LOVING my new Brooding system!!

[Farmerwife1]

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!

I am going to also use them, when I move the chicks out to meet the rest of the flock!

 

[Fairview01]

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.

This is my battery brooder. I hatch every week. The lights are my mod. Water is automatic from 5 gal homer bucket to float valves in trough.

I'll be hatching close to 200 this year. Current hatches always on top. Oldest on the bottom. First three have wafer controlled heat elements. Bottom has 4" grow out extension. All move down every week. By the beginning of the fifth week bottom ones are feathered and get booted to the coop.

2 differences between our systems. One and done ordering, no piece parts and imo I will have a greater resale value when I'm done.

 

[Aunt Angus]

This is my battery brooder. I hatch every week. The lights are my mod. Water is automatic from 5 gal homer bucket to float valves in trough.

I'll be hatching close to 200 this year. Current hatches always on top. Oldest on the bottom. First three have wafer controlled heat elements. Bottom has 4" grow out extension. All move down every week. By the beginning of the fifth week bottom ones are feathered and get booted to the coop.

2 differences between our systems. One and done ordering, no piece parts and imo I will have a greater resale value when I'm done.

Wow! That's a lot of chicks! Very impressive and very practical set up.

I think the value of it depends on your goal. For my purposes (raising a few chicks for pets each year), the OP's set up makes more sense because I can easily store it or use it elsewhere. If I were hatching regularly or at higher volumes, yours makes more sense.

I am looking at your brooder and thinking, "Where would I put it?" LOL! I guess that's the difference between a hobbyist and a real chicken producer!

 

[Fairview01]

Wow! That's a lot of chicks! Very impressive and very practical set up.

I think the value of it depends on your goal. For my purposes (raising a few chicks for pets each year), the OP's set up makes more sense because I can easily store it or use it elsewhere. If I were hatching regularly or at higher volumes, yours makes more sense.

I am looking at your brooder and thinking, "Where would I put it?" LOL! I guess that's the difference between a hobbyist and a real chicken producer!

I'm a hobbyist with OCD. Seriously though I'm into show poultry. It's all about the genetics roulette wheel. Have to eat a lot of duds before the winner shows up.

Here's what I raise. Heritage large fowl cornish.

I consider this to be a cull.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I'm a hobbyist with OCD. Seriously though I'm into show poultry. It's all about the genetics roulette wheel. Have to eat a lot of duds before the winner shows up.

Here's what I raise. Heritage large fowl cornish. View attachment 1751063 I consider this to be a cull.

Hobbyist with OCD!!! Hahahaha! Great description!

 

[Timothy Menezes]

Please let me know about your no waste chick feeders / waterers. My chicks aren't bad, but my ducklings are crazy messy with their water. I set their waterer above a catch basin but they have no problem playing with it until its empty, and somehow flicking it all over their bedding.

I cut holes in an empty plastic milk jug, so they would have to stick their heads in to get the water. But I cut the holes too big. The smallest duck squeezed his way in there and bathes in the drinking water! So its back to the drawing board lol

 

[Farmerwife1]

I am attaching a closer look of how I put my pens together. I did 3 sections width wise and 6 sections length wise (but can be any shape or size). I chose this for the space I wanted it to fit into. I purchased enough extra panels, that I will might add some more length, if I think the need it. I used medium size clips (office clips) for latching things shut. Two for each door and three for each lid (a total of 10 clips).

 

[Aunt Angus]

I really do like what you've done. I might steal your ideas!

 

[Farmerwife1]

Here are some pictures of our waterers and feeders we have made. I loved my waterer we made for my hens last summer. They used it well and the water lasted about 10 days for my 10 hens. I did put a bowl of water out also for them and a mister when it was very hot. My husband has been concerned they were not getting their fill of water though and we are preparing for the addition of 32 more chickens, so he changed out three of the little water bowls for these others. I bought the first small ones on Amazon and the new ones from RentaCoop.

In the background of the finished waterer you can see our feeder we put together last last summer. It hold a 40lb bag of feed and there is absolutely no feed ending up on the ground in the pen (I LOVE IT). It was a real chore getting the elbows my husband wanted. We could only find them from a place in Australia. A couple of months ago we saw on RentaCoop, that they now make them and the hoods (if you want the feeder outside). We ordered some of theirs and the hoods so we can build another one. The ones from RentaCoop are made of lighter material than the other ones we purchased, but I think would work fine. (We still have a surplus of the original ones we bought that we will use first)

He also spend quit a lot on the container we put them into, because he is a perfectionist and wants it to last FOREVER. LOL! We ordered the feed container from "United States Plastic Corp." The 5 gal. water bucket and lid I bought from Fred Meyer. I made sure that the bucket was colored and not able to see through, in order to keep their water from getting slimy. It has worked great and the water cups stay clean! I did change out the bucket for a heated one in the winter.

 

[Farmerwife1]

This is my battery brooder. I hatch every week. The lights are my mod. Water is automatic from 5 gal homer bucket to float valves in trough.

I'll be hatching close to 200 this year. Current hatches always on top. Oldest on the bottom. First three have wafer controlled heat elements. Bottom has 4" grow out extension. All move down every week. By the beginning of the fifth week bottom ones are feathered and get booted to the coop.

2 differences between our systems. One and done ordering, no piece parts and imo I will have a greater resale value when I'm done.

That sounds great! My chickens are a hobby for me and I need them to be fun and not too much work. 9 months of the year I am away from home 12 hours a day. I am not comfortable putting my chicks outside until they are about 10 weeks old. Even then we can easily have our night temperatures drop below freezing. I wish I could boot them out earlier, but I have read more articles not commending it for me. So, in the garage they will stay. Besides, right now I am waiting on my husband (who is a farmer, so very busy out in the field) to help me to enlarge the chicken play area, before moving them.

I know in the future (when not using the panels for the chicks) I WILL use them for other things also.