Sdwd

[kathyinmo]

Nella, I love that brooder! Will you come and make a couple for me? I could really use something like that! Love it!

 

[NellaBean]

My EX-boyfriend and I made it last winter......I had planned on making removable dividers for it, but never got around to it....so I've been using it for quarantine and isolation of injured/angry birds. I've had a rooster living in the bottom level for MONTHS. Little jerk

It's actually pretty easy to make, I'm sure you could do it yourself

 

[joletabey]

Cyn, how are the girls this morning?

How's everyone else doing? I am so tired I can't keep my brain straight.

 

[speckledhen]

Nelda is alive. She looks at food and looks at water but won't consume anything. We are having to syringe water and nourishment into her mouth. She has a tad more energy, it seems, but she isn't out of the woods yet and may never be.

Maxie is a pain, as usual. She wants to roam, eating and scratching around, but not sure her crop is 100% back to normal. She drinks lots. Whatever is in her abdomen has not changed a bit.

I'm kicking myself that I wouldn't spend the $5 for the powdered copper sulfate when I found it at the feedstore in Murphy, NC. Next trip there, I'm picking it up. At the time, I had no one with crop issues, but of course, here they are.

Janelle, I love your brooder. A bank of four of those will be on the list when and if I make another coop or add onto one. Zane's cage is similar, but there is a pen below him and on top of him is a dog kennel we use for the hospital. It's way too hard to reach, though.

 

[Cetawin]

Morning Sorta...

I am glad the girls are hanging in there Cyn. At least Nelda is not doing worse

What is this cooper sulfate substance you speak of? What? how? etc etc


Nelda...Love that brooder and thank you for putting my girl in a safe place so she is not bait. hehehe

 

[NellaBean]

I have great brooders here.......that one is meant to be 6 small brooders....I have another "shed" that is 2 brooders that are each 4x6. A tall one on bottom that can fit adult large fowl birds, and a short one on top that can fit adult bantams. Or lots of babies in either

Here it is quarantining my large fowl quad of cochins last winter......the top one was empty at the time.

I also have a broody hutch, I usually use for broody moms on eggs. I currently have it put away in the back of the garage behind the mower, so it is out of commision until I can get the other side of the garage cleaned and have it moved in there.

I'd like to build another smaller versions of my big 6 brooder panel....maybe one that is only 4 feet long but 2 levels again. So half the size of the one I have now. I built something very similar for the bunnies, but it is only 1.5 foot tall cages instead of 2' each.

Once I build new bunny cages, I will probably use my double bunny hutch for broodies or babies also.

And I want to build two of these for the bunnies to stay outside........(NOT MY PIX ON THIS ONE)

And these (also not my pix) for indoor bunny/chicken cages.

Plus a nice duck brooder, like those cages posted a few pages back. I have plans drawn up but probably won't get to them for a while.

 

[kathyinmo]

Well, Nella, I have plenty of time to work on building a few of those brooders now ...... since I quit my job. I think I will do that. Do you happen to have a "pattern," or dimensions or supplies list? Thanks so much for posting those pictures. They are great! I don't plan to go job hunting for a couple weeks, so this is good timing.

My plan is to go ahead and incubate and hatch any eggs I get from the Heritage Barred Rocks through the winter. So many people have contacted me about wanting these birds. I have my storage garage now cleaned out and have room to house them there. There is electricity there, so it should work well. I really do not want chicks in our main (attached) garage again ..... though it is handy, it is too close to the house.

Hope everyone has a great day. Weather is nice here today.

 

[NellaBean]

My "big" brooder is 4x8.....the "legs" are whatever you want them to be. I made mine I think 21" or so, tall enough to slide my feed tubs underneath for storage (which works GREAT).

The actual brooder area itself is 4x8. The back is full sheet of plywood. It is 2 feet deep. So each level is a full length, 2 foot "wide" piece of plywood. Each brooder is about 2x8......I used exactly 3 sheets of plywood to make the entire thing.

I had a thread with more info and pics from when we built it here

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=288978

I will say there are a few things I would change.......although having a board along the bottom edge helps keep shavings in....it needs to be TALLER and removable. Because it would be much easier to clean if I could just put a wheelbarrow under the opening and sweep everything out to clean it.

I also wish I had made the doors open either down or up instead of to the side. If you use it as a long single brooder per level instead of individual cages, it is hard to catch them.......they run from side to side and you have to duck between doors, etc etc.

I ended up installing those hanging plant brackets inside to hang a single 1 gallon waterer in there. Works GREAT. I could do the same for a feeder if need be, I guess.

I would love to have a small shed I could build brooders INTO the walls. That would be glorious. Someday I want nice 12x12 shed/stall/etc that I can make a permanent "brooder" room. I always have somebody needing quarantine or treatment or something. Right now I have a broody in one, a chick with an injured eye in another, and the shredded rooster in the third. Once I get the 4th scrubbed out (it is empty now but needs the walls depooped), I will move my BIG broody girl into there.

I will try to draw up some very simple dimensional drawings tonight for you. My ex was very belligerent about always being right, so we did a few things "his way" that were just stupid but easier to just do than argue about. Good riddance to him, LOL.

 

[speckledhen]

Nelda will be gone by morning. We could euthanize her, but she is just laying in the shavings near the heat lamp. She can't walk without stumbling, but she really isn't trying. She will not drink at all. I wish there was a way to know when it's too late to save them with an impacted crop. If you have more than a few birds, you just can't go around picking them up daily to check everyone's crops. And it's almost impossible to know if they've just eaten alot that day or it's really impacted unless you pick them up every night, then again in the morning to see if it's gone down. With Nelda and Maxie, that will be five lost in a few months, all except Maxie being older ladies well past their prime.

Emily, my black Rock, may be broody. She's been in a nest for hours and hours and is threatening to take my hand off. She's usually a meanie on the nest anyway, just like Nora always was.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Quote:
Cyn

Sorry to hear about your Nelda....you have truly had more than your fair share this year!

Is Emily from Halo's stock? My 2 blues and 2 blacks from her were BROODY, BROODY this year. Be careful though cause Mammy, one of my black rock girls, was the one who tried to kill the chicks as they were born. Wish I had some fertile BR eggs I could send your way

Hope Nelda passes quietly and without pain.