Setting up a makeshift brooder

[RollinWithTheStones]

I have a Brinsea incubator and heat plate with 12 Coturnix sex link eggs. I'm doing a children's hatching program at work and was wondering if I could use a Sterilite Tote 24" L x 16" W x 13 7/8" H (66qt) for a brooder? I cannot have a soft sided brooder as we have a cat who is left unattended for long stretches. Chicks will only be in public location for 72 hours before moving home with me.

I was planning on putting more ventilation in the sides of the tote by making rectangle holes and covering with screen and then make a wooden screened frame to cover it. Also, bedding wood shavings or hemp bedding?

 

[catesquire]

That's the exact one I use for brooding, works just fine once you put in the (cat proof) covered air vents. I personally do mine in the lid (no need to make a separate lid, you can just cut a hole in the one it comes with and zip-tie on some hardware cloth) since I don't want to affect the structural stability of the actual container. Pine shavings work just fine, never used hemp myself so can't say either way.

 

[Debbie292d]

Here's something similar that @thecatumbrella posted in her contest:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-byc-easter-hatch-along.1684586/post-29043366

When you get yours done, consider entering it there!

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

Thanks

 

[thecatumbrella]

Here's something similar that @thecatumbrella posted in her contest:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/creative-brooder-contest—17th-annual-byc-easter-hatch-along.1684586/post-29043366

When you get yours done, consider entering it there!

I have some photos of different lid options here (might need to scroll a bit), if you decide to go the tote route. Also, hemp is magical. Poop hot spots need to be removed, but the bedding lasts forever.

 

[Nabiki]

That will work, but make sure they have a warm end and a cool end in there. That lets them pick the comfortable temperature for themselves.

 

[Susan Skylark]

Hemp is okay but I like pine shavings better.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hemp is okay but I like pine shavings better.

And both of those are okay, but I like horse bedding pellets better.

 

[catesquire]

And both of those are okay, but I like horse bedding pellets better.

Do you use them from hatching, or wait until the chicks are older? Love pellets with my adult birds but I'm worried newly hatched chicks will get stupid and try to eat the sawdust from crumbling pellets.

Also, do you do anything special to control the dust? Mine are on a porch and I am NOT loving the dust.

 

[Debbie292d]

Do you use them from hatching, or wait until the chicks are older? Love pellets with my adult birds but I'm worried newly hatched chicks will get stupid and try to eat the sawdust from crumbling pellets.

Also, do you do anything special to control the dust? Mine are on a porch and I am NOT loving the dust.

The pellets don't crumble much at all when they are that little, although they do under the nipple waterer. That creates dust-free sawdust.

They don't eat it though, they try to dustbathe in it! If they do eat any, it's no more or less than they eat of pine shavings before they realize that's yuck! We've been using them for a couple of years on probably 30 batches of chicks at least, and never a problem. Less chances of cocciodosis too, because there's no wet poop for them to peck.

I mostly sell when they are two days old. Last September, I hatched 30-something and wanted to grow those out for 4H'ers this spring. What I have left, are 8 roosters. Silkies sell straight run as they can't be sexed until approx 4 months old, and these were old enough to sex. Guess I don't like this idea much lol.