My new brooder...what do you think?

[OzarkCountryGirl]

My darling husband took the day off work yesterday and made a brooder for me.

Keep in mind that he has little experience in construction and had no plans to go by...he just went by only on what I told him I was wanting. I said it had to have at least 4' x 4' floor space, had to be on legs, have top screens that opened from either side, able to be locked to keep out predators or curious visitors (children can be notorious for opening cages when your back is turned), and have a drop-down side for easy cleaning. Oh, and the brooder box itself must be able to be easily removed from the frame/legs if needed.

Here is what I got:











(The slight gap you see in the top left corner in the phot above is on the drop down side and is only there when that side of the screened top is wide open. It becomes snug and tight when the screen is down and latched.)







So what do you think?

BTW, he's saved some screen to make a narrow side window for added ventilation, and will have a shutter of sorts to close it when/if needed.

 

[gamebirdsonly]

 

[Islander11]

Nice! But what are you planning on doing for the Roof?

 

[OzarkCountryGirl]

Nice! But what are you planning on doing for the Roof?

Thanks! This one is intended to an indoor brooder for the barn. But I can just as easily put it under the carport or even on our covered deck if I want it closer to the house. Or if I want it to be out in the weather, I can just as easily top with a little PVC hoop-house fashioned with side brackets. I could have it done at a moments notice as it's maybe a 10 minute job (based on how long it takes me to put up a mini-hoop house on my square foot garden boxes) and I've already got sticks of PVC, tarps and brackets out in the garage.

 

[Islander11]

Nice! This gives me great ideas about getting a new one! -The Horans

 

[RJSorensen]

That is a very nice build you have there. As best I can tell, it has all of the things you asked for. I had not thought of making one that came off of the legs like that, good idea. You must have been in the bird business long enough to know the fine touches that make something like this more than special.

Good job on both yours and your husbands part. Thanks for sharing, photographs are always nice.]


RJ

 

[OzarkCountryGirl]

Thanks everyone! It was wasn't all that expensive and I found everything at Lowe's. I just bought what I thought I needed, brought it home, set everything beside the driveway, and then when hubby got home, I told him what it was for. I surprised myself in that I had gotten everything that was needed, right down to the last board, before he even knew I was wanting one built. We ended up with only a 1/2 sheet of plywood left over, which was what I had figured when I bought everything, and that's going for a couple of nest boxes.

 

[CassChick]

You're husband did an amazing job!

 

[LuvNMud]

Great job.... especially for someone that doesn't know what they are doing!

 

[OzarkCountryGirl]

Thanks, Cass and LuvN.