The Titanic of brooders

[neishalee]

Due to an unfortunate coyote incident I lost my rooster and 12 hens. Of the 5 hens left I collected eggs for a week and had a New Years hatch. I ended up with 13 chicks in the middle of the winter and with the nursery coop being drafty uninsulated I'll need to keep them inside longer than usual.

We have lots of space in the basement so my husband made this out of scraps we have on the propery. The floor is made out of old metal road sign blanks from my father in laws old sign shop. The wood is from old cedar decks.

Should be big enough until they are fully feathered. I don't normally do this many at a time but I had a better hatch than I expected and some are probably going in the soup pot when they start chasing the kids.

 

[jtbrown]

Wow that's nice looking. Great to have handy helpers to come through when you need them!

I don't envy keeping them in the basement (the voice of experience talking). Our first batch of chicks grew out in our basement, the dust about did us in. However, not being negative, I may be convinced to do it again sometime if we needed to. Nice looking brooder! Plus, getting the birds started this early means quicker return to egg production! Good luck!

 

[neishalee]

Yeah, usually they are in the bathroom for awhile (I have a huge bathroom) and the dust is crazy. This is an unfinished basement and I plan to put sheets of plastic up around this area to help contain it.

 

[aart]

Nice!

They're gonna be filling that up pretty good by spring.
Might want to start cutting back heat,
take out one of the heat lamps and keep the other as low of heat as possible with a dimmer extension cord,
and get them out sooner.

What's the ambient temp of the basement?

 

[neishalee]

Basement is 62, I'm going to move them out to the big coop which is insulated and evict the adults to the little coop. I raised the lights today.

 

[aart]

Basement is 62, I'm going to move them out to the big coop which is insulated and evict the adults to the little coop. I raised the lights today.

You might want to even crack that window a bit...let some colder air in.

Make them a 'huddle box', put it in the brooder after turning off the heat(you might have to 'persuade' them to use it) then move it out to the coop with them.
Cardboard box with a bottom a little bigger than what they need to cuddle next to each other without piling and tall enough for them to stand in.
Cut an opening on one side a couple inches from bottom and big enough for 2-3 of them to go thru at once.
Fill the bottom with some pine shavings an inch or so deep.
This will give them a cozy place to sleep/rest, block any drafts and help hold their body heat in