Insulating an outdoor brooder

[Ironclay]

I wasn't sure if this was best put in the Baby Chicks forum or here.

I live in Louisiana and outdoor temps range between just below freezing in the dead of winter to 110 degrees in the summer. It tends to run warmer year round. I am building a custom brooder that I would like to have left permanently outside except in the absolute worst conditions (it will be moved into my shop on the handful of days per year that extremes are reached). I have a spot for it under my carport, where it will be up against a wall and out of the rain and always in shade.

It will be 8 feet long and just over 2 feet wide (so I can always reach the back, no matter where a chick runs off to). A 53" section is completely open -- the sides and floor are hardware half-inch hardware cloth. A shelf will sit below this where I'll clip in puppy pads to catch waste.

The other section will be fully enclosed with plywood and have a solid floor that I can remove to clean, and there will be a removable door so I can keep tiny baby chicks contained there or lock it up in more extreme cold. I'm considering putting light-controlled LEDs inside that box so confined chicks aren't just sitting in the dark during the daytime. There's just enough room for the brooder plate and food and water and a little run around space. ((The whole thing will function as a quarantine box for adult chickens, too, when there's no chicks around.))

So, my question is this: Should I make the closed-in section insulated? I can create a double-wall with two pieces of plywood all the way around -- but if I do this, what should I use as insulation between the plywood? How thick should it be to be optimal? What about the floor? The goal is to prevent them from cooking as well as getting too cold.

 

[azygous]

Ventilation is more important than insulation. Dark? Chicks need to be exposed to natural light from sunrise to sunset. It won't do the have a dark cave with LED lights.

How many times have you brooded chicks? From age two weeks on, they need space to run and exercise. They grow very quickly, and by age five weeks, they should be living in a coop with a run.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Unless your aim is to brood chicks in the dead of winter (which I wouldn't recommend) I can't see a need to insulate a brooder.

My brooder simply sits in the run year-round, rain, snow or shine. It's solid wood, but lots of open ventilation on the 2 longer sides. I generally get chicks in May.

 

[Ironclay]

Ventilation is more important than insulation. Dark? Chicks need to be exposed to natural light from sunrise to sunset. It won't do the have a dark cave with LED lights.

How many times have you brooded chicks? From age two weeks on, they need space to run and exercise. They grow very quickly, and by age five weeks, they should be living in a coop with a run.

I've brooded a couple of times. I currently raise chicks in my house, in extra rabbit and guinea pig cages and it's worked out well, but as you said: they need more space than that. Hence this 8-foot-long monstrosity.

The goal is to raise them in this area until they are feathered, and then they go to the grow-out coop. I'm not comfortable with the premature jumps I've been making from brooder to grow-out coop at 3 weeks.

The "brooder" section will only be closed for the first day or so, or when there's a specific need. This space will still be about 2x3.5 feet, even when closed.

My biggest concern isn't space, it's controlling temperature and ventilation, so I'm wondering what would be a healthy balance of air flow vs cold/boiling.

 

[Ironclay]

Unless your aim is to brood chicks in the dead of winter (which I wouldn't recommend) I can't see a need to insulate a brooder.

My brooder simply sits in the run year-round, rain, snow or shine. It's solid wood, but lots of open ventilation on the 2 longer sides. I generally get chicks in May.

View attachment 2594306

That makes me feel a lot more confidant in my current design. I do tend to get fall/winter babies, but like I said, our average temperature tends to run warm and I can always move them the one or one or so a year that is going to be a huge problem.

 

[aart]

They don't need anything but a windless place with some heat for when they get cold.
Then you can integrate into the main flock early.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll enclose a photo of my brooder to make it easier to talk about. This 3' x 6' brooder is inside my coop so wind isn't a huge factor. I brood in this when the temperature is below freezing or in the heat of summer. Since this is in my coop I'd talk about some things that you don't have to consider but I'm trying to explain why I did certain things.

I have one window in my 8x12 coop. But I also have hardware cloth openings up high on all four sides for good ventilation, those let in some light too. I use a red heat lamp for heat. That's my light source.

This photo is my spring set-up, where the weather is pretty warm but we can have some cool nights. My idea of the perfect brooder is that you keep one are warm enough in the coldest of conditions and an area cool enough in the warmest conditions. A temperature swing from below freezing to in the 70's F almost overnight isn't that unusual.

When it is below freezing that clear plastic goes all the way to the top of the brooder to keep in some heat. My brooder floor is 1/2" hardware cloth so poop falls through. It's elevated enough to put plastic bins under there to catch the poop, keeps the brooder really dry and makes clean-up easy. Poop will fall between the bins so you'd probably want something down to keep the poop from staining your floor. In winter I put a piece of plywood under the lamp to keep things warmer instead of an open floor. To clean it I just tilt the plywood to let things go to the bins underneath. Usually I don't even need to scrape that plywood.

Even in the heat of summer I keep that plastic around the bottom of the brooder. That helps keep breezes from hitting the chicks from underneath but the main purpose is to keep the hens from laying back among those bins.

If you look closely you can see a "chimney" on the left. I can use that to pull the heat lamp up higher if I need to, though I usually adjust heat by using different wattage bulbs. It doesn't bother me or the chicks if that area is too warm, they just move further away. That chimney performs a different function when the plastic goes all the way to the top, it provides ventilation so the brooder can cool off when the weather turns hot. With your heat plate you don't need to worry about any of this, except maybe ventilation.

In the winter I sometimes find ice on the far end but keep the warm end toasty. Even straight out of the incubator my chicks are good about finding the right spot. One really hot summer I turned the heat off during the day at 2 days of age, and I turned the nighttime heat off at 5 days. In winter I've moved chicks out of this to my grow-out coop at about 5-1/2 weeks, a couple of different broods have gone through nights in the mid 20's F with no supplemental heat. I can be pretty flexible about stuff like that.

Now more to your specific questions.

I have a spot for it under my carport, where it will be up against a wall and out of the rain and always in shade.

Good that shade is very important. You don't want sunlight turning that into an oven.

I'm considering putting light-controlled LEDs inside that box so confined chicks aren't just sitting in the dark during the daytime.

Some people brood in guest bathrooms or in their basements with no natural light. I don't see an issue with this at all. I would suggest putting the lights on a timer so they have dark downtime.

There's just enough room for the brooder plate and food and water and a little run around space.

That brooder plate will not heat the whole thing up like my heat lamp, but you might consider covering that open area with plastic or something to stop wind instead of locking then into a tiny space. If you can stop the wind I don't see any benefit in confining them in a small space.

The whole thing will function as a quarantine box for adult chickens, too, when there's no chicks around.

Mine is in the coop so it can't be used for quarantine, but it is useful if I need to isolate a chicken. With the wire floor it also serves as a broody buster.

Should I make the closed-in section insulated?

Insulation would be more useful against heat than cold, but only on the areas where sun is hitting it if I envision this properly. You said it is in the shade so I'd hesitate to insulate it. You don't want to create a good space for Mama Mouse to raise a family.

The goal is to prevent them from cooking as well as getting too cold.

I think your best defense against cooking them is good ventilation. Unless the sun can hit that brooder I just don't see any real benefit in insulating it.

In my 3' x 6' brooder I raise as many as 25 chicks until they are five weeks old. I've never gone higher than that number for any greater length of time. The brooder doesn't look that crowded but I would not want to go much longer.

Good luck.

 

[Ironclay]

Thank you!

I think I am going to modify the closed in section to be half-walls, so there is a little air flow but would prevent direct wind.

I can always place panels or plastic sheeting if it's a windy day.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I can always place panels or plastic sheeting if it's a windy day.

That should work. I use greenhouse panels for wind/rain - I just jam them under the roof panel and then use a couple bricks to keep the bottom edge in place (obviously if you have strong winds, might need something more secure). They sit at about a 60 degree angle so still plenty of ventilation, but rain and cold winds stay out.

 

[jreardon1918]

Thank you!

I think I am going to modify the closed in section to be half-walls, so there is a little air flow but would prevent direct wind.

I can always place panels or plastic sheeting if it's a windy day.

Make sure the chicks and flock can see each other. That really helps with integration . For the cold I think they will be fine. Here in New England we brooded outside last year spring. Just the one outside wall had plastic. Other three were mostly hardware cloth. We have a short article showing the brooder, chicks and hens.