What "stage 2" cage do you use before the chicken coop?

[ForTheLoveOfFarming]

My 12 chicks are quickly outgrowing their current cage. They are 2 1/2 weeks old. Our chicken coop isn't built yet and they need a bigger space. What did you use? What is a guideline for how much room they need? When can I put them outside?

 

[Albrightfire]

Here is a pic. I agree don’t use a heat lamp. (Do as I say not as I do.). We have hardware cloth we place on top.

Yes it was free but I like the wood box above.

 

[Acre4Me]

Ours are 3 weeks old today. We had to move them to stage 2 type living quarters too. 17 chicks are now in a 3’x6’ brooder in garage. Solid bottom and sides, and hardware cloth tops.

 

[Acre4Me]

Wait, you got this box for FREE at a grocery store!?!

Mine was not free- was built with leftover wood and some hardware cloth and some wheels we had. Another poster indicated getting a large produce box (like the ones watermelons come in) that was free from grocery store. Some people use 2 of those, connected.

What you see on the bottom of this brooder made from extra wood is a piece of inexpensive vinyl flooring to make cleanup easier. We did buy it, and for ease of cleaning, it was worth it. When we used a cardboard box, we bought the 100 pack of puppy pee pads from Walmart to line the bottom, with added pine shavings. I don’t think you would want to use contact paper because it is possibly too thin, and would loose its stock quick due to the dust and the chicks might destroy it. However, you can see the heat plate in one pic and it is covered with “press n seal” Cling wrap. The chicks do pick at it a little bit, but mostly leave it alone.

 

[junebuggena]

Wh

Why do people say NOT to use a heat lamp? Especially since so many people do? So confusing! What would be a better alternative?

Many people prefer alternatives like ceramic emitters made for reptiles, heating pads, or EcoGlows. Heat lamps inside the home produce way too much heat for chicks, making it very difficult to prevent overheating.

How difficult is it to clean such a large space out? Where are the chicks when you are cleaning? What is hardware cloth? I might try to make something like this.

Larger brooders don't need cleaned nearly as often as brooders that are too small. My chicks stay in the brooder while it's being cleaned. All that is really needed is the soiled bedding scooped out and replaced with fresh. It doesn't really need disinfected at all. Hardware cloth is a welded metal mesh.
This is an example of a heating pad cave in action. It's my prefered brooding method.

It does have its limits, though. It can handle about 20 chicks at a time. Right now, I've got 66 in the brooder, so the heat lamp had to come out.

I still have the heating pad in there, but lying flat so they can warm their bellies. With that many chicks, piling under the heating pad cave could kill the bantams. They just won't all fit under it.

 

[Albrightfire]

We are very new at this too. Our chicks are about the same age. Someone suggested a Gaylord box (big produce box). We picked up such a box (had held 5 lb bags of potatoes) from our local Costco. It's approximately 40" x 40" and 30-36" high. I'll upload a picture when I get home tonight. Most grocery stores may get these delivered.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Wh

Why do people say NOT to use a heat lamp? Especially since so many people do? So confusing! What would be a better alternative?

MHP is what many people like. It's actually called a Mama Heating Pad.

I use a heat lamp myself, but I brood in the unheated basement/mudroom, so the temperature, especially in the spring, has a really hard gradient across the box. At least ten degrees, often more like 15-20 less at the unheated end. (so, for example, 80 under the heat lamp, and 63 at the other end) And I keep the food at the unheated end so that they're forced to adjust. The gradient also allows them to regulate their own temperature--and when I notice that they're consistently sleeping towards the middle of the box, I move the heating lamp back.

A Mama heating pad does the same thing without the effort. It keeps one spot in the brooder warm, and the chicks have to venture out from under it to expose themselves to the cold and get food--exactly as they would under a hen, hence the name. It results in a far hardier chick.

Further, a Mama Heating pad doesn't emit light, so the chicks are less likely to be sleep-deprived by a constant incandescent light bulb. I have to use a red bulb and a small 'sleeping box' in the brooder to achieve the same effect.

Personally, I think heat lamps are far more versatile, but I can see why a MHP appeals to people who don't want to mess around with all the stuff I do (I'm a time-waster, I really am)

And heat lamps do have a higher fire risk.

 

[Blooie]

Because while chicken wire does an adequate job of keeping chickens in, it is virtually worthless at keeping predators out! Raccoons can reach right through the wire and grab a chicken, if they haven’t bothered to just totally rip the wire apart. Rats and weasels can go right through it. So can small wild birds...you’d be amazed at how many mites and lice can hit your flock via an over abundance of sparrows getting in, not to mention how much their feasting will add to your feed bill.

Edited: Hope it’s okay that I answered....I wuz jest setting doing nuttin’!

 

[WRVgirl]

I made a pvc chicken tractor for the daytime when it’s warm out and then they go into my garage in an inflatable pool at night

 

[uptown hens]

We built what we call our chick U.. having fostered preemie babies from the NICU we found the term CHICK U to be appropriate.

Under our raised coop we completely closed the the outer sides with the wood covering the upper coop. Then we made a chicken wire door the width of the coop. It's basically a short version of the big coop upstairs.

It's a somewhat short space. We have little roosts etc. And we do use a lamp.

This space is basically secure inside the large coop/run area for the other hens. They can see one another through the wire, but can not access each other.

I find my "turkey Dirk" watching over the chicks from his side. He's a gentle protector.

We have used this to set our broody hen to hatch and raise her clutch, and we've used it for our new chicks two seasons now. It works well and keeps everyone somewhat in the same area but secure. The space is about 6x4 ft and about 2 ft high.

When we aren't using it for chicks, it remains open for extra space for the hens.

I'll see if I can find a picture.