BROODER thread! Post pics of your brooders!

Hello everyone!
I had several ideas about what to do for a brooder, then read someone's post about how they might use a dog crate ..... *ding!*..... we had a huge one in our garage I was about to list on craigslist! (FYI, it is 27" x 40" and we have 6 chicks) This was perfect for us, to protect the babies from our house dog and the two kids. I thought it might be useful for others to see how some of us have made a brooder and get some ideas, so I will start it out!


Here it is from the outside..... it is in our living room with the light mounted on the outside. As they have needed less heat I have slowly turned it to the left, lowering the temp each week.


Here is the inside. Thermometer is on the left (not in photo though!). Food and water are on a 4x4 post scrap to get it up a bit so they dont poop in it, or get shavings in it. We still wash out the water every day. It is also in the back so it stays cooler. I screwed in screws to hang the oak branch in there and they love it. The chick flapping is one of the two who are competing for the Queen of the Pecking Order. They fight for who is on the roost, and she is clearly telling the other one to get off! We use the deep litter method, and so need the bit of cardboard in the front to prevent shavings from coming out the front! We also stir it up everyday.





And here is our huge Lab protecting the babies.........actually, he is scared of them and backs away when we get them close to him, but he wants to look at them!



Can't wait to see everyone else's ideas!

Heres mine.... It is a childs large plastic swimming pool about 5ft in diameter. It is surrounded by an outdoor baby gate covered in clear plastic so they can see out and I can see in. The top is made from hardware cloth stapeled to some scrap wood and resting on top. I made two panels so I can lift either side without opening the whole thing. The light and food dish hangs from a metal clothes rack that is only part way assembeled so that its not so tall. In the begining I divided it in half with cardboard but that only lasted about a week. I have 25 chicks in it who are now 5 weeks old and they are starting to look a little tight. My coop should be going up this weekend so maybe another week and they can move outside. Its starting to smell like a barn in my dining room.

And here is my Guinea brooder. They are mostly why my house smells like a barn. I think its the turkey starter they eat.





And this is my hospital. I had one chick with splayed legs who is now sneezing. She is much smaller than the smallest chick so I think I will reintroduce her when they all move outside.

i'll take a picture of mine when i get home in a few days,it's in the shape of an octagon, like 2-2.5ft tall and (not yet ) but will soon have chicken wire accross so there is a place to put the heat lamp, we got ours at the feed store, we just asked if they had a box big enough to house 35 (we said a little bit more so they would have some extra room) they told us to follow them, they took us into the back storage room. there is a box about 4-4.5fit long x 3-3.5ft wide so it was pretty perfect, so they gave it to us free of charge, it also came with a 2nd bottom, nothing can get through and it makes it a bit more sturde. It was origanilly used to hold dog toys, the brand was dog bones, it was one of the front displays, but they were done with it so... were pretty pleased. i'll take pics on sunday when i get home.
This is the labels on the sides


here is the "above" shot


here is the bottom for extra protection

Here is mine before my babies got here (without the brown paper I put around it):

Here's my brooder. We used a trough that's been lying around (it had only ever held ice and soft drinks from a family fun day I volunteered at last year). One day as I was brainstorming over what to use for a brooder, I glanced over and the light bulb magically went off. We made a double sided, screened in top so you can access one side without having to open up the whole thing. We built two seperate screened-in panels, hinged them together, and voila! The perfect lid! We attached the scrap end of wood after sawing to all the sides so the lid cannot be knocked out of whack and fall into the brooder. To get in, we can lift the one side or even slide it back without fear of upsetting the balance and squishing the wee ones.

Right now we have a wooden divider in the middle as the 6 little ones hardly need the whole trough yet, but that is easily removed as they grow. It's been working wonderfully so far--it seems to really hold the heat in as the lamp has to be pulled up pretty far or else it gets way too hot in there.

(Sorry for the mess around it, I had been disinfecting the garage with those nifty little wipes)

Ours is very basic. The basement ceiling is low, so the light clamps on very easily to it. It's not shown in the photos, but we cover the plastic tub with two window screens (one on top of the other) to make it heavy enough they can't lift it off.






Awwww! Easter eggers!

dangerouschicken does that kind of feeder work better at keeping the litter out of it? My dang chickens get so much litter in theirs in like 10 minutes they can even see the feed any more. I have to clean it out a million times a day and end up waisting so much feed.

We did the dog-cage thing too, seems to work good to keep my cats out of there, though one of the dogs seems to be the bigger worry. He barks at the chickies but doesn't seem to bother them at all which is goo.

Here is our brooder. It is a 35 gallon rubbermaid tub that cost about 8$ at Walmart. We did have a cover very similar to Jsto's cover a few posts up. We had 7 and it was great and very easy to clean. I kept them in my living room until they were about 5 weeks old, then they moved out into their house with a heat bulb of course.