Using a plastic storage container as a baby chick brooder

[DozenChipper]

I like to use watermelon/pumpkin bins to brood. I cover the top with flexible garden fencing so they can’t fly out., and cut a side door in to open it if they want to come out. You could do this in the grass and leave the bottom piece of the bin out.

How will you heat the brooder if there is a top on it? Will it be inside of a predator-proof area? If not, I would 100% brood indoors.

Plastic tubs can work for a short amount of time, but the chicks outgrow it very quickly.

Do you have any links or pictures of the large bins you use? I was trying to think outside the box and considered getting 2 large raised bed (4ftx2x1) planters... I figured I could line the bottom and then come up with a cover and keep them in the garage (still pretty cold here outside) until feathers come in. And dual purpose- I could use for garden afterwards. Plus carry outside on a warm day for a little grass time while still having a windbreaker. My hubby was thinking of a bathtub but I'm really not crazy about it! Should I ask in larger forum?

 

[DozenChipper]

I brood all my chicks in totes, I have small, medium and large and then at 12 weeks they go out side in the big bin

How many chicks at once?

 

[riss]

We always start chicks inside and we do use a tote. We got a 50 gallon tote and just take them out once a day for some more room and activity time. I only worry that it may get cold for them being outside. Worse is worse you could always take some grass and dirt and use that as the flooring in your tote with it being right side up.

In the end it won't be too much of a shock for them being transitioned outside. They'll be too busy picking around for bugs and goodies

 

[Iluveggers]

Do you have any links or pictures of the large bins you use? I was trying to think outside the box and considered getting 2 large raised bed (4ftx2x1) planters... I figured I could line the bottom and then come up with a cover and keep them in the garage (still pretty cold here outside) until feathers come in. And dual purpose- I could use for garden afterwards. Plus carry outside on a warm day for a little grass time while still having a windbreaker. My hubby was thinking of a bathtub but I'm really not crazy about it! Should I ask in larger forum?

Here is one I made with 2 large boxes held together with binder clips:

And the watermelon bin (used it for two summers)

 

[TheRusticRebel]

Response:

1) The tote is clear, I did take into account the light issue and made sure to get a clear tote. I also bought the largest tote Home Depot carries, because I know that chicks grow fast.

2) The weather here stays relatively cold well into April, and also I am off grid so I have limited artificial heating options. I was thinking that the bin would hold heat better than say a traditional metal brooder.

3) Yes, the brooder will be inside the chicken run. I specifically made plans to construct the run first, then put the brooder inside of it. Fortunately I live in a prairie-type environment so flying predators such as hawks are unusual.

The tote will be placed with the lid side down (lid removed) and multiple air holes cut into the plastic. The air holes will help regulate heat and humidity inside the tote. Chicks start showing up at the local farm supply stores in late February, when it can easily get down into the 20s F at night.

Hey OP is this the tote? I bought it at HD. 18 W x 36 L x 17 H

Chicks have already started at my local feed store but the ones i want arent due for a couple weeks. Fingers crossed i can get there in time when they arrive. Today was the first day and they were sold out by 1pm.

I will transition to our large dog kennel when they go out to the coop. Im getting 6 pullets and 1 rooster.

 

[TheRusticRebel]

The moment yall have been waiting for:

View attachment 3421225View attachment 3421226
View attachment 3421227

These pix don't show the markings on the yardstick very well but it was hard to see exactly how the pix looked due to sun glare.

i shoulda kept reading sorry all. Didn't mean to be a dirty HIPPO its the same tote.

 

[NatJ]

I was a member of online "survivalist" forums a decade ago and baby chick constipation was occasionally discussed. I was thinking that the corn-based feed usually used in brooders might be difficult for chicks to digest sometimes.

In my experience, that is not the case.

I have raised hundreds of chicks on the typical corn-based chick starters.
Pasty butt has been almost completely a non-issue.

I have never had a chick die of pasty butt.
I've never seen anything close to the pasty butt photos that sometimes get posted.

For any batch of 12-25 chicks, I would typically expect to pick a bit of dried poop off a few butts in the early days, but not many. Most of the chicks have no trouble at all, and the remaining few are fine after getting it picked off a time or two. Just look at the chicks each day, and if there's any poop stuck to the butt fluff, pick up the chick and pull off that little bit-- it may take a small amount of fuzz too, but the whole thing is over in a few seconds and the chick is fine again. No enormous mess of accumulated poop, no long times spent soaking and scrubbing a chick's butt, no stressed chick from the time spent soaking and scrubbing and maybe getting chilled.

I am thinking that a more traditional diet based on foraging as chickens are meant to do might be healthier for the chicks and also get them acclimated to the conditions they will experience as adults. Also, sometimes the babies will try to eat the wood scratch in their brooder.

I would use the bin right side up, with a heat source until the chicks no longer need it, and give the chicks a shovelful of dirt or a clump of sod each day for the first few weeks. Transitioning them to outdoors at that point is no big deal.

Yes, they certainly will try to eat bits of wood shavings in their brooder. They will also try to eat the sides of the brooder, their own toes, the eyes of the other chicks, the food and water, maybe your fingers, and everything else they see. It's how chicks learn about the world. Trying to eat wood shavings will not hurt them any more than trying to eat the dirt on the ground-- either one can be a problem if a particular chick overdoes it, but most chicks figure out that it's not good food, and have no trouble. Putting down a layer of paper towels for the first day or two can make it easier for them to recognize the food (fewer options for what to peck), regardless of whether you will be putting them on shavings or ground after that.

Then there is heat. I have come across low wattage brooder heaters on occasion online while searching for other things. That will definitely require more research.

Some of the low wattage brooder heaters are meant to be used inside a warm area (50+ degrees), while higher wattage things (like 250 watt heat lamp bulbs) are better for cold areas (often including outdoors in early spring.)

If the chicks are directly on the cold ground, they will get chilled faster and more easily than if they are on a warm or insulating surface. So a layer of bedding, or setting up the heat a day or two early to pre-warm the ground in the right place, might make a big difference in how well the chicks do.

 

[DozenChipper]

Here is one I made with 2 large boxes held together with binder clips:
View attachment 3421800

And the watermelon bin (used it for two summers)
View attachment 3421802

Thanks!! Very helpful!

 

[Bigandlittles]

Do you have any links or pictures of the large bins you use? I was trying to think outside the box and considered getting 2 large raised bed (4ftx2x1) planters... I figured I could line the bottom and then come up with a cover and keep them in the garage (still pretty cold here outside) until feathers come in. And dual purpose- I could use for garden afterwards. Plus carry outside on a warm day for a little grass time while still having a windbreaker. My hubby was thinking of a bathtub but I'm really not crazy about it! Should I ask in larger forum?

You can get these large bins from any grocery store. Just ask a store manager if they can call you when the bin is emptied. St patty’s day is coming up and the stores will have plenty of bins filled with cabbage. This is a produce bin. Working at rouses has its perks.