So, I made a new brooder *Pics*

[Connorrm]

How many can it hold? I'm finding my 12 chickies are PIGS!!! So, I made a new brooder box out of freezer panels (I know, I have tons hanging around I'm lucky my friend dents so many at his shop ha!)

It's 4.5 feet long x 2.5 feet wide x 2 feet tall. How many will this hold?

you can see the swing up door I bored a brooder light hole out of. It has about a 4 inch wide gap left along the top edge for ventilation

Here is a full shot - ignore the dirt, I had a bag of potting soil explode just before I took the pic - going to hose it off, lol.

The brooder is being kept in my drive under garage/basement. So, how many will it hold and for how long?

 

[Mommysongbird]

Don't know how many it would hold, but I wish I had it for my 10 three week olds.

 

[Farmer_Dan]

I have one that's about 2.5' X 5' and it has 20 X 3 week old chickies in it at the moment. I think another week or so though and the smell will be strong enough that I MUST get them outside onto the dirt!

Nice brooder!

BTW, I usually give my baby chicks some dirt to play in, they love it, so I wouldn't worry too much about getting the brooder all shiny and dirt free just for the chicks.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

For that size of brooder you ought to be able to keep about twenty, maybe as many as twenty five, chicks in it if you arrange the furniture inside efficiently until they are about two weeks old. Then they are going to be getting crowded. After that I'd drop the number down to ten to fifteen. It depends on how well they tolerate confinement.

But I think you are going to have ventilation problems. If it were me I'd bore some more holes about one third of the way down from the top and cover them with screening to allow for more air flow.

 

[Farmer_Dan]

Yes, more ventilation. Or at the very least, don't close the top hatches, they need to have fresh air as much as they need warmth.

 

[Connorrm]

Ahh good idea! I went next door to the house I'm tearing down and harvested the screens (they are flimsy, but it's in my garage/basement so no predators) and put that over the side that doesn't have the heat lamp. It's roughly a 2.5 x 3 ft opening. That should do it right?

They are so happy being able to peck around. One of the froggier of the group has taken to spreading out his/her wings and running back and forth chirping happily. It's funny watching the rest of the chicks run out of the way. They're mastering the stink eye pretty quickly!

 

[Jeneane]

That's a great idea! Wish I had one LOL

 

[Connorrm]

Quote:
Yeah, I might just take some of the windows and fit them into the chicken coop and put hardware cloth on the bottom "screens". It would look nice for sure. The peeps all look so tiny now they're in the that gigantic brooder!

You can only see half of it in the pics, LOL. But, they went from 4 SQ in their old brooder to 16ish SQ ft.