Saving money on feeding??

[gabbondante]

So, I am gearing up for the delivery of my chicks on 16/April - even my 2 y.o. is excited because she is on a major Old MacDonald kick right now and the chicken verse is her favorite. In a planning effort, I am considering approaching the GM of my local grocery store to see if they would sell me overripe/not good enough for sale veggies and fruits for my flock. Has anyone done this before? Has it gone well? Any tips for things to say/not to say?

Also, I live in [snowy] NJ - my brooder is a large converted, wire dog crate because that's what I have laying around. I was planning on keeping my brooder in my garage but I'm concerned with the uncharacteristically cold weather we have been having. I have the Premier 1 heating plate (it's the Brinsea knock-off) for keeping them warm. I was thinking maybe I should put some cardboard on the sides and top of the crate to help "insulate" it? Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

 

[Alaskan]

Yep, All the above sound like great ideas.

Insulate the brooder as much as you can, I would be tempted to put a heating pad in there too.

Also, the heating/brooding thing you are using needs to be set as low as possible. Supposedly they duck to go under it and actually press their little backs up against the plate.