Planning for spring chicks

[Lunar]

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/producers-pride-brooder-and-coop-heater

Have you seen these? They can be turned to accommodate bigger chicks. They heat on both sides so chicks can move around them and still be warm. They don't really say how cold they can be to still heat tho.

 

[WaveyCreekChickens]

I’m getting closer to building the brooder. We are planning on getting the chicks for end of April/early May. It will be a 4‘ by 8’ section of the regular (large) coop. We will use goat panels to section it off, with hardware cloth (made into panels for easy removal) along the bottom, and a full size door for me.
We are loosely modeling it after @Blooie ’s design here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/yes-you-certainly-can-brood-chicks-outdoors.68067/
I wondered @Blooie , about the box you used from your old brooder. Should I make a box to put the cave in, to keep the heat in one area?
Thanks for any advice.

 

[Blooie]

Mama Heating Pad won’t keep any area - no matter how confined - warm. A mother hen doesn’t warm the entire area, either. MHP (and Mama Broody) work by warming the chicks directly, which is why you want it at the level of their backs.

We stood our old wooden brooder box on end out there just to block the cold Wyoming north winds, not to actually hold in any heat. That was the most logical position to put the chicks’ pen because it was nearest the outlet Ken had installed out there. It was our first year brooding chicks outdoors and I was still a bit of a Nervous Nellie. Frankly, while I had a ton of faith in MHP, I was still uncertain if this outdoor brooding thing was going to work, so we had a backup plan in place just in case. But it did work, and it worked so well that I’ve never looked back.

After that first batch of chicks, we reinforced the plastic on that end of the run for more wind protection, but still just left the box in. The top was a convenient place to store chick food and grit, and we also attached that end of the plastic overhead netting to it. We had one pesky hen that figured out she could fly into the chicks’ brooder pen, but couldn’t gain enough momentum in that confined space to fly back out so that was done to keep her out. The box gave us a place to staple the netting, and we stretched it over the top of the pen and attached the other end to the end of the brooder pen with zip ties.

So technically speaking, the box was just convenient, but by no means necessary. Eventually one side of it starting getting weak and we feared a collapse, so it came out. The last 4 batches of chicks didn’t even have the box up against the north wall anymore, just the wire pen. Hope that helps!

 

[WaveyCreekChickens]

Thanks so much @Blooie ! This was very helpful!
My brooder will be inside the coop, so there won’t be any wind.
No need for a box then.
The goat panels will go up to the ceiling, so the adults won’t be able to get in.

 

[Blooie]

Perfect!!

 

[WaveyCreekChickens]

My chicks will be coming on April 30. I ordered 5 Wyandottes, and may add 2 other chicks depending on what is available on the day of pickup.
We have divided the brooder part off inside the 12x16 feet chicken coop with 4x4 inch goat panel (steel fence). We are going to put either 2 feet of HC or a 2 feet high clear plastic panel on the bottom to keep the chicks in. I am thinking when the time comes to let them integrate with the adults (6 hens and a rooster), I could just take that panel (or HC) off, and the chicks can flit back and forth through any of the holes.
Now I am facing a conundrum.
My coop has only one chicken door. It leads to a large chicken and goat enclosure, fenced in by the same 4x4 inch goat panel. If the chicks have access to the whole coop at 3 weeks (or whenever I decide), they will be able to flit through the fences and go wherever they want. (It is not an option to put HC or chicken wire around the bottom. There is way too much fence to do that.)
I had a single chick a couple of years ago, who had this freedom. She did fine, but she had a mom for the first four weeks of her life, who showed her everything.
At what age do you think a group of 5-7 chicks will be Ok to be out there ?
The only other option I can see is to leave them in the brooder until they are too big to fit through 4x4 holes.
Thanks for your input.

 

[WaveyCreekChickens]

Anyone?

 

[springvalley123]

I think most adult chickens could fit thru a 4x4 inch opening, certainly they could squeeze thru it. 2x4 non climb fence would work for full size adults. Since it's just to keep the chicks in, that's a perfectly good use for chicken wire.

 

[aart]

I think most adult chickens could fit thru a 4x4 inch opening

Eh, the slimline ones can, learned that the hard way...had to block off part of my chick door down to 3.5".

 

[WaveyCreekChickens]

None of my adults can go through the fence, but I know the chicks will be able to.
I was just wondering at what age the chicks would be ok to explore and be able to find their way back. I guess I will have to wait and see. Worst case scenario, they have to stay in the brooder longer, but it is a big brooder (4’x8’).