The most fanteggstic brooder ever!!!

[Lins_BE]

I just got a terrarium sooo cheap to raise the chicks in that are 2/3 weeks old. Now I just have to find a place to put it and go get it... it’s huge!
I think I will put it next to the coop on the opposite side of the run, then I will make an extra run at that side, so they can go from the terrarium to underneath the terrarium with a heat plate and access to the new run when they’re 4 weeks old and then move to the other run when they are 6 weeks old. From there they can self-integrate into the adult flock with panic doors.

The thing has climate control, heated bottom and heat lamps, it’s insulated and has double glass doors! I am going to have a blast with it!
PS: off course there will be no more snakes in it!

 

[Kiki]

Nice!
Is there enough ventilation somewhere? I'm not seeing any.

 

[Lins_BE]

Nice!
Is there enough ventilation somewhere? I'm not seeing any.

Do you see the pipe in there? That’s it.

 

[Kiki]

Can you cut a long rectangular hole along the back wall, at the top, and cover it with hardware cloth?

 

[Lins_BE]

Can you cut a long rectangular hole along the back wall, at the top, and cover it with hardware cloth?View attachment 2026983

I could, but the whole thing is insulated so That would kind of make no sense. Do you think they will have to little fresh air? There have been animals in there for years.

 

[Kiki]

I don't think it's a good idea to put chicks in a completely closed in container with no fresh air ventilation.

 

[Lins_BE]

I don't think it's a good idea to put chicks in a completely closed in container with no fresh air ventilation.

I will check it out when I go get him. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Blooie]

I so agree with my friend Kiki! it’s an awesome setup, there’s no doubt, but chicks aren’t snakes. They need ventilation. It will amaze you how fast ammonia and humidity will build up in there. Chicks are warm blooded, not cold blooded like snakes, so they put off their own heat. They spill water. They soak their bedding. Their poop is wetter.

Putting them in a glass container (or plastic tote, as far as I’m concerned) with limited or no ventilation is like putting them in an Easy Bake Oven, as lazygardener says! I‘d love love love to have a setup like that if I raised chicks in the house. I don’t. I raise them outside in a wire pen. In the run. With windows and vents open. In Wyoming. In the winter. When temps are still in the twenties dipping into the teens sometimes. We always mean well, but we often horribly OVERestimate chicks’ heat requirements. And we UNDERestimate their ventilation needs, sometimes putting in heat lamps then piling on blankets to “hold in the heat”. Yep, I’ve read of folks doing that.

i can’t wait to see what you can do with this! You’ll never have chicks scared spitless when, as my friend @azygous puts it so well, these “disembodied heads and hands come at them out of nowhere”. She had a super setup using a big bay window at one time! Your chicks see you, become accustomed to you coming and going, and you’ll have a blast watching them. Just get some ventilation in there!

 

[azygous]

Blooie, it reminds me of that window brooder of mine, too! It's really going to be a chick palace!

 

[janiedoe]

@azygous I'd love to see that window brooder. The curiosity may kill me if you don't have a picture!