Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[jvls1942]

good warmer tuesday morning,

just checking in,

I had to log off and come back in. when I went to byc, the posts all showed up, but there was no text..

this has happened to me several times before ..
does it happen to anyone else ?

.......jiminwisc.......

 

[Celtic Chick]

I don't think I've ever seen that one Jim.

 

[kristip]

So hubby has finally decide that after 5 years, I am serious about these chickens (GRR) and is going to build me a real brooder. We had a large plastic tub for first 2 weeks or so and then transitioned them to the garage with a kiddie pool and Xpen around it. It worked ok but we always had some escape artists who found they could shimmy through the xpen.
Anyway... I already bugged cuties but anyone else have good examples of brooder setups?
Cuties...how many does yours hold and for how long? Would like to be able to hold about 10 chicks for 10 -12 weeks.
We are also hoping to build a chicken tractor so that could be a tranisition thing also.

Excited to think about hatching soon!!! Love those little chicken butts.

On a side note have to take dogs into the vet today...I am not sure if they have a bad cold or kennel cough. I guess there is a new strain of kennel cough thye are seeing, even if dogs have been vaccinated. My dogs got sick a day after visitng the vets office where they encountered other dogs... only place we have been lately that it could have happened. sigh...didnt need that...still working on the one dogs ACL and hoping for no surgery.

otherwise glad that basketball is ending for kids... baseball is only one night a week for both kids until soccer starts...this is a huge break in my schedule. Basketball was 4 nights a week for both kids... mom gets tired!!!

 

[cuties]

Kristi, I keep up to 15 chicks in that brooder. Only for 3-4 weeks. Then 8 move them to a stall in the batn. Once they are big enough to jump the 3 1/2' wall on the stall, I move them to the main free range coop. The stall has 2 heat lamps to be sure they do not get cold if one faols.
Here is my batch of 3 week old BLRW that I moved to the stall a week and a half ago. They did great. And are all healthy.

 

[jvls1942]

this is the inside. the ring is a 110Volt heating element I ripped out of an antique octogon brooder.
one of the light bulbs (the red one) I can turn on and off with a switch.

one of the light bulbs is an indicator light I wired in so that it goes on when the heating element is on.. they both operate off of the same thermostat..

I did not bother putting a fan in.

the box is 2 feet by 4 feet and 8 inches tall. open all along one long 4' side.

I put down a thick layer of straw and then set the brooder box on it.. the chicks mash the straw flat in no time.

I use a wafer type thermostat, also salvaged from the antique brooder hood .

I will see if I can find more pictures of the brooder box.
if I do I will post them later..






I built a brooder for tiny chicks, it will handle up to 100 of them, I set it right on the chicken coop floor. they can go under it to keep warm or as they get bigger, they can lay on top of it if they choose..
I don't have to transfer them anywhere, and when they are all feathered out, I just unplug the brooder.

..

 

[jvls1942]

this is the brooder box sitting on my garden cart.
this shows the business end,, the light switches an extra receptacle and the thermostat mounting plate, .


..this view is the open side .
I adjust the temp to about 80F and leave it there. plenty warm for the small chicks..

and yes, those are wheel chair tires on the garden cart.
I can easily haul 150 pounds of feed in that cart..

.........jiminwisc........

.

 

[jvls1942]

anybody home ??

 

[bigzio]

I'm home now....another great looking home made product Jim. There is a neighbor across the holler that use to raise a lot of chickens. He mentioned to me that he has some of his old brooders that he no longer uses. I should go take a look at them and see what he has. His are home made too and I know they worked for 100's of chicks.

If someone Is going to raise just a small number of chicks in the house, you can by with a regular light bulb and a clamp on holder if your brooder box isn't really big. Just keep a thermometer in there to check the temp and to determine what bulb size you need. I switch from 100 to 75 to 60 depending on the size box and age of the peeps.
If you never tried brooding chicks, it doesn't take long to figure things out with help from folks on here.

Hope everyone went and cast their vote today...it's our right....

bigz

 

[jvls1942]

I would give that neighbor a visit.. along with the equipment, you might pick up a few pointers. always room for improvement,.

a commercial one like the one I built, if you can find one as good, would cost a couple of hundred US $$$$'s.
I know, I looked .

as Brent says, once you understand "chick" body language, you can toss the thermometer away.

chicks are fun to watch,, they will be just walking along and all of a sudden lay down and go instantly to sleep.

......jiminwisc.....

 

[67drake]

Hope everyone went and cast their vote today...it's our right....

bigz

Yup,I was voter #133 at 9AM. I was kind of surprised that 132 people showed up before me,as most people didn't even know there WAS an election today.

.

On a side note have to take dogs into the vet today...I am not sure if they have a bad cold or kennel cough. I guess there is a new strain of kennel cough thye are seeing, even if dogs have been vaccinated. My dogs got sick a day after visitng the vets office where they encountered other dogs... only place we have been lately that it could have happened. sigh...didnt need that...still working on the one dogs ACL and hoping for no surgery.

otherwise glad that basketball is ending for kids... baseball is only one night a week for both kids until soccer starts...this is a huge break in my schedule. Basketball was 4 nights a week for both kids... mom gets tired!!!

Funny how the dogs got sick at the vet. I feel the same way about hospitals. Seems like half the people I know that get admitted end up getting sick from something else while they are there-no thanks!

Kids sports,I feel your pain! I have 7 kids,4 are out of the house now,but still......
I remember one summer about 6-7 years ago I had 4 kids playing either softball or baseball-on 4 different teams,and I was coaching 1 of the teams. Wanna talk about a crazy schedule. 6 days a week,and many times we would have 2 or 3 games on the same day. It's all for the kids,so it was worth it. I'll admit,I'm glad those days are done though. Now,I'll tell you about football,basketball,vollyball,track.......