LOVING my new Brooding system!!

[Farmerwife1]

This is my second year of chicks. Last year I had 10 and they started their life on our farm in our cows water trough, in our utility room (the end of March). They were later moved to the garage in the same trough and eventually out to the coop in June. It was difficult for me to keep their temperature right.

This year has been different! I purchased some panels & rubber exercise mats and two chick heating plates off of Amazon. They all work perfect! I really LOVE the heating plates, because I don't have to keep track of the temperature, just the height of the plates. At 3 weeks old I have moved them to the garage and they are doing VERY well! They are VERY wastful with their feed. So, we have also made a chick version of a feeder that we made last year for our hens. There is not a Single peice of wasted Layer food on the ground of the chicken coop, so we are hoping for the same success with the chicks! (pictures of our feeders and waterers coming soon) (I am sorry, I could not figure out how to rotate these photos )

 

[BYCforlife]

Great setup! Looks very tidy.

 

[Farmerwife1]

Great setup! Looks very tidy.

It is! With the new feeding system and the changes I have made, I feel secure that I can leave for a day or so and everything will be fine. (I have not left, but I know I could)

 

[BYCforlife]

It is! With the new feeding system and the changes I have made, I feel secure that I can leave for a day or so and everything will be fine. (I have not left, but I know I could)

I can see why, I really like it! Do you have a link to the products on Amazon? I'm interested!

 

[Farmerwife1]

I can see why, I really like it! Do you have a link to the products on Amazon? I'm interested!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075ZKHJX1/?tag=backy-20

(I put the solid panels on the bottom to help avoid drafts)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CHBH87F/?tag=backy-20

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N1375U6/?tag=backy-20

(I ordered 1 16"X16" and 1 16"X24" for my 32 chicks)(It seems to work well)(They did not need both till they moved to the garage and were a bit bigger. Even now at 4 1/2 weeks they are only using the larger one.)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013A4ATCQ/?tag=backy-20

Amazon is also the cheapest place I found to buy Mealworms $27.88 for 5 pounds.

 

[Farmerwife1]

I also bought extra zip ties. I used them on every joint, so when and if I needed to move the cage, it would not fall apart. I will be able to take it down and put it away until I need it in the future. On the small cage I cut contractor bags (they are very heavy duty) from Home depot and covered the mats. I purchased a large Tarp to cover the mats on the larger brooder. I took the edges off of the mats and zip tied them to the outside of the larger cage and it seems to work well keeping the bedding in the pen. I will take better pictures of the access gates and the access lids when I get home tonight so you can see how I made them work and how I fasten them closed.

 

[Fairview01]

At $240 plus shipping I realize this is out of most peoples budget however if you want to give your chicks a good start at life during the most important time, have complete peace of mind and make clean up a snap the GQF brooder cant be beat.

At just under 9sqft it will handle up to 50 chicks for the first 2 weeks.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Love those panels! I might get some for adding an "introduction" pen in the run. They look versatile and easy to clean and store. Great set up, and thanks for sharing!

 

[Farmerwife1]

At $240 plus shipping I realize this is out of most peoples budget however if you want to give your chicks a good start at life during the most important time, have complete peace of mind and make clean up a snap the GQF brooder cant be beat. View attachment 1750531

At just under 9sqft it will handle up to 50 chicks for the first 2 weeks.

I have easily spent around that price for the system I invented, the difference is my chicks will be able to stay in it till I move them out to the coop at 10 weeks old and it is tall enough to let them fly a bit and get exercise. I can also make it any size and shape I want. The one in the garage is large enough that I will herd them to one or the other side for easy cleaning.

 

[Farmerwife1]

I came up with this idea for my chicks, while coming up with a way to make a patio pen for my daughters cat at her apartment. I fastened the corner of the pen to her sliding door, that she put a animal door into. It works great. The original pen was not very good, but after I figured out how to build my chick pens better, I went back and re-did her cat pen! LOL