No Heat Lamp Brooder

[alohamade]

Charcoal brooders are still commonly used in many parts of Africa (and I'm assuming elsewhere) - charcoal chick brooders

Here's a link to the woolly hen, mentioned by Azygous -
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1133855/a-wool-hen-creating-one-today

Awesome!
Thank you so much, it’s great to find so many different ways to keep chicks warm. The internet is flooded with heat lamp tutorials/diys/uses but not too much about alternatives.

 

[alohamade]

So I read up on @Blooie’s MHP post and all I have to say is WOW! Absolutely love that idea! I’m going to try it! Hehe.

 

[Diannastarr]

Hi Everyone!

I recently picked up a flock of 10 silkies about a week ago, and 3 of them are adorable little two week old chicks. I've never had experience raising chicks (and it's definitely not my last!). I wanted to go with a different route on the brooder set up.
I decided on raising these chickie babies without a heat lamp And so far its been great! I've been monitoring them very closely, and they're top shape!
This youtube video shows you how an off the grid brooder with no heat lamp involved can have you successfully raise chicks!

Of course it depends on where you live (weather, temperature,etc) but I thought it was safe enough to give it a try since I live in a pretty warm state. #808State
So far my chickie babies are nice, healthy and always have the option to stay warm. I also used a folgers can to keep the water inside nice and hot. This is a great method!

Has anyone tried this same method with good results?
Or maybe a similar method that you'd like to share?

Comment away

WOW excellent..!! love to hear a lot more non electric ideas..! a broody hen yes thats one good way of keeping the peeps warm & very happy i might add..!! to have a warm loving mama hen , i have used a non light heat bulb its like a flat black spiral glass type bulb ,that screws in just like a light bulb , i tried that during my search of alternative ways to keep the chicks warm and i especially did not want to confined them in a small space like other methods do,so this non light heat bulb i found worked well & it waslike $4.00 or $5.00 with free shipping, the bulb is used for lizards & so forth, and worked great with no glaring light at all, i had to carry a flash light into the room my chicks were in just so i could see to walk when checking on them at night , i was so delighted to see them all crashed out by sun set & totally sound asleep & peaceful in the dark like they were its way better then those horrible old fashioned glaring heat lights hanging right over them 24/7,plus all my chicks seemed much calmer to live by the natural light of sun sets and sun rises..!

 

[Smuvers Farm]

So I read up on @Blooie’s MHP post and all I have to say is WOW! Absolutely love that idea! I’m going to try it! Hehe.

Which is what I posted in #4. Mama Heating Pad, care of Blooie.

 

[Ridgerunner]

People like to think that incubating eggs and brooding chicks is something new. It's not. The ancient Egyptians (think the time of the pharaohs) used to incubate eggs and brood chicks. Notice the numbers of chicks hatched with this traditional method, 200,000 capacity in the hatchery profiled.

http://www.poultryworld.net/Breeder...ans-hatch-eggs-the-traditional-way-WP008725W/

It's easy to talk about how awful other methods might be but some of these methods have been used for a long time quite successfully. You just need to know how to use them.

 

[Smuvers Farm]

People like to think that incubating eggs and brooding chicks is something new. It's not. The ancient Egyptians (think the time of the pharaohs) used to incubate eggs and brood chicks. Notice the numbers of chicks hatched with this traditional method, 200,000 capacity in the hatchery profiled.

http://www.poultryworld.net/Breeder...ans-hatch-eggs-the-traditional-way-WP008725W/

It's easy to talk about how awful other methods might be but some of these methods have been used for a long time quite successfully. You just need to know how to use them.

Absolutely wonderful read. Thank you for sharing!

 

[alohamade]

People like to think that incubating eggs and brooding chicks is something new. It's not. The ancient Egyptians (think the time of the pharaohs) used to incubate eggs and brood chicks. Notice the numbers of chicks hatched with this traditional method, 200,000 capacity in the hatchery profiled.

http://www.poultryworld.net/Breeder...ans-hatch-eggs-the-traditional-way-WP008725W/

It's easy to talk about how awful other methods might be but some of these methods have been used for a long time quite successfully. You just need to know how to use them.

Loved this read and all the photos to go with it. It’s amazing how 40,000 eggs per week were incubating and the hatch rate was so successful!
I’m very new to raising chicks & flocks (only 5 months in) and I absolutely love all of the new info I’m absorbing.

Thank you @Ridgerunner

 

[JuliaSunshine]

I just use a hot water bottle for chicks from day 1 and I don't even have to wake up at night. I put boiled water in a 1 litter mason jar wrapped with a fuzzy towel. Then put it in a sleeping box in a brooder. The small cardboard sleeping box has an open door to the eating and playing area. Also, I draped a fuzzy hood from my old jacket over the hot water bottle.
Nobody gets burned snuggling around the bottle under the hood. 12 of them were all sound asleep when I checked on them at 3 am and 6 am last night. The ambient temperature was between 65 Fahrenheit (18 Celsius) and 68F (20 C).
They're active and chirp quietly when eating and running around. No 'I'm cold' distress call. After hanging out in the eating area awhile, they just go into the sleeping box and crawl under the hood warmed by the hot mason jar. Then come out a while later and eat and play. Repeat.
They are 3 days old and I see that a few already grew tiny feathers! They are out and about more often now. I feed them chick starter and a tiny bit of greens, oatmeal, pasta, lettuce and pepper seeds along with grits. They get all frenzy and almost fly around snatching up small pieces of those. I think a hot water bottle and feeding naturally is working well.