Ideas for Makeshift Brooder Box??

[emmad15]

Hello everyone! So its my family's first time having baby chicks and as of right now our 4 chicks are approximately 3 weeks old. Until this point, we've kept them in a clear plastic storage bin, with of course shavings and a red heat lamp and food. Now that they're older, more energetic, and bigger, the makeshift brooder box is getting too small for them. Does anyone have ideas for things we could use to make them a better home? We have a chicken coop ready but we don't know how old they have to be to go in it, we're thinking they're too young. Thanks so much!

 

[junebuggena]

Wardrobe box from U-Haul. And they probably don't need a full strength heat lamp bulb any longer. It's time to start weaning them off heat, so reducing the wattage of the bulb, or using an extension cord with a dimmer switch can help get them used to lower temps and encourage feather development.

 

[blackdog043]

What June said. You can also use a few boxes and connect them together. It helps knowing your location to answer some questions better, like when can they move into the coop. That depends on outside temps, your heat source, how old and how feathered out they are.

 

[emmad15]

Oh great!! Thank you so much! Didn't know about that heat lamp thing, we will definitely get started on weaning them off it! We live in rural New England, so it seems that all dangers of frost have passed and it's started to warm up, it's been rainy recently though. The chicks are a little over 3 weeks old.

 

[mistycolleen]

i have four brooders right now.....the last one i just set up today is not pictured but is a large rubbermaid tote......

an old trunk i had.....

this old pine box i almost sold a month ago that has worked out so perfect i plan on keeping it just for this reason......
and this swimming pool with plastic sides added

 

[azygous]

If your coop is ready for occupancy, there is no good reason why you can't move the chicks right in unless you have no electricity to it.

If you had been weaning your chicks off heat, they would no longer require heat during the day at age three weeks. By four weeks, heat weaned chicks usually don't require heat at night if the temps are above freezing.

What I would do is turn off the heat during the day, and reduce it at night. After two or three days of that, you may move them into the coop with reduced heat only at night. They should also be good to go into their run during the day starting right away.

I have two-week old chicks that are in their run all day with no heat other than a very occasional warmup under their broody hen, and we just came off a really wicked winter storm with temps in the 40s during the day. It doesn't take much acclimatizing and chicks handle cool temperatures quite easily as long as they are at least partially feathered.