I need your pictures! Plastic Tub Brooder and Chick Corral Brooder!

[CHlCKEN]

I need pictures of your Plastic Tub Brooders and Chick Corral Brooders, and permission for using both in my article located in my signature.

 

[CHlCKEN]

Anyone

 

[parvani]

Getting my Sterilite-storage-bin brooders camera-ready. Please be patient -- your readers don't want to see how messy they can get between cleanings!

 

[parvani]

You have my permission to use, crop, and publish any or all of the photographs I post in this thread. Please consider them in the public domain, and use them if they are useful to you.

Here's my set up for day-old chicks.

I really like the standard Miller waterer, but their chick waterers spill and leak all over the bedding (paper towels). Bleah.

Even the standard waterer tends to spill, so I found a shallow plastic bowl that has a low rim for the chicks, but is still high enough to keep the water off the bedding. Because dry chicks are happy chicks!

I used a box cutter to cut the bottom out of the bottle for easier refilling. I know some people just take the bottle off for chicks, because they don't eat that much -- but the bottle prevents the chicks from roosting on their feed and pooping into it.

The paper towel bedding sections you can see are all four layers thick. So there are 12 layers over most of the bottom of the brooder.

I use paper towels because they're easy to change, and the white surface helps me see right away if any of my chicks are in trouble. Liquid poops, blood spots, wet chicks, etc. can't hide under loose litter in my brooders.

The heat bulb is 80 watts. It gets VERY hot, so it must be set well above the heads of the tallest chicks.

I keep the plastic lid on for the first week or so to help keep the chicks warm, but wide open for ventilation. As the chicks grow, the warming bulb must be moved higher, and the lid must be moved further back. If the chicks complain of the draft, I drape a light scarf over the gap, but leave plenty of space around the bulb for ventilation and safety.

(Cont'd next post)

 

[parvani]

Same set up, but for bigger chicks.

Birds like to roost; and when they roost on the edge of their watering bowl, they knock it over and it spills everywhere.

To solve this problem, I fasten a plastic bowl to the corner with duct tape. Then I put another bowl inside it, and the waterer goes inside that.

Now I can easily change out both the waterer and the bowl that contains it on a daily basis. The lower bowl, the "holder", stays in place.

When the chicks get big enough to keep themselves warm, it's time to take away the heat bulb and give them more ventilation.

To cover the brooder, I made a simple metal frame out of stiff wire and covered it with a laundry sack, but I don't recommend it -- the drawstring and very fine threads that come loose have made a lot of potentially deadly mischief.

Bird netting or window screening would be a better choice. I'll be making that improvement this week, before my Crevecoeur babies get big enough to get caught in this evil netting!

I'll take more photos when I have the new covers made.