box that they stayed in until 4 weeks - when they got really crowded again. At that time, we got rid of 16, and the remaining 9 stayed in the same box until 6 weeks when we moved them outside to the coop. We're no experts, but it worked last year, so we're planning on using the same brooder again this year.

 

I use the plastic storage boxs you find a Wal Mart and other type stores. I use the largest size and cut two holes that allow my lamps to just over, I cover these holes with hardware cloth (metal wire with little square holes). I then put pine shavings to cover the bottom and use two light sources for heat. when your chicks are moved to a growing area I simply wash out the plastic storage box and it is ready for the next batch.

 

Quote:I was trying to convince my mom to let me do the same exact thing, but I had no such luck!!!

 

What I built in my garage today:

Used an exterior garage wall for one side.

Used the back of a shelving unit for another side.

Used two huge hollow-core sliding doors from a bedroom closet remodel for the last two sides.

Put bird-netting from the garden center over the top, a shower-liner from walmart with six inches of shavings on the bottom.

Held it all together with zip-ties, string and staples so I can take it apart.

Now I have a 7'X10" brooder!

 

Quote:That's bigger than my coop!!!

 

FYI - Virginia Tech., Oregon State Universite and University of Missouri all list brooder space requirements for chicks up to 8 weeks of age as 1 sq. ft.

I have done two batches of 25 chicks in a 4 x 5 brooder and it can be done, but it is really too small. Wall to wall chickens.