Northerners--where do you brood your winter chicks?

[The Chicken Lady]

Indoors in a large aquarium... It's very easy to cover and to clean, attach a light, and watch "chickie TV" through...

 

[Mrs MIA]

Mine start out in a rubbermaid tote on the dining room table for the first week or so. Then they're moved out to the garage in a large fiberglass kennel, like the ones the humane society has. They can stay out there (it's heated to about 60°F by the furnace out there) until they're at least 3 months old. Then they go out to the coop if there's room.

By then they're starting to poop big-chicken poops, so they have to be put somewhere else.

I've got 9 babies in one kennel (about 8 weeks old) and a dozen or so 1-5 day olds in another with a broody silkie.

 

[coffeemama]

I have a 4x4 table style brooder that usually goes on my front porch/office. It does get do disty for my computer though, so I'm moving it out to the craft room for a hatch I'm expecting in a few weeks. I also built a small brooder room in my coop-it doesn't stay super warm under the lamp, but I'm hoping they can move out by 4-6 weeks.

 

[horsejody]

I keep my brooders in the bathroom. If I run out of space, some go in the kitchen. I use rubbermaid totes.

 

[SunAngel]

I have a rabbit hutch brooder set up in the family room...next to the Chinchillas cage. Thats where the really young chicks go. At the moment I have 13 one month old bantams in a large dog kennel right beside my computer desk. We decided to redo our brooder that is out in the coop and didn't get it finished yet. So I get to enjoy their peeping and antics for another week or so. Luckily my DH doesn't seem to care one way or the other what I do with the chicks or chickens, where I keep them or how many I hatch or buy or I would be in trouble all the time lol.

 

[erthymom2]

the newbie's go to the spare bathroom where the shower stall has
a standing shelving unit with a large wire cage on each of the shelves - the kind with the slide out trays for poopy dumping.

as they get older by a few weeks, they go into the basement into large metal watering troughs set up on saw horses,

then finally out into the garage in the wire rabbit coops mounted along one wall. as the weather gets nicer, they have sliding hatch doors that let them out into dog kennels - minus the dogs of course!!

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
I really like the furnance filter idea--so smart! Thanks!

 

[erthymom2]

How do you use the furnace filters on top of the brooders if they are also under a heat lamp??

sounds like something i'd like to try for dust control.

 

[shelleyb1969]

Quote:
The heat lamps have to be hung/mounted beneath the furnace filters. The filters CANNOT touch any part of the heat lamp fixture. If you're using a tote brooder, just put the filters over the "open" end of the tote away from the heat lamp. It won't stop the dust all together, but it will help tremendously. You can also take an old screen from a storm door and put over the brooder first, then lay the filters on top of that...if you feel more comfortable with it that way.

 

[jab91864]

Last year I used a spare bedroom. I've also used the "mud" room off the kitchen.

I'm too much of a chicken (no pun intended...lol) to have them with heat lamps in the coop... I worry about fire too much.

Julie