What's your chick brooder look like?!

[Wyorp Rock]

Here are all of my brooders, an evolution culminating in a spacious outdoor brooding pen, which I do now instead of using indoor brooders. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/r...rooder-and-start-raising-your-chicks-outdoors

Carol, I'm always sooooooo envious of your setup! LOL!


Mine is a "grow out" area - for cold weather I cover the "brooder" doors with plastic for wind protection. This is all combined with my runs - the littles can be seen by the adults. I have electric outside, so use a heating pad for brooding.

I just close off different sections as needed, but if everything and everyone is doing fine, then I leave it all open. My adults love to pile into the little "coop" LOL

 

[BellsCluckers]

Carol, I'm always sooooooo envious of your setup! LOL!


Mine is a "grow out" area - for cold weather I cover the "brooder" doors with plastic for wind protection. This is all combined with my runs - the littles can be seen by the adults. I have electric outside, so use a heating pad for brooding.

I just close off different sections as needed, but if everything and everyone is doing fine, then I leave it all open. My adults love to pile into the little "coop" LOL
View attachment 1290689

View attachment 1290690

This is absolutely beautiful

 

[Storybook Farm]

For the first time, this year, we are brooding chicks in an unheated barn. I ran across information on how to decrease electricity bills and brood day-old chicks in winter, even when ambient air is below freezing.

I just wrote a detailed blog post about how to build a “hover” that includes the sources from which I gleaned the information that led me to build it.

http://marciasomerville.com/farm/building-a-hover/

We’re going to be trying it out for the first time this Tuesday. Hoping it’s a winner!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

This is absolutely beautiful

Thanks! It's a work in progress- LOL I'm always scheming err...planning for expanding/improving. It will be a while, but I have another outbuilding on the other side...hoping to eventually take that over with another coop/run

 

[PachecoPeeps]

We are currently brooding 13 chicks in a giant cardboard box we got from a grocery store. We are using the ecoglow for warmth and are loving it. We also have some sticks in there foe them to practice roosting and some toys to keep them from being too bored.

 

[BellsCluckers]

We are currently brooding 13 chicks in a giant cardboard box we got from a grocery store. We are using the ecoglow for warmth and are loving it. We also have some sticks in there foe them to practice roosting and some toys to keep them from being too bored.View attachment 1290747

Aww! Very cool ! What is the ecoglow? Might be interested in using one.

 

[lazy gardener]

View attachment 1290732 For the first time, this year, we are brooding chicks in an unheated barn. I ran across information on how to decrease electricity bills and brood day-old chicks in winter, even when ambient air is below freezing.

I just wrote a detailed blog post about how to build a “hover” that includes the sources from which I gleaned the information that led me to build it.

http://marciasomerville.com/farm/building-a-hover/

We’re going to be trying it out for the first time this Tuesday. Hoping it’s a winner!

Your brooder is along the lines of the "Ohio brooder". If I ever find myself brooding more than 50 chicks at a time, I think I'd try the Ohio brooder. I think you'll be pleased with it. Is it possible for you to lift it up to "peek under" to check the chicks? That would be one concern. I'd want to be sure there were no sick, failure to thrive, or dead chicks under there.

 

[Blooie]

I'm another one who will not use lamps of any kind brooding chicks. That's absolutely no reflection on your setup, @Storybook Farm - it's beautiful and having the chicks at eye level and with the ability to self regulate is spot on! Jaded I might be, but I look at it and still see a lamp warming chicks. But if there was only one "right" way to do this, this entire web site could be read in half an hour, and your setup is perfect for someone who might not be comfortable trying out Mama Heating Pad. Personal comfort zones are important to take into account.

I brood outdoors in a wire brooder pen in the run, right out there among the adults, and have for the last few years, 8 batches of chicks. Here in northwestern Wyoming our spring "chick season" still has temps in the 20s, often dropping into the teens, and we've been known to get snow in June. They can walk around it on 3 sides of the brooder, the chicks learn to be chickens by watching them, and I have full integration by the time the chicks are at the end of their 4th week. At that time the entire brooder comes out, since the chicks have been off all heat by the end of their third week anyway. From day one they learn that sundown is "under Mama" time, they tuck themselves in, and sleep all night long, exactly as they would do under a broody hen. Works for me! And in the end that's what's important - what works for us and healthy, happy chicks.

Edited to add: My good friend @lazy gardener brings up an excellent point. The number of chicks we are brooding makes a world of difference. Mama Heating Pad is more for the person with 15-20 chicks, although great adaptations for more have been made.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I brood in the coop.... the section behind the screen is the brooder area

 

[Blooie]

Gotta love those "portal doors", huh @Ol Grey Mare! Thanks, @azygous.