Raising chicks in a baby pool?!

[dinami]

What do you think of this design? Any advise or tweaks?
It makes me feel claustrophobic looking at it!
I'm thinking of taking the top pool off and using a cardboard roll around it!
How do people usually hang their heat lamps?!

 

[azygous]

I'm so sorry to be the one to have to tell you that your invention is unsuitable for brooding baby chicks. It would be fine if you wanted an oven in which to bake them. But with a cover like that, with the lamp stuck down inside, it's going to be impossible for your chicks to regulate their body temps.

The principle of heat in a brooder is to supply a heat source that heats only that space directly beneath the heat lamp, leaving the remainder of the brooder much cooler. The chicks need to be able to freely move in and out of the heat zone to avoid over-heating. With that set-up, you're heating the entire brooder.

Removing the plastic cover is a start. You need to think of baby chicks as little campers warming themselves at a campfire. The rest of the brooder needs to be much cooler for the chicks to remain healthy.

 

[ChickityChina]

I'm a newbie to raising chicks and I'm certainly no expert. But I do have experience with heat lamps over cages for reptiles and I can tell you that plastic gets hot very quickly and will melt and catch on fire. It is extremely hazardous to have a heat lamp so close to or touching the plastic, cardboard, etc. I have mine hanging from/sitting on a metal shelf above the brooder with nothing to catch on fire near it. Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[birds4kids]

You also need to have all corners of the brooder accessible at a moments notice. At this point since the pool is already dedicated I would cut the bottom out of it and just use it as the taller sides.

 

[donrae]

It needs to be dismantled and re-worked.

first, it's a fire hazard waiting to happen. That heat lamp right on that plastic is going to melt the plastic and likely start a fire.

How are you going to get the feeder and waterer in and out of the brooder? how are you going to clean it? How are you going to reach a chick that dies in the far edge?

It's going to overheat the area. Chicks need most of their space to be at ambient temperature, with a warm spot to go to.

This has no air circulation, ammonia is going to build up and the air will be stale.

A quick, easy brooder is two large cardboard boxes. Like watermelon boxes, something that size. Put two of them together, side by side. Tape them together and cut a door between them. Put the heat lamp in one box and the food and water in the other. When you're done brooding, recycle the boxes.

 

[dinami]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! This is not my design. My mother in laws boyfriend made it and it is being brought over tonight....it looks so me like the two pools are duct taped together so I am just going to remove the top pool and secure poultry wire around the bottom pool for sides! I am still brainstorming about how I am going to hang the heat lamp though....

 

[junebuggena]

I've used a kiddie pool as a brooder too. I clamp the heat lamp to a folding card table. Since I keep it in an unfinished room, I just leave the sides open. Once they are old enough, the chicks hop out, run around and then hop right back in to warm up, eat, or drink. When they stop spending time in the warm zone, it's time to move them out to their grow-out coop.