Brooders

[bantamhill]

So what does everyone use for brooders??? I have several homemade contraptions that are very unsatisfactory and was wondering if anyone had any good ideas/plans.

Michael

[Guest]

I use my bathtub.  it has glass sliding doors;  I throw in a couple inches of shavings, clip a light to the soapdish, and it\'s good to go.  easy to disinfect afterwards.  I\'ve even duct-taped in a piece of cardboard across it to divide it into 2 parts.  when the chicks get bigger, I move them into a large dog crate in my office room (the enclosed, shipping crate type)  .  I\'ve also used cardboard boxes.

but honestly, I\'m not super satisfied with these arrangements either.  but I\'m hatching on a very, very limited scale before this year.  so I may have to come up with something more practical and simple!

[Guest]

I have a few homemade and rather nifty brooder/dryers that have a computer CPU fan, a wafer thermostat and two pigtail lightbulbs.
It is all housed inside two plastic tubs (I got from Wal-Mart).  One tub serves as the base which holds the stuff (chicks, bedding, food/water) and the other is inverted to serve as the lid and hold the components.

Basically, you can just crank the thermostat up to almost the temp of the hatcher and then each day, lower it a bit till you are down to room temp.  I start around 95 and drop it 5 degrees per day.  After the 4th or 5th day, the chicks get moved to larger containers with clip lights / heat lamps.

This way, I have a day or two to clean them up, disinfect,  and air dry before the next week\'s hatch arrives.

I\'ve attached a couple of shots I took of them.

[Guest]

I have a variety of brooder set-ups, from the simple/cheap to the large/expensive. I have a GQF three-tier brooder with the extensions on the bottom two tiers, and I got heating elements for the bottom two, I use this a lot for the newest chicks. As they get older, I put them into a number of things for grow-out, from horse watering troughs to large carboard boxes (those that fridges come in work well.) Put a large screen on the top, (we have cats) and hang a heat lamp over. We also use hoop houses once they\'re old enough to be on grass but not big enough to go in with adults.

Brooders are like anything else with chickens, you can run the gamut from simple to deluxe, depending on your desires and your budget. The basics are simple though: heat, dryness, food, and water. Get creative!

[John]

I\'m really impressed by Wes\' brooder.  It should work great for small hatches.  The only change that I would make is to use a heating element instead of light bulbs that put out so much light.
Here is one of my brooders in the pole barn.  It has 1/2\" by 1\" welded wire for a floor and I put the chicks in it when they are a week old or two weeks old for bantams.

[John]

Here is a floor brooder that I made from a left over piece of pole barn steel.  It in dirty from last year yet...I just took it out to take the photos.  I flipped it over so you can see the heating element and stuff.

[John]

While we\'re on the subject...here are two that I just built last year.  They are in the hatchery and the birds go straight from the hatchers into them.  They have pull-out litter pans, clear plastic windows and 1/3 of inch hardware cloth.  Most use 1/2\", but this is better for the bantams.

[Guest]

I have a few homemade and rather nifty brooder/dryers that have a computer CPU fan, a wafer thermostat and two pigtail lightbulbs.

I agree- these are incredibly nifty!!  questions:  where do you get just the thermostat part, without a whole brooder?  are you willing to send/sell me a parts list and basic instructions?  because those would suit my small-scale purposes very well!  even any tips on how to recreate it would be helpful.

my bathtub situation is not very flexible, and I am soon going to need more brooder area.

thank you!

[Guest]

I\'m getting ready to build another one of these.  I\'ll write it all down as I build it as well as make a parts list and a cost breakdown for everything that I buy.

I saw the wafer thermostats laying on a shelf at Atwoods (it is a farm and ranch chain store...don\'t know if you have them in your area).  The rest of the stuff I know can be obtained locally at either hardware and/or electronics stores and your local conglomerate mega store (we have Wal-mart...I ran a search on their site and found 20 within an hour of me).

I\'m agree with John on the lightbulbs and plan to look into using a heating element instead.  Also, one other modification would be a gaurd for the fan, the heating element, and wiring.

[Guest]

I would really appreciate that info!  

[bantamhill]

John,

Are you able to purchase your heating elements locally . . . everything I see in catalogs is running around $75.00 before shipping.

Michael

[John]

purchase your heating elements

I bought the expensive ones for the brooders I built last year, but I made out like a bandit on the ones from years ago.
A local farm & fleet store had dozens of heating elements for a buck each that they were discontinuing.  Most were about 16 inches long and varied between 150 and 450 watts.  They were replacement elements for watering troughs.  I built several brooders using them, with wafer thermostats, for myself and others.