How high should brooder side be?

[homeschoolmama]

My little chickie babies will be 2 weeks tommorrow and growing SO fast. My question as a newbie-how high do I need to have the brooders walls? Right now they are at 2 feet high. Some of the little darlings can really jump and flap quite high it seems to me. I'm sure they will be getting better at that and don't want one flapping over the side to get lost in the garage unable to get back to food, water and warmth.
Thanks

 

[new-roo]

It needs to be high enough to keep them in, or you need to put something over the top to keep them in. We ended up putting a babygate over top of ours. A old window screen would work too.

 

[JenMT]

Ditto...I have also used a baby gate and an old window screen...isn't that weird. The window screen was really nice because it allowed fresh air to move throughout the brooder and we could all see each other.

 

[embkm]

I'm going to say... taller than the side of a bathtub. Unless you want them to figure out how to get out but not get back in. Resulting in chick poo all over the bathroom and a few chicks screaming for you to come help them back in with their buddies. This especially needed in the middle of the night when you are barefoot.

 

[ScrmnWoody]

Mine is 2 feet high. My RIR chicks can jump up onto the side of it if I leave the top wire off. They were able to do this at 4 weeks old.

 

[homeschoolmama]

Thanks
I can see them doing that... I think I'll need to work on a mesh lid of some kind-the baby gate I have and screens are plastic and I'm afraid I'll melt them with the heat lamp-or maybe it will be so high by then it won't be an issue.

 

[ScrmnWoody]

I just put some 2" x 4" wire across the top. It's strong enough not to bend (like the hexagonal chicken wire), but small enough holes that the chickens can't get out. There might be some pics of it on my blog.

 

[homeschoolmama]

Thanks
I'm pondering some sort of wire top. I'll go to restore and see if they have any big enough sreens w/ metal screening instead of plastic. It will work out. I like your high rise feeders-where did you get those? I'm using some homemade ones that are working well for now but the last 2 mornings I've gone in and they've flipped them over-I think they were pretty empty by that point and they were probably hungry/frustrated-I put a second feeder in this morning and we'll see how it goes. they also manage to poop in them.