Let's see photos of your brooders!

[farmkids]

I see photos all the time on the Coop/run forum, but I haven't seen photos of anybody's brooder. My 1st batch of fluffies ship in early March, and I want to go ahead and prepare everything in the next two weeks. Show me how you all set up for babies!

 

[BrickWall Honey]

 

[Ricky Tricky]

Approximate size is 3' wide, 2' deep and 16" tall.

The gated center wall can be placed in three different positions
to help regulate heat and temp, isolate troublemakers or place all
chicks on one side while cleaning the other and the gate is
operated from outside without having to open the
lid. Shown here in the 1/3 - 2/3 position.

Close-up of luann gate.

Wall retention blocks.

Outdoor remote temp/humidity monitor. Desktop has an audible alarm
that can be triggered when it senses a temp. drop.

1/4 - 3/4 configuration.

Full room configuration.

Hinged lid that can be opened incrementally which can also
help with temperature control. I plan to add another support arm
to the left side and probably a piece of plexi-glass on the front
to be able to monitor the chicks without having to open the lid.

 

[farmkids]

Wow, those are great brooders! Thank you for sharing.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Mine is built into the coop. The top is my droppings board. I heat one area and let the rest cool off as it will, but in cold weather, like close to freezing, I cover it a lot more. It always has good draft protection. You just need to keep one area warm enough and let the rest cool down so they can find their own comfort zone. In cool weather the food and water should be in a heated zone, though it does not need to be all that warm. A broody hen does not heat the universe for her chicks, she just provides a place they can go to get warm if they need to.

The bottom is ½” hardware cloth. The poop falls through until they are ready to get out, but if they stay in too long it gets big enough it won’t fall on through. That board the waterer is on has to be very level. I formed the wire to fit around it and keep it from falling over and used screws around the base to keep them from knocking it around.

 

[Shanty]

Mine are repurposed competition Roller "kit boxes" readied for LF chicks each year.

 

[Beekissed]

This is topped with plywood to keep in the heat and opened according to ambient temps. These meat chicks arrived in March and temps were 30s at night, 40-50s in the day. As they grow, the bales are just opened up to allow them into the rest of the coop while the bales are kept in place in the corners and along the walls to block the wind and the heat lamp is still kept in the brooder at night for warmth until they no longer need it.

 

[BridgetBarger]

Awesome this is exactly like what my husband wants to build for me and my babies.

 

[lazy gardener]

In the coop thread, there is a brooder section with some very nice set ups! Bee Kissed: I love your ingenuity with the hay bales. Have you ever had issues with chicks getting stuck in the space between 2 bales, or mouse/rat issues? Nice size brooder Brick Wall Honey. Shanty, what is a "kit box"?

 

[Beekissed]

I stuffed the cracks with hand fulls of hay to prevent the little boogers from getting back in the crevices. Worked great!