We didn't get finished with even ONE new brooder.... I have chicks that need a home ASAP! We worked some today but maybe tomorrow we will finish one enough I can move some chicks into their new home. I will not have the waterer or feeder set up but I can use the good old reg ones for a few days. I am super excited these are looking GREAT and I keep having ideas to make it even better...... causes more delays but in the end will make for a better brooder. I took a few pics today.... I know it looks total unfinished but it will only lack doors side wall and lights when we finish the floors of each brooder.
This pic shows the oil pan we built the brooder around. It is about 25 inches wide and 47 inches long. We made a frame to hold the pan. You can see to the left there is an area that will be for the heat emitter and light. My son is going to work on making all this work on some kind of circuit board. Each section will have a thermostat to control the temp and one to control the lights maybe. Might be easier to put that on a reg timer. The water will be nipples on the outside right wall. Going to use chicken wire so they can get their head out to get the water.... this is a working idea and may evolve to something else. There will be 3 separate brooders all the same size. We are going to make 3 of these for 9 brooders. One is for LF chicks I am keeping. One will be for bantams or SPECIAL breeds I need to give special care to. The 3rd will be for my Roo guys birds and chicks that will be for sale. It is just going to be a little easier to keep everyone separate so I don't have to hunt for birds when I need to sell them.
This is a picture with the wire floor. I think I will make a FENCE to go in front of the doors to keep chicks from falling out when I have doors open. To the left I am going to put hardware cloth to keep the chicks out of the area of the heat emitter. Feeders will eventually be on the outside of the door to the right. I am going to use a gutter since it will hold more feed than a reg chick feeder. I would LOVE to be able to go away for a long weekend and not worry about feeding chicks.
If anyone has suggestions now would be the time......
This pic shows the oil pan we built the brooder around. It is about 25 inches wide and 47 inches long. We made a frame to hold the pan. You can see to the left there is an area that will be for the heat emitter and light. My son is going to work on making all this work on some kind of circuit board. Each section will have a thermostat to control the temp and one to control the lights maybe. Might be easier to put that on a reg timer. The water will be nipples on the outside right wall. Going to use chicken wire so they can get their head out to get the water.... this is a working idea and may evolve to something else. There will be 3 separate brooders all the same size. We are going to make 3 of these for 9 brooders. One is for LF chicks I am keeping. One will be for bantams or SPECIAL breeds I need to give special care to. The 3rd will be for my Roo guys birds and chicks that will be for sale. It is just going to be a little easier to keep everyone separate so I don't have to hunt for birds when I need to sell them.
This is a picture with the wire floor. I think I will make a FENCE to go in front of the doors to keep chicks from falling out when I have doors open. To the left I am going to put hardware cloth to keep the chicks out of the area of the heat emitter. Feeders will eventually be on the outside of the door to the right. I am going to use a gutter since it will hold more feed than a reg chick feeder. I would LOVE to be able to go away for a long weekend and not worry about feeding chicks.
If anyone has suggestions now would be the time......
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