Size of Brooder

[Rose66]

I'm thinking about getting chicks maybe in a month or so and I'm wondering if a watermelon box would be big enough for the entire time needed to brood 8 chickens? Probably 4 Silkies and 4 standard Barred Rocks. Thanks for any help given. This will be my first time ever having chickens and I'm reading everything I can but I'm still worried that I won't do something right or won't be prepared properly. In fact, I'm so worried that I may talk myself out of getting chickens at all !!

 

[Sorin]

Hello, just trying to give you a bump so someone with more knowledge will reply. But I would ask, how big is a watermelon box? Are you talking about the large cardboard bins they store watermelons in in grocery stores? If thats what you are using then I would say yes, that is plenty of room. I have 12 chicks coming in April and that is what i have and am planning to use. Just keep in mind the height. Within a week or two some of them may be able to fly over the top. If you search on the threads im sure you can find tons of info! Good Luck!

 

[A.T. Hagan]

You'll want about half a square foot per chick until they are about two weeks old then going up to about a square foot per bird until they are ready to leave the brooder. A box 2x4 ft would be plenty for 4 Barred Rock and 4 Silkie chicks.

 

[Rose66]

Thanks so much for the help. From all the reading I've done, it seems like everyone is keeping their chicks in a spare part of the human house for at least the first few weeks of brooding if not the entire duration of it. However, I do not want to keep the chicks in our house at all. Does anyone put their new chicks in a brooder directly in the chicken coop? We are in the design stage of our coop but due to not wanting the chicks in our house, our coop will have electricity and water and we'll keep close checks on the chicks in the brooder and the temp too. Should our chicks do okay in a coop brooder? I don't want anyone to think bad of me for not wanting our chicks in the house but I just don't want the smell and dust inside.

 

[karimw]

The issue with putting them out right away is usually temp. They need to be kept at a 95 - 100 degrees F for the first week them slowly decrease 5 degrees every week. If you can't keep them warm enough or draft free in your coop then you might need to consider something else until they get older.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

If you can keep them sufficiently warm, draft free, and protected from predators then brooding them outside is just fine. I stopped brooding in the house long ago. Chick dust gets everywhere.

 

[Salvadora.Seabright]

Hi Rose66,

I started keeping chickens last year and also had a "not in the house rule." The coop wasn't quite finished when they arrived so the chicks lived in a large (2x3 ft?) cardboard box in my unheated garage for about a week while I finished things. They had a brooder lamp over half the box for heat. Once the coop was finished I moved the lamp etc in and put the chicks to live in their 5.5 x 6 foot shack. That was plenty of space for them until they were well feathered and ready to go outside. My coop has "excellent ventilation" through the many cracks between the vertical 4" boards I used to make the walls and the little ones did not seem to mind at all. Those heat lamps put out a lot more BTUs than you'd imagine!

Apprapos to nothing in your question.... I would recommend using a nipple watering system as they were always getting their water muddy or into the bedding. Wet bedding = stink and disease. There are several systems... self-filling pipes, hanging jugs, 5 gallon bucket... (I use the Avian Aqua Miser jug type. You can get the same parts from FarmTek but I really like the AAM folks as people.)

Good luck and enjoy the adventure!

-----------------------------
Chief wrangler of 1 man, 2 dogs, 10 cats, and 19 free roaming chickens.

 

[Ridgerunner]

A.T. Hagan :

If you can keep them sufficiently warm, draft free, and protected from predators then brooding them outside is just fine. I stopped brooding in the house long ago. Chick dust gets everywhere.

Exactly. I keep mine in a brooder in the coop from day 1. Warm, draft free, and protected from predators. Perfect.​

 

[Rose66]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm glad to hear that chicks can be successfully brooded in a coop. This forum is unbelievably knowledgeable and so very helpful.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Quote:
Chicks have brooded in barns since electricity came to the farm.