New Brooder!

[aprhardy]

So our cardboard walls were not fooling our super smart chickies and they began finding ways to escape. So my super sweet BF and little brother built me a big huge brooder tonight. It's 6 ft long and 4 ft wide. right now there are only 8 chicks in there but come next week we'll be adding 25 more to it! So need all the room!!

 

[kfchickenlady]

very nice! Congrats on the chicks!

 

[paddock36]

 

[aprhardy]

Thank you both! I was so excited I couldn't wait to share!

 

[QuailQT]

What breed of chicks did you get (and will be getting more of)?

My BF built a brooder for us (after I got carried away with my incubator last year

) that's very similar to yours, but might be a bit longer.
I'm sure that you'll love it and your birds will for sure! They are so funny when they have that much space to hop around and try their wings out.

On each end we have a door that lifts up towards the center. I think if we were to make any changes that I would want them to slide instead (like an ice cream freezer). Then we could reach in there more quickly and get what we want while having more control on the amount of space that isn't protected from escapees.

Here is an idea too...usually we just keep chicks in there, but last night I decided to move my ducklings out there. They were chasing the chicks, so I put a baby gate in there to separate them and it works great. Plus, you can remove it easily or adjust the amount of space that you want to give each side. If you needed smaller holes in the baby gate, then you could just zip tie some chicken wire to it. If you have some overly aggressive chicks that are pecking the others relentlessly, then you could separate them this way too.

Good luck with your new babies!

 

[aprhardy]

That's a great idea!
I currently have 8 Tetra Tints in the basement, 25 day old light brahmas on the way, and 1 mystery chick.

In the yard....welllllll.....that's another story! Haha! I have the following:
3 Buff Brahma Roo's
1 Buff Brahma "it" (thinking/hoping a hen)
2 Speckled Sussex
2 Dominiques
2 Buff Orpingtons
2 Rhode Island Reds
2 Columbian Wynadottes

I just started with chickens from scratch a month ago. Didn't realize they were THIS addictive!! Hahaha!

 

[bs288]

Nice brooder! Mine are on their 3rd brooder in 3 weeks. it very similar to yours. 4x8 hopefully that will do them until they are ready to move to the coop

 

[aprhardy]

Thank you! We went through 3 also, the first a large box, but they all looked so cramped we moved them into a bigger space with the cardboard roll out barrier which was about a foot and a half tall, before they were quiet a week old they had figured out they could push the cardboard apart where the circle met. Fixed that, and then they figured out they could fly up and land on the edge of the cardboard and fly out. At that point I realized with 26 more chicks on the way I needed something more stable and sturdy. Thus the creation above. Though it is roughly put together with plywood and some wire on top, plastic under (so clean up is a breeze) and some shavings on top of the plastic for their bedding. Life is now good in chickie land! LOL!
Hope yours works as good as ours is! Best wishes with your new chicks! What kind do you have?

 

[QuailQT]

Quote:
You and I sound a lot alike! I jumped in with both feet right away too! They are sooooOOOOO addictive!

Can you please post a close up of your TT babies? I have two yellowish chicks from TSC and they are feathering out mostly white and have grey colored legs. I know that TT's are yellow chicks and a cross for TSC of white leghorns and something else, but do they have slate colored legs?

 

[aprhardy]

I'll get a few pictures up in the morning. But I can tell you the ones I have all have yellow legs and are feathering out what seems to be white with some brown spots.