My First Brooder! (dog crate remodel)

[Chatty Chicky]

This is a brand new venture for me. I will be a first time chicken owner sometime next week when my baby chicks arrive. I am So excited, it's just plain SilLLy!

Thank you all for the great ideas here, helping me put together my first brooder! Since I have two large dogs and a frisky kitten facing their first encounter with me adding birds to our "pack," I thought better safe than sorry, and remodeled one of my previously used dog crates (RIP in my senior beauty, Miss Mattie Lynn). Except for buying a larger drill bit so I can mount the roosting poles at a proper height, I *think* we are ready to take delivery. Yeeee!

I lined the back and sides of the crate with 1/4" x 2' x 4' wood panels, and the front side with plexiglass...So the resident critters and I can observe all that the chicks do and get comfortable with being calm watching them Just be Chickens I can still slide out the bottom tray for cleaning (and am pretty sure the kitten can not slide his paw through the gap), and I can access the chicks and the water bottles and feeders over the top of the wood panels through the back and side doors.

I will probably add more water bottles, as I have three more chicken nipples at hand... Those are Ozarka sports bottles with CC Only chicken nipples screwed right into the sports cap.

Anyway, all advice is welcome. Totally a newbie, and already appreciate this forum So Much!

 

[roostersandhens]

 

[Chatty Chicky]

Thank you, roostersandhens! Happy to be here

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC! Good luck with your new brooder and your new babies! Raising chicks can be very rewarding and especially when they grow to be hens and leave you golden treasures in the nest boxes!

Great to have you aboard and enjoy BYC!

 

[drumstick diva]

Lovely brooder - may need thicker roosting poles though.

 

[gander007]

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC!

 

[Chatty Chicky]

Thank you!

 

[Chatty Chicky]

Lovely brooder - may need thicker roosting poles though.

Thank you! I was wondering about that ... Was thinking maybe I'll start with just one of these cut shorter and sitting very low to the ground...probably attached to tiny blocks, and then upgrade to thicker poles placed higher up as the chicks grow. A little ambitious maybe, and I'll bet they grow a LOT faster than I'm expecting! I might be upgrading weekly, haha. Fortunately these little dowel rods are fairly inexpensive, so it won't be too costly of a learning experience

 

[Marthab1953]

That is a nice brooder!

Welcome to BYC from Riverside California.