I need a bigger brooder, fast! UPDATED in #19!

[Noymira]

Quote:
Thanks! I would not leave them in the playpen as is for any period of time unsupervised without something more secure on top, I wouldn't leave them in that overnight, I think a determined predator could rip through the slats completely. This is just so they can get out while I'm home with my daughter in the early evenings. I'm going to build in a separate area in our coop (with a door to it's own run) since I'll be integrating the 5 pullets with the hens as soon as we finish it, then once they are all set together the chicks will go in that area until they are bigger. We don't have anyone in the coop yet, the 2 hens are in a tractor, the 5 pullets are in quarantine in an old turkey pen. It will certainly be easier when they are all in one place!

 

[Noymira]

Quote:
Thanks for the offer! I'm going to ask my husband's aunt to check at the grocery store she works at to see if they have something I could use. My husband also works at a music store, so I'm going to have him look for big shipping boxes before they break them down for recycling.

 

[MarinMama]

Quote:
Thanks for the offer! I'm going to ask my husband's aunt to check at the grocery store she works at to see if they have something I could use. My husband also works at a music store, so I'm going to have him look for big shipping boxes before they break them down for recycling.

yeah, it is watermelon season so should be pretty easy to get. I just asked the guy in produce for a box...he said he did not have 1 at the moment but would in a few days and hold it for me and he did. they even brought it out to my car and put it in back.

it is PERFECT because the lid makes it easy to contain the chicks. the sides are very strong so even when my kids are peering in, grabbing chicks it supports them.

 

[TripTrapMtnHomestead]

Quote:
wow this is a great idea!! thanks!

 

[WriterChick]

I had the same problem a week ago! I made a hoop house type construction using an old hollow core door I had in the basement, a bunch of recycled cardboard, schedule 40 PVC pipe (1/2 inch), the cheapest chicken wire I could find, an old blanket, some rug hooking canvas and lots (and lots and lots) of duct tape. Eleven girls in my flock and they love their new digs. I blogged about it, so you can see how I constructed it here: http://cricklewoodfarm.com/blog/?p=363

The video shows the stages of construction. Good luck (oh, and the new temporary digs cost me around $30 in new materials)!

 

[Ridgerunner]

At five weeks old, yours should be fully feathered out so they really don't need the heat. It could make your life easier and the brooder safer if you don't have a heat lamp to contend with.

 

[Noymira]

Quote:
I agree, but I've been worried since our basement stays pretty cool (walk-out built into a bank) and we had outside temps of 38-45 the other night, but they are fully feathered. This morning was the first time I turned their heat lamp off, I was thinking of weaning them off the lamp this week by just running it at night for a few more days. This week is supposed to be 80-90 outside, but our basement will not get much warmer than 65 even in that heat.

 

[Gunternomad]

Here is a simple brooder design that I made for the workshop chicks

 

[Noymira]

Here's what I came up with....

I had two shutter panels left from my play-pen project for the chicks. I also had some short pressure treated pieces of lumber from a swing set I recycled. The wire panels are from a folding dog crate. I put painting drop cloth and a piece of cardboard on top of that for the "floor". It's not fancy, but should get us through a few more weeks until the coop is ready!