Keeping chicks warm with no power

[jacrawley]

Quote:
I do heat with wood but unlike a chick I don't mind a house in the mid fifties. So while I do burn the stove I don't keep it going enough to heat rocks for brooding. Plus I would prefer to not have to get up several times a night to change the rocks.

HAs anyone experimented with a brooding box with an adult chicken inside in a separate chamber to provide heat and keep it from killing the chicks?

thanks

 

[Bandana]

I think too far outside the box sometimes, so please forgive me.

I'm picturing a brooder situated just above, and to the side of your wood stove. Then, water filled copper tubing wrapped around the stove pipe several times, and run along the bottom of the brooder. Since heat rises, the brooder should likely be higher than the point where the tubing is wrapped around the pipe, for convection circulation to occur.

 

[jvls1942]

Quote:
yes, you do..

 

[The Chicken Lady]

I really like that brooder box construction idea, but I'm a little worried about the oil lamp under the brooder box being a fire hazard...

What is your experience with this? Could things under the brooder box potentially come into contact with the flame and start a fire?

What about a simple hot water bottle, placed in the brooder so that the chicks could snuggle with it?

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I haven't tried it. It's just a general idea to be refined. The oil lamp is not meant to be underneath the hover. The second drawing shows the oil lamp outside of the hover, on a shelf, where it can be secured. That area could even be enclosed with hardware cloth, with a door to access the oil lamp for adjustment and filling.

 

[edenhenry]

Try putting a soft cotton blanket in the run so the chicks can snuggle up on. From my experience, chicks love soft cloths.

 

[chickalator]

you could also line there box, if its a smaller one, with tin foil and that would insulate there own body warmth.

 

[jvls1942]

Quote:
that only would work after the chicks are over a week or two old.
they have no body mass to put out their own heat before that..

BTW by the time we get through hashing this one out, the chicks in question will not need a brooder anymore..

 

[jacrawley]

The design I've decided on would be a 30x30x12 box constructed of wood with a wooden floor and roof. I was thinking of putting an old storm window in the roof to be able to look in on the chicks. In the corner would be an access door to remove and refill the oil lamp. The lamp would be separated from the chickens by some hardware cloth. The lamp smoke would vent out a 3 inch duct elbow connected to a 30 inch straight duct running through the brooder with an elbow on the other end. I was going to add a small vent on the lamp opposite side of the box to allow fresh air into the box.

My concerns are how far should the flue be above the chickens, obviously they can't touch it but it seems like it should be pretty close. How big should the vent be? I don't won't them to suffocate. I was also thinking if the box would not stay warm enough I could add some foam board to the outside.

thanks
Joseph

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I wouldn't put the lamp inside of the box at all. The lamp needs to be outside, preferably secured somehow, with the warm flue running through the chick area. Any seams for the flue running through the chick area need to be well taped to keep combustion gases out of the area where the chicks are kept. The chick area shouldn't be completely enclosed but needs to be vented. Several vents low on each side of the box will allow fresh air in, but keep the heat from rising out the top.