When to cover brooder??

[Bettyboop7499]

Congratulations on finding your perfect piece of the country! And, welcome to BYC! I absolutely love this site, it is my go to for emergencies and advice on day to day chicken/duck questions.

May your slice of heaven be all that you dreamt it would be! God bless!

 

[spryng]

I love the kiddie pool brooder method! I've tried a few different things but I love being able to dump out the shavings and clean out the plastic really easily.

I've raised large fowl chicks and I've never had any escapees and I don't use lid of any kind. I have the 36" tall welded wire (1 inch x 1 inch) but I'm sure you could even go to 48" if you were planning to brood them in there for an extended amount of time. I live in Florida so my chicks go out to the coop sooner than some of those brooding in colder temps.

Perfect! So I think I may just use that dog playpen (its 24" high) then add the welded wire to the top to make it taller, that will be perfect!

 

[spryng]

Congratulations on finding your perfect piece of the country! And, welcome to BYC! I absolutely love this site, it is my go to for emergencies and advice on day to day chicken/duck questions.

May your slice of heaven be all that you dreamt it would be! God bless!

Thank you so much!

 

[Tooshay89]

Perfect! So I think I may just use that dog playpen (its 24" high) then add the welded wire to the top to make it taller, that will be perfect!

There you go! Let us know how it works out!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Yeah, I thought that may be too short, I will start working on my lid then because sounds like in 2-3 weeks they are gonna be Houdinis lol I have some cardboard pieces I can piece together to make a lid and just drill holes here and there for extra ventilation.
I love the large moving box idea, do you still need to use a lid on those?

I don't because they are 27" tall with the top flaps left up.
The Lowes boxes are 24X18X18 but I leave the flaps up and that gives the box another 9 inches of height. One box is sufficient for a small brooder plate, a feeder and a water fount and several chicks. You can add a box or two as they grow and cut doorways between them. If I have a lot of chicks, after a couple weeks I'll put the brooder plate in one, water in one and feed in another. Depending on time of year, you may be able to get them outside after two to four weeks.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I also use a kiddie pool for a brooder. Usually by 2 weeks old, I wrap a piece of welded wire around the pool so they can't fly out. It's super simple to remove when I need to get to the chicks or clean the brooder.

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I like that setup. Is the dog there to make sure the cat doesn't kill them?
Our cats would be inside there in a heartbeat.

 

[Tooshay89]

I like that setup. Is the dog there to make sure the cat doesn't kill them?
Our cats would be inside there in a heartbeat.

Haha! Actually I'm more worried about the pup.

Our black cat loves "peep watching" but isn't brave enough to stick his nose in there after one of the chicks from that batch pecked him the last time he tried it. Our older cat is over chicks/chickens entirely. She's seen me raise several batches and just glances over at them like "oh, more of THESE things?" The puppy also loves to watch them, but I wouldn't put it past him to use them as a squeaky ball if I turn my back.

Although I don't trust any of them, which is why the chicks are always kept behind closed doors in a spare room.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Our cats are jumpers and would love the challenge of leaping over the fence and into the midst of the toys.
I've heard the best way to train a cat to leave chickens alone is to introduce them to a broody hen with chicks. After she attacks, they won't look at a chicken the same way again.
I usually brood outside in this weather but with most of the buildings in use I often need to do so in the basement or a spare bedroom. There's a sign on that door to "KEEP DOOR CLOSED".

 

[spryng]

I don't because they are 27" tall with the top flaps left up.
The Lowes boxes are 24X18X18 but I leave the flaps up and that gives the box another 9 inches of height. One box is sufficient for a small brooder plate, a feeder and a water fount and several chicks. You can add a box or two as they grow and cut doorways between them. If I have a lot of chicks, after a couple weeks I'll put the brooder plate in one, water in one and feed in another. Depending on time of year, you may be able to get them outside after two to four weeks.

Thank you! Such great information!

 

[baby-blue]

I agree with all of the suggestions, but you may have to be a bit nifty with the keets - some of mine are 8 days old and they’re already flapping around. They’re in a dog kennel after I caught one of the 3 week olds hopping around the porch where the brooder is - the sides of the brooder are over 3’ tall! The keets also tend to be a bit more rowdy, so keep an eye on them to make sure they aren’t being too rough with the chicks. Enjoy them while they’re young! Once they get a teeny bit older, they’ll scream their heads off if you do so much as put your hand in their brooder to grab their empty food container. Pretty sure I woke up the entire neighborhood the other night when I gave one some nutri-drench and she clearly thought I was murdering her.. there were cows and roosters screaming the rest of the night, not to mention all of my animals being worked up!