Plastic Tote Brooder

[Whiskyness]

Hello,

I am trying to dip my toes into the chicken world and am hitting some speed bumps.

TLDR: How long can I keep just two chicks in a plastic tote brooder for?

The totes are
32 1/2" Long
19 3/4" Wide
18 5/8 High

And also, what would your recommendation for bulb wattage be for a plastic tote and a smaller amount of chicks?


The long version goes like this. My grandmother lives in the country, she has owned chickens before but has never kept them through the winter due to being older and unable to care for them in the winter (like shovel and get to the coop let alone clean it and such, Canadian winters suck), and she had a really sad, not good, coop built. My sister is now living with her and they got talking about a coop and having chickens (and ducks) again.

I heard they were doing it and have become obsessed, I have helped find coop and run plans and hope to help build it... but we are trying to be cost effective and find ways to save. Dad works construction and can get us material for free we just have to wait for the job to finish.

We were hoping to get pullets but my Grandma refuses to pay the new outrageous price people are asking for because apparently lock down makes everyone want chickens. So we are going to try to raise day old chicks.

If you are still with me, congrats. Here is the next level, because of social distancing... I can't really be too too involved. But I still want to be. The original plan was for me to keep 2 chicks myself, and I had THOUGHT I could keep them in the tote for a month, but my sister asked a friend who says they will only last a week in there. Online I have found little information, and what I have found is conflicting. The chicks, once too big would move to the newly built coop and run, which we would have a month to gather materials and build while raising chicks.

I really am hoping to find a way to still raise my chicks, I live in a basement apartment in a city, I have a young son who is bored out of his mind and I think this will help. My sister doesn't think I should waste money on setting up a tote to only have chicks for a week. I'm just bummed and trying to find a way to make it work.

Side bar: If I can keep chicks in a tote, they would be indoors and I would like to use a ceramic bulb. Do I need a crazy high wattage for a tote and 2 chicks?

And my sister will be keeping hers in a tote but in a sheltered outdoor area. She would need the red bulb but would it still need to be 250 watts for a totes and maybe 4 or 5 chicks and a few ducklings?

 

[pozees2]

I have kept chicks in tote brooder for 4 weeks, you have to be sure they have enough room (they grow really fast and by 4 weeks they're pretty big compared to when you first get them) and about 2-3 weeks in you will have to put a hardware cloth cover on it to keep them from jumping out. If you are getting newly hatched chicks, the temperature they need to stay warm is about 90 degrees for the first week, and I've never used a ceramic bulb so I have no idea how warm they will keep them. I would recommend 3 in case something happens to one of them so you don't have a very lonely chick. I know some people have used a heating pad that doesn't have automatic off wrapped in towels and placed on a wire frame or small platform they can run under instead of a bulb, perhaps one of them will chime in and give more details. You would want to teach your son to watch and not touch for the most part, handling too much can cause a lot of stress for the chicks, but watching is really fun, I think The first week is pretty easy, but by the time they've been eating for a week you will have to clean the brooder at least once a day, and to do that safely you would probably want to have some kind of temporary containment, like a shoebox-size container, and have your son make sure they stay in it. I like the storage containers because they are easy to clean and disinfect, but lots of people just use cardboard boxes in ever-larger sizes, harder/impossible to clean but easy to replace usually. Think it through, make sure you can keep them safe and make sure at the end of that fourth week you can bring them somewhere with more room and safe integration with whatever other chicks they will be moving in with.

 

[Whiskyness]

Thank you for your reply!

Okay, I will look into a third chick... I really hope nothing happens to any of them!

We will be making sure the tote has hardware mesh from the beginning, and I have a cat and my son is under 2, so I need to keep both of them out! Hopefully teaching him to look and not touch will be easy.

Maybe 6 years ago my mom paid for this "experience " to hatch and raise ducks, before sending them back to the company. I loved it, it was messy and loud and I had to clean it every day, so I was preparing to do something similar with chicks though I have heard they tend to be less messy? Or just less wet haha.

I will need to do a lot more research on safe integration, because of course I want that to go smoothly.

I also want to look into the heating pad as a source of warmth... I have one for my cat that she never uses, it puts off less heat than one you would buy for a person though.

 

[pozees2]

With a cat and a two year old, keeping them in a room with a door that closes is probably your best bet, if that's an option.

 

[Djones24]

I live in Canada too.

I use a heating pad to brood my chicks. It's the best. You can check out the infamous thread about it here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/

That sounds like a big enough brooder for 2 chicks for 4 weeks. It'll get a little hairy when they want to start jumping around, and they do generate a lot of dust, but I think you could make it if you had to.

 

[Peggy O]

I'm a tub user as well. I use a 65 watt flood light (old incandescent) for heat. Right on top the dog crate panel covered with chicken wire that I use as a lid, lid strapped on with a luggage strap. Works great. Keep the light at one end, that way they can choose their comfy temp. The flood light bulb (indoor style, cheap) is in a brooder light fixture designed for a 250 red bulb, so a large sz fixture. it's large enough the bulb does not touch the wire top/lid. Its in the bathroom. Years ago I used the 250 red lights and they are scary they get hot and for a plastic tub brooder with a few chickens you really don't need that much heat mine stay in this exact tub until they go outside I move the tub outside during the day bringing it at night acclimate them then the tub goes into the chicken coop then after a few days I put them in a dog run connected to the chicken coop so they can kind of get used to the other chickens. Then a few days after that I open the dog run and let 'em figure it out.

.
Here is my plastic tub set up. 5 chicks.

 

[fifenashia]

I’m just getting back into chickens after a few years hiatus.

I have 2 old dog crates (one for a small breed and one for a giant breed)- I put a cardboard box in there with pine shavings, waterer and feeder. I actually have 6cats and 3 dogs (that no longer use their crates) And this set up protects my babies really well.

I get one of the clamp lights from the auto department and then just regular lightbulbs, I have 45,60, and 75 watt bulbs so I can adjust temp as needed. You may need the big 250watt ones in the winter outside in the coop (careful of fire hazards) but that will be entirely too hot for a brooder. You can also pick up a little red bulb for the, to have overnight so they stay warm but aren’t bothered by the light.

I’ve used a plastic tub in the past with success-especially with the lid cut out and wire placed on securely. I just really like the security of the dog crates and they are something I have on hand already which makes it easy.

Funny story, the first time I ever had chicks I didn’t realize what I was getting into and had half a dozen ”teenage birds” in a spare room with a kiddie pool filled with shavings. That was a mess and a disaster although the kids did find it hilarious and we still talk about it haha. I don’t recommend that approach at all.

Good luck with your babies! This should be a fun journey.