New brooder ideas

[PippinChicken]

Spring is around the corner and it's time to start planning for chicks

A lot has changed recently and I could really use the help of the BYC crowd to come up with ideas for a new brooder setup.

In the past, I have purchased hatching eggs and raised one group of chicks at a time. I had a rubbermaid tote converted to a brooder in a spare room, and when they were ~2-5 weeks old I would move them to a little prefab coop within a sectioned off part of the chicken run. Depending on age and weather, they'd sometimes start off spending 100% of their time in the little coop as an outdoor brooder before being transitioned to full days of run access. I'd pick my keepers to integrate with the rest of the flock, sell the others, and start the process all again.

Location issue: Since the last hatch I did, we have moved to a house with no spare space inside for a brooder. There is a garage but it is very damp and prone to mold growth. It is a large 3 car garage so there's decent air circulation inside, but with the dampness and lack of incoming fresh air (no windows or anything) I don't know if it would be a healthy place for chicks. There is ample space outside around the garage, the house, and the chicken run (which can easily be sectioned off for grow out pens). Where do people like to keep their brooders if they need to be outside?

Brooder issue: We now have our own lovely breeding quad to hatch eggs from

I have multiple small incubators that I intend to run more or less all summer to hatch as many eggs from these girls as possible. So in addition to the location issue, one measly rubbermaid tote isn't going to cut it anymore. Total incubator capacity is ~30 so between that and only planning to hatch eggs from 3 of my girls, it won't be anything like the numbers that people with cabinet incubators are churning out. But I would love to see what people do when they have a range of ages and more than a rubbermaid tote's worth of chicks at a time!

 

[rosemarythyme]

My brooder simply sat out in the chicken run, which is uncovered. Rain was a concern so on rainy days we'd pick it up and move it into the garage on top of some plastic sheeting.

I've since found a better spot in the run for the brooder that keeps it fairly dry inside even with wind and rain, so next time there shouldn't be need to move it for rain at all.

Obviously your climate and temperatures may make this less than feasible.

 

[aart]

I have a great brooder for inside the house, but only use it for the first week.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/my-brooder-palace.67730/
Part of my coop can be sectioned off for brooding and integration,
there's also a separate run for the brooder section,
it works very well but took some work to get it set up.

If you are going to have multiple batches of chicks,
you'll be much happier if you have multiple brooder areas.

Are you building a new coop at the new place?
Where in this world are you located?
Climate is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know what your current coop/run look like or how big they are. I have no idea how many brooders/grow out coops you will need, there is too much missing info on when you integrate them with your main flock, get rid of the excess, and all that. How often will you crank up a different incubator or how many will be in a brood? I don't know your climate either. A lot of the details I will leave to you.

My suggestion is to build combination brooders/grow out coops next to your current run. Whether you section the current run into different mini-runs one for each grow-out coop or build new mini-runs with a pop door to the run is up to you. Make one long building and section it into brooders/grow-out coops. Provide safe electricity and you are good to go.

Another thought is to put a dehumidifier in the garage and build in there. It doesn't help integration but may save a lot of money.