Too many brooder options

[WilderSkye]

This is probably the millionth time someone has asked a brooder question. We have worked for months on the run/henhouse and still to haven't nailed down the brooder portion. And 12 chicks arrive next week from Alchemist Farms. I am starting to feel a little panicky here.

Okay, el numero uno is just a few hour option that I like but want to make triple sure this is okay:

We have a large far infra red sauna (provides a gentle heat and doesn't hurt eyes) that I can put them in for the first few hours after they arrive, not loose in there, but an appropriate sized small box. I can set the temp as low as I need. I know when I get it in, my dogs beg to get in, and I will let them sit in there for about 10 minutes with me as it heating up (I get in at 100 deg and let it go further). Anyways, I am thinking the far infrared would help them feel better fast and in a gentle way.

2. We bought a big clear tub for the first few days/week. I have the heat lamp and the red bulb, but also got the Brinsea heater. Do I need a chick heat pad, too?

Now on to the longer term.

3. We can purchase an 8 person tent from Big 5 or we can get plywood and make a big 4x8 box. Both cost the same. I am thinking if we did the plywood box we could set it up in the run, which is where I think they ought to be. It would be say, after the first week or two.

4. We have a 5x5x8 grow tent that is set up and hasn't been used in a year. (I need to take it down today and set up the camping tent if that is the route, or build the plywood box in there with a puzzle type construction that comes apart. I don't how else to describe but y'all probably know what I mean. What I am concerned about is the reflection. I can hang some sort of sheets on walls to defect that. We have cross bars at 5' that it could attach to. We have a ventilation system that can pull air through. And no, I am not a silly goose, in no way would we use grow lights. It has two large doors front and back, and bottom screens. I know in the feed stores they put them in those galvanized stock tanks and they are fairly bright.

5. I can order one of the pet playpens from Amazon and have it here next week but think that won't last long.

6. The run is 12x21, super secure, we put 1/4" 19 gauge hardware cloth top to bottom, created great wind blocks the way we set the walls. Well shaded with trees. A mouse, or more importantly a fox or snake can't get in at all. They would be secure and I like the idea of them getting to run round and play and have space instead of cooped up with boring walls all around. So sooner than later there. We are still getting nights in 50s but days are pleasant in 70-80s. The henhouse stands in middle like an island.



So....what to do? We are good for the first week but will need to move them into something bigger rapidly.

The box in the tent photo is what we got for the initial brooding. I am not keen on plastic but didn't want cardboard. We only want to use the heat lamp the first day if at all. I am really liking the sauna idea. The henhouse and run will be totally completed this weekend. Only a few things to finish. Paint, nailing down a window for the henhouse, etc. and the clean up. What I would like to work out is sauna for first couple of hours, then in small brooder box in grow tent, then on to all grow tent space, then out to the chicken run as soon as they can. At least for chickie 'daycare' for them to play (and putting the Brinsea out there too at that time if needed).

I guess I was shocked to read you need to brood them upwards of 12 weeks before putting them outside. 20 something years ago, we lived in the mountains over mile high, and we got them outside as soon as we could, maybe 4 weeks, but we didn't have internet this overwhelming forest of opinions.

Thanks in advance for being patient reading this often asked question.

 

[nuthatched]

I guess I was shocked to read you need to brood them upwards of 12 weeks before putting them outside.

Good grief, you absolutely do not need to do that. Where on earth did you read that?

You can use the plastic bin with a heat lamp for a week and stick them out in the coop with a heat lamp, mine are outside within a week unless it's snowing.
Make sure you coop has 1 sq foot of permanent ventilation per bird, I can't see it well enough to say.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Congratulations! That is one of the most convoluted complicated plans I've seen on here. Personally I like simplicity.

I've raised more than twice your number of chicks in a 3x6x 24" high brooder until they were 5 weeks old. It started getting crowded then so I let them out. Mine was elevated a couple of feet with a 1/2" hardware cloth floor so poop cab fall through so it stays clean. The sides were also hardware cloth so it had great ventilation and a solid top so poop did not fall in from the older chickens above. I used a heat lamp and put a piece of plywood under the heat lamp so they had some place warm to sleep. To clean, I dumped the piece of plywood on the brooder floor. Simple.

A problem with brooding outside are the temperature swings. You need to keep one area warm enough in the coldest temperatures but also have an area cool enough in the warmest temperatures. I use a heat lamp for that, heating one end and letting the well-ventilated far end cool off to ambient temperatures. I put chicks in there straight from the incubator or the post office whether the outside temperature is below freezing or over 100 F. I change the heat lamp bulb so wattage matches the weather conditions.

My suggestion is to build the 4x8 box and use it. In your weather the heat lamp, heat plate, or heating pad. If you want to use the sauna at the start go for it. Just don't overheat them. That would probably be simple to set up for when they first arrive.

 

[WilderSkye]

Good grief, you absolutely do not need to do that. Where on earth did you read that?

You can use the plastic bin with a heat lamp for a week and stick them out in the coop with a heat lamp, mine are outside within a week unless it's snowing.
Make sure you coop has 1 sq foot of permanent ventilation per bird, I can't see it well enough to say.

Thank you, I can't remember exactly which Youtuber I watched. Too many and all conflicting. But thank God! I think we would all go nuts keeping the little darlings contained in a boring box for weeks on end. I figure it would stunt their natural chicken skills at the very least.

The run is 12 x 21, the henhouse is 4x8, but is for sleeping. I am not totally convinced it is big enough but we won't end up with 12 birds. 6 are straight run, and 6 females. I already have some people lined up for extra roos, we will keep one. And may let one guy who is taking a rooster for his breeding program take a hen or two of his choice. It is just the two of us and we didn't get them so much for eggs as they will be working birds. I grow our own food and work out in the yard and garden year around, daily, unless winds are brutal, I am out there. I desperately need the chickens for some ground tilling I need done, bugging, composting, and generally entertainment (that is number one for me). All that said, these girls will be out free ranging all day on an acre with a garden, bamboo forest, landscaping, little aspen grove, sunflower fields, all kinds of fun chicken stuff.

We kinda overbuilt the run. It was a greenhouse conversion. Oh duh, just re-read your ventilation part. We have a solar powered ventilation fan, and we have been discussing window placement and where we are going to add additonal vents and how to make it draw. Basically spending a bit of time seeing the air flow in the run and strategically placing it. This weekend that is to be nailed down. (Insert insane laughing meme here).

 

[WilderSkye]

Congratulations! That is one of the most convoluted complicated plans I've seen on here. Personally I like simplicity.

I've raised more than twice your number of chicks in a 3x6x 24" high brooder until they were 5 weeks old. It started getting crowded then so I let them out. Mine was elevated a couple of feet with a 1/2" hardware cloth floor so poop cab fall through so it stays clean. The sides were also hardware cloth so it had great ventilation and a solid top so poop did not fall in from the older chickens above. I used a heat lamp and put a piece of plywood under the heat lamp so they had some place warm to sleep. To clean, I dumped the piece of plywood on the brooder floor. Simple.

A problem with brooding outside are the temperature swings. You need to keep one area warm enough in the coldest temperatures but also have an area cool enough in the warmest temperatures. I use a heat lamp for that, heating one end and letting the well-ventilated far end cool off to ambient temperatures. I put chicks in there straight from the incubator or the post office whether the outside temperature is below freezing or over 100 F. I change the heat lamp bulb so wattage matches the weather conditions.

My suggestion is to build the 4x8 box and use it. In your weather the heat lamp, heat plate, or heating pad. If you want to use the sauna at the start go for it. Just don't overheat them. That would probably be simple to set up for when they first arrive.

Thank you! I am leaning more and more to the plywood box idea as I can repurpose it for the garden shed we are going to build.

Yeah, I sort of overthought this one. Years ago, I am totally ashamed to say, we would get chicks, put them out in the horse barn after a week or so of them in a dog kennel in the kitchen and let them loose. In spite of mountain lions, coyotes, golden eagles, they all did well, with the exception of a serial chicken killing appaloosa who thought they were there for him to gallop through. Ugh.

 

[Project Blue]

Chicks grow so darn fast I think it makes more sense to skimp during the brooding process. I use clear plastic moving boxes of different sizes depending on the number of chicks. They are in the garage or laundry room so no predator worries. Temperature, water and food quality should be the concerns over enrichment. It's not hard to set up an outdoor play pen if the weather's good and you can watch them for a couple of hours and put them back. Anyhow, plastic moving boxes store and clean well and are very easy to clean.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

My broodies abandon their young outside at a month of age on average. Three months in a brooder seems highly excessive. In regards to the brooder I've only brooded chickens personally twice and both times were with an unheated plastic tote bin. Zero issues whatsoever, though I'm in a warm climate

 

[NatJ]

The run is 12 x 21, the henhouse is 4x8, but is for sleeping.

I have the heat lamp and the red bulb

I would put the heat lamp in one corner of the hen house. Add feeder, waterer, and chicks. (Yes, freshly-arrived chicks, unless you really want them in a bin in the house for a few days first.)

The red light attracts the chicks, so they are not too likely to wander off and get chilled. If the space right by the lamp gets too hot, they can move further away. If the night gets chilly, they can come closer again. Most chicks are very good at self-regulating their temperature this way.

I would keep the chicks closed in the hen house for at least the first few days, maybe up to a few weeks.

At some point after they are good at running around, I would open the pop door to the run and let the chicks decide whether they want to come out. In the evening, check to see if any need help getting back in the hen house, then close the pop door. As long as the red heat lamp is still shining inside the hen house, I expect them to go in without much fuss when the sun goes down.

we can get plywood and make a big 4x8 box. Both cost the same. I am thinking if we did the plywood box we could set it up in the run, which is where I think they ought to be. It would be say, after the first week or two.

Why would you make a separate 4x8 box when your coop is already a 4x8 box?

Yeah, I sort of overthought this one. Years ago, I am totally ashamed to say, we would get chicks, put them out in the horse barn after a week or so of them in a dog kennel in the kitchen and let them loose.

Ashamed? Why? It sounds like it worked pretty well.

 

[WilderSkye]

Why would you make a separate 4x8 box when your coop is already a 4x8 box?

Laughing because as I was out there looking at ventilation, etc, it struck me, I already have a 4x8 brooder. What you suggest is what we will do. We will rig some sort of hardware cloth for where the doors are so when we open they won't leap out and hurt them selves.

Forgot to mention the roof of it, and everything is subject to change. We actually elevated the roof of the henhouse all the way around as it is in an already roofed secure place. We are going to test the ventilation this afternoon after he gets the solar vent in. One option we thought of was to take the roof off the henhouse and put hardware cloth the ceiling of the run, but that may be a bigger space and may cause problems in the winter with our subzero temps.

I feel such relief to have a solid plan.

Thank you all for the kind comments.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Laughing because as I was out there looking at ventilation, etc, it struck me, I already have a 4x8 brooder.

Yup, I agree with NatJ, since it looks like you can run power out to here you already have a "brooder" in the coop since you don't have other chickens in the space. For the first week or so, maybe fence off half the coop space for the chicks, but after that they can use the whole space and navigate without issue.