Pics of the new Brooder Box...Feedback Welcome :)

[jeepchick]

OK well maybe its more of a room then a box lol built in the basement for the little batch of babies I just hatched and the incoming spring chick order. Its 5x7 and 6 feet tall (so I can go inside to clean and not stoop) The windows are plexiglass, floor is covered with vinyl flooring for easy cleaning. Its still awaiting a top and the fan system to be put in....it will eventually have a wood top with an exhaust fan that vents outside and vents located at the bottom of the windows for the air to come in. Still working on where to put everything inside. Also will have inner vinyl lined walls too but the budget is now drained lol

Open for suggestions on how I can improve it or some cool things I can add to the inside

 

[Fred's Hens]

Add a little practice roost. Only 4 inches high and the roost only needs to be an inch or two in width. I find that practicing the roosting, especially after week 3, really preps them for the real thing when they go out to the coop.

 

[jeepchick]

Fred's Hens :

Add a little practice roost. Only 4 inches high and the roost only needs to be an inch or two in width. I find that practicing the roosting, especially after week 3, really preps them for the real thing when they go out to the coop.

Good sugestion! The little ones inside are only 3 days old now and I am in NH so I expect they will be inside for quite a while.....will have to eventually add some big roosts too lol

Heres some of the crowd

 

[Hodawg]

That's your brooder box??? You make me sick. I feel inadequate and less manly all of a sudden. Just kidding! That looks great, Bud. I can't think of anything I would add to that set-up.

Beers y'all,
Ken

 

[SadieSue]

That is fantastic! I would love to have a brooder box like that! The only thing that be cooler is if you had 2 or 3 so you could keep separate different chick ages in there. Or possibly a portable, removeable divider so you could move newborns in when the first batch is a few weeks old. Of course, you'd end up with a ton of chickens that way, but I don't see that being a problem...

 

[GA_in_GA]

I'd be happy to give you feedback . .. but I am speechless! WOW! Makes mine look like a tattered cardboard box!

 

[jeepchick]

Quote:

Thanks! Built it myself too....OK DH helped carry in the wood but and helped me hold up the walls but this is one of the better looking contraptions ive built lol

 

[jeepchick]

Quote:
Dividers were in the origional plan (I tend to do staggered hatches

)but this is the only hatch i was planning on doing until I order chicks in the spring....So I figured I would wait until after to put them in I had designed it to have a 3 way divider in it to keep 3 different ages or sizes seperate but also let me have a small "walkway" left so I dont have to walk through the poo to fill food/water. Thought that would be important seeing how its in the house.

Cool part is that it didnt cost as much as you might think...I went to Home Depot and they have a stack of less then perfect lumber and lumber that was cut wrong....they call it "cull wood". I found a HUGE stack of 2x4's for $1 each....only thing wrong with them is they were 7 ft 4 inches long instead of 8ft....thats OK tho because my box was only going to be 7 ft long

And the plexiglass is stupidly expensive but we had some storm windows that never got used....brand new still had plastic on them that I used for the windows...free.

 

[rdormes4]

Wow! That is awesome!! Congrats on a great job and thanks for the idea! I'm gonna start on mine right now!