I will never......

[gal_amy]

Quote:
Can you tell me at what age they start to smell? I have 13 in my basement. DH just has to finish the inside of our chicken house, as it's around 10 degrees at night.

 

[yoie]

I have mine in the house right now. My girls (4 & 2) keep setting chairs up to the brooder to watch them (clear sides). Its better than fish! Though my hubby keeps saying "boy did they get big" and they are only 1 1/2 weeks old!!

 

[FMAFarms]

If you change their pine shavings daily and keep their water fresh, they really shouldn't smell at all. There are lots of folks who toss more pine shavings onto the poop and keep building layer after layer of combined poop and pine. That's great for composting, but it's majorly stinky for the inside of a home. I'd rather go to the effort of keeping my brooder clean. It's not a big deal... think how many diapers most of us have changed. These are babies, too!

Our brooder is right behind me. I can literally reach back and touch it. But I've cleared a 56 square foot area of the basement for when they need a little more room before moving out to the freezing Michigan spring.

 

[Judy]

I agree with the OP, absolutely never again. The smell was not the problem, the dust was, or their dander, whatever. They feather out faster and, I feel, are healthier growing up outside with a mama, anyway.

 

[Shad64]

Quote:
What's working for me is folding an old towel in thirds, and leaving it under the feeder/waterer, and changing it twice a day for the ducks. Of course, I've only got 3 in there, with a whole clutch I'd be changing the towel about every hour

DW doesn't complain much about the nasty towels as long as I wash them off outside before throwing in the washer, has worked for about 3 weeks now!

-Ben

 

[sourland]

Never say never. It's amazing how we forget.

 

[HHandbasket]

We have a big brooder in the livingroom that Farmer Lew built last weekend & it's pretty neat. Our house is very tiny, but it is just the 2 of us here so it's not so bad. That entire section of livingroom has been redesignated as a hobby area anyway a long time ago, as I do beadwork and jewelry design and various other small handicrafts, and DH draws, paints, designs, builds, etc.--we are just hobby-type folk. My beads have all been put away for the time being & the brooder and incubators have somewhat taken over. But as I said, it's just us & it's not so bad.

We are going to add viewing windows to the front of the brooder so that when our 2-year-old grandson comes over, he can watch the chicks without us having to lift him up and watch them from the top.

I think if we were more social people, had a nicer house, had carpet, or had more company, we would probably avoid brooding in the house. I am glad, though, that this next group will hatch the 2nd week of March & the weather will be better. I'd like to be able to put them outside in a grow-out pen by the middle of April--that'd be nice!

 

[FoodKillah]

I only have 1 chick 10 days old in a brooder, and it does smell. Well its not the brooder its the incubator and i still have the fan on and that makes the things worse. I wouldnt keep on brooding chicks inside tho, i cant even imagine how 20 or 10 or even 5 or 2 chicks would smell like, if just one smells like that.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I set my brooder up in the coop from day 1. As long as it is predator proof, draft-free, and you can keep one area in the brooder the correct temperature, they do great.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
I very much agree with this. And what Ridgerunner said. My brooder raised chicks (brooded outside) do absolutely fine. The broody raised chicks are doing even better. Still trying to figure out how she kept them warm on a few nights of single digit temps., but gosh she did it and I love her!