pics of brooders, anyone?

[my3jsons]

Anyone have pictures of how you set up your brooder? Does it need a lid? I should be getting my chicks on Monday. I have a big metal stock tank (about 6ftx2ft), heat lamp, waterer, & feeder. Need to buy thermometer, chick starter, pine shavings, & a red bulb. Do I need anyting else? Do I need a smaller box at first? It will be for 20 chicks.
Thanks! This forum is so helpful to a newbie.

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

That should hold 20 chicks for about a month. If it's 2 feet tall or less, it's best to get some screen or hardware cloth and cover the top to prevent escapees. A 3 week old chick, depending on breed can sometimes jump 2 feet, at least my uncle's chicks did. My brooder is just a 30 gallon rubermaid tub used for storage. It holds my 8 chicks just fine, though I may need to upgrade in a week or so.

 

[CARS]

Something like this:

It's a stock tank that rusted out on the bottom. I bend electrical conduit to form the frame for the lid, attached 1" square hardware cloth to it, and added hinges on the back.

The heat lamps are just electrical boxes and porcelain lamp bases screwed to the back of the brooder.

I leave one lamp on 24/7 (wattage depends on the time of year) and the other lamp is controlled by a reptile thermostat.

The bulb of the thermostat is on the floor of the brooder, under the lamp. When the one lamp isn't enough the other bulb turns on. I just turn the temp down 5 degrees every week.

 

[lauren6]

I used some of those wire shelf cubes to make a brooder, cable ties to add a little more support at connecters, its hard to tell in the pic but the front door swings down to lockem up.. whats great is you can add on the end as you need more room, not that I have more space to spare lol but who need a laundry room

 

[jettgirl24]

LOVE the cube shelf idea! BYCers are so clever

 

[Kansaseq]

There are at least 2 other 'brooder' threads, maybe more. If you do a search, you'll find lots of cool pictures and ideas

 

[gvntofly05]

My hubby and I just built our brooder a few weeks ago.

 

[l'abeille]

here's ours...

 

[The Sheriff]

Mine's an old reptile cage with sliding glass doors, fluorescent light and heat bulb. I also made a sliding door replacement out of hardware cloth for the weeks when I want the temp lower. We drilled 3 4" holes on each side on the top for ventilation.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Mine is not fancy but it's FREE

It's a simple watermelon box from walmart (or any grocery store) and all we did was cut a piece of plywood for a floor and covered it with pine shavings

It's 25 inches tall so it's perfect for a brooder. We also covered it with chicken wire (made a frame)