Outdoor brooder??

[Featherwisp]

We have everything planned out for the chicks (that should be coming in about a month) except one thing...were the brooder can be kept safely.
I know the chicks wont be aloud into the house, so the only other options I have is to build a predator-proof raised brooder and keep it under the deck, or to keep a simpler, cheaper brooder in the shed. The problem with the shed: it gets very hot and stuffy in there during the afternoon, about 100 degrees or somewere near there.
So what could I do? Do you think they would be safe in the shed?
Or, has anybody had any experience with outdoor brooders?

All help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[SimplyForties]

In what part of the country do you live? How are your daytime/nighttime temps?

 

[Featherwisp]

I live in Tennessee, which is considered to be in the southern region of the U.S.
The temps, on average around here are 70-high 80's during the day, and 60-50 degrees at night.

 

[Southernbelle]

I have kept a brooder out in my barn in the past. I hung a huge rabbit cage from the wall, covered the sides with cardboard to block drafts, cover the bottom with hay until they could safely walk on the wire and put the light on top. For safety, I did hang the light very securely from the roof so it couldn't fall anywhere in the barn or even touch the top of the cage. Good luck!

 

[SimplyForties]

Your main issues are going to be either heating the outdoor brooder or ventilating the shed (fan?). Will you have electricity available in either location? You want the babies to be about 90-95 degrees at least at first. Another consideration for an outdoor brooder would be predator control. You would have to be sure it was secure.

 

[Featherwisp]

Electricity is available in both areas. I never thought of a fan...that might work!
As for predator control...we do have a dog that stays on the deck the most of the day/night she manages to scare away most animals, although I know we do have possums and raccoons that stray pretty close. I was also thinking of surrounding the outdoor brooder with some chicken wire or something for extra protection.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do you have their coop ready? I put my brooder with a draft guard in the coop from day one. It's predator proof and has electricity so it has really worked out well for me.

Good luck.

 

[Featherwisp]

No, the coops not ready yet...wish it was.

 

[scbatz33]

I have an outdoor brooder that is pretty good sized. It's easily 8'x4' and it sits a good 3' off the ground. The brooder 1/2 enclosed and 1/2 open. It's covered in the tiny mesh wire that's really strong(can't remember what it's actually called). Both sides have a door that can be latched and locked. We put a heat lamp on the enclosed side and insulated it. We also had to put a plywood piece in for a floor to keep the cold out this winter because the floor on both sides is the wire mesh stuff. We also added a roof and a tarp over the top.

The thing was originally designed to be in a barn so it wasn't completely enclosed. We made those small adaptations and it has worked really well. We were in NC in the snow and freezing temps and the birds did fine. We put in some pine shavings on the floor for added warmth and put a door on the opening between the 2 halves and the chicks were quite happy.

We now have a 5 level brooder for small chicks and it's 1/2 the size of the big wooden one. But it's still outside with my 2 month old SL polish in it right now.

I'll try to find a photo. We've not had any predator issues and the heat lamp was run off an extension cord.

 

[astatula]

I have just about made it through the danger stages of outdoor brooding/cooping.
Look up Horizon Structures for their 4 x 6 foot Amish looking coop, that is what I have to brood/coop.

I lost one chick to, most likely, cooking to death one afternoon, and I have one in the hospital box cause she got trapped for two days before I found her.

You will need to have someone at home for at least the first 3 weeks to monitor the temps or you will kill some chickens.

I live in Florida, so that's a obvious heat problem. You are in Tennessee and your afternoons are going to get real hot real fast, faster than those little chicks, which I suppose you are getting day olds, are going to be able to handle.

You need an area, where the brooder is going to be placed, that is at a relatively stable temperature, plus or minus 10 degrees, like 60-80 degrees.

Then the brooder can function as it was meant to function, as a moderately effective temperature adjuster.

Remember this is of the utmost importance, your chicks need to get out of the heat as much as they need to be in the heat at times. If your shed stays at 90 degrees, where does the chick go to take a cool breath, even just for some relief from 90 degrees to 80 degrees for 2 minutes, nowhere. Over 100 degrees for a short time (2-3 hours) will damage or kill most baby chicks.

When a chick is so young things change very fast and their environment needs to be adjusted just as quickly, but they do that naturally when a hen is raising them, now you are the hen.

After the first couple of weeks they will be able to tolerate more extremes in temperatures, but still need close attention to those afternoon temps.

I employed my wife, after her lengthy protest, to check the thermometers almost hourly throughout the afternoons, it was a great help to me.

My only solution came when I just decided to open the chicken coop door in the morning and let them go outside, in an enclosed run, to cool off. Some were not able to navigate the ramp yet (at 8 days old) so I tossed them outside and now they are doing fine at 5 weeks old. But they are outside, under the 2-foot-off-the-ground, raised coop.

My wife was a great help for those first two weeks, and once the neighbors needed to open some vents while we were out on afternoon too long.

Remember baby chicks are babies. Babies need constant care or they will die.