MUTINY!! My wife and son jump ship!!

[Dunkopf]

I built a closet in 1/2 of my garage. It's about 3' wide and 8'deep. Has a regular bedroom door on it and a ceiling that I can store stuff on top of. Originally it was for storing garbage till trash day. Makes a great brooder though. Only mess is when someone goes in and tracks shavings out.

 

[math ace]

I am the responsible for cleaning after the little fluffy butts. So, they stay in the house until I can not deal with it anymore and then I go to Dh and say need a new coop / run NOW !

Love that man

 

[firsthouse_mp]

They are just so darn cute for about a week and then they start to grow like crazy

My mom said she's done with "chicken sitting" and will only babysit the kids. One year we went out of town for a week during my chick growing season and I left her with 3 two month old indoor hens in a very large (shepard-sized dog cage) in her kitchen! Her friends said she was crazy for taking in my pets. I have to agree it was rather dedicated of her! But she loves when we bring her over eggs!

These next three that I get will live in the brooder in my eldest daughter's shower! Perfect place to keep the dust down and the mess contained

My husband has no problems with my current 6 and hasn't said much about me adding three, but he does want to get rid of my oldest hen who is now a slow producer. No way!! She's our pet!

 

[Mahonri]

Chicks stay in the house no more than 1 week, then it's OUTSIDE... and I clean the brooder every day, sometimes multiple times for that first week... even then, I get complaints when the bators come out.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

My wife once woke me from a sound sleep to inform me there was a chick on the end of our bed. Haven't brooded chicks in the house for years now. They have a very nice set up in an open bay of the workshop were most of the dust blows away.

 

[sheila3935]

we live near an ADM plant so we have corn and soybean dust all the time. We can dust and if the windows are open an hour later looks like we never dusted so when I raised ours inside usually 2-3 weeks before moving them to the garage dust wasnt really a problem. I am hatching right now due Thanksgiving Day. Hubby always acts like oh no not again but he get excited when they hatch.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
Last winter I has 24+ chicks in the garage/workshop. Made a circle of chicken wire but I needed a draft barrier because the shop isn't climate controlled at all. One day in the grocery store I saw the Budweiser distributor's guy setting up new displays, taking down the old ones.

DING! The 20 watts bulb in my brain went off and after asking, he gave me the corrugated cardboard rolls of stuff they use to wrap the bottoms of displays! Made a great draft AND dust barrier, and the shavings stayed put!

DH was tickled to see his favorite brand so prominently displayed.

 

[Liamm_1]

my 'brooder' was a milk crate with a lamp holding a 100W bulb pointing at one side that housed my 6 chicks inside the house for several weeks. a layer of newspaper laid on the bottom, shredded newspaper on top of that. Cleaned it daily, never had much smell at all, and they were inside for about 3-4 weeks i guess, then the coop was ready.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Just brood them in your "man cave" (AKA the garage) It's easy for you. My DH has labeled the "man cave", and all outbuildings chicken free zones. (and he won't let me brood in the house) I've been hiding my contraband (2 english orps) for a week now. They spend the day in a brooder area in the new coop that's not quite finished, and the night in a dog crate in one of the above mentioned outbuildings.

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

We have had several batches in our warm dry basement and we all HATE the dander dust. I am trying to figure out alternatives.

Our rat/mouse problem is serious, so garages and sheds are questionable options.