What Can I Use For A Brooder?

[ChickNanny13]

2x crazy4ChickensNducks
I did similar for my totes, works great. After learning about MHP, I keep chicks in the bin for a week for observation then they go out with their MHP to the brooder in the patio.

 

[AlleysChicks]

I think the lid with holes in it would get to stuffy and will provide them with very little light. I would cut out a large section of the lid and drill holes around it and zip tie chicken wire or wire mesh. Unless its clear.
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this is how mine are. I love them. When I need to clean I just throw some shavings in another bin and switch! Then clean the empty one.

 

[IamRainey]

See if you can find a scrap of hardware cloth or screen to put over the top. It's not that hard to cut to fit around your light.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Great idea and fast fix

 

[rosemarythyme]

I think the lid with holes in it would get to stuffy and will provide them with very little light. I would cut out a large section of the lid and drill holes around it and zip tie chicken wire or wire mesh. Unless its clear.
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x2 and/or x2 just using a scrap of hardware cloth. I would not just drill some holes in the lid, you'd be making an EZ Bake oven, not a brooder.

Also I agree that I would NOT have a heat lamp clamped to the tote, those clamps are pretty flimsy and that also puts the heat source much closer to the chicks than is necessary in most cases.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Can you put the heat plate you are getting in the coop? No need to keep them inside at all really, are these additions to an existing flock?

Gary

 

[moniquem]

I used the MHP, Mamma Heating Pad, and a huge cardboard box. They spent about 3 weeks in that in the bathroom. I couldn't take them in the house anymore so I quickly moved them to the coop along with the MHP. If I ever get chicks again I will probably do the same thing.

 

[Acre4Me]

You could go to a kids resale store and pick up an older playpen for cheap. Also, many cribs are no longer able to be re-sold due to increased safety requirements, so if you know someone with an old crib I’ve seen BYCers that have repurposed a crib as a brooder -using solid sides or combo of solid (wood or plexiglass) and HWC to close up the gaps, and mesh/wire top.

Good luck!

 

[Cntry1958]

I currently have 5, 5 day old chicks brooding in what I thought was a sufficiently deep and long enough plastic tote. I have pine shavings on the floor and a heat lamp clamped to the side. Well today, my light Brahma, who is quite a bit bigger than the rest, flew out of the brooder. I can’t put a lid with holes in it on the brooder box now because of the heat lamp attached to the side of the box. I have ordered a Brinsea Eco Glow to replace the clamped-on light. Once I have that, do you see any problem with keeping the tote’s plastic lid - with many holes drilled into it - on top of the brooder so that the babies don’t fly out?

Take the lid and cut out a large portion of the lid then get some wire and secure it to the top of the lid using plastic ties. You will need to put holes in the lid to secure the wire to the lid. A small sautering iron does the trick. You can adjust your heat lamp if need be to container.