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Debbiebs1b
Chirping
- Aug 18, 2022
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Thanks!My 3 ft x 6 ft brooder in the coop looks pretty similar to that. The top is solid and acts as a dropping board from the roosts above. I made my brooder floor out of 1/2" hardware cloth so the poop drops through and it stays really dry. Once the chicks get to 10 to 12 weeks old the poop gets big enough that it doesn't drop through but mine are long gone by then. I put a piece of plywood where they sleep on the wire mesh floor to retain heat in colder weather. I dump it every day so the brooder stays clean and dry.
I put chicks in mine straight from the incubator or post office. I find they are really good at managing their heat as long as they have a choice. I'm one of those stone age caveman brutes that uses a heat lamp. I believe that if you use light chain or wire to hold it up so it can't fall that it is safe enough but any heat source can be a risk. I consider heating pads and heat plates to be very safe as long as they are maintained in good condition and used safely.
I heat one end of my brooder with the heat lamp and keep it toasty warm. Some winter mornings the far end may have ice or frost in it but that one end is kept warm. Your brooder has great ventilation with that wire mesh so the far areas will cool down, but in Florida this time of year and for the summer you do not want to overheat them. If you use a heat lamp I suggest you put a thermometer under it to see how warm it gets. Heat lamps often come with a 250 watt bulb but you may find you need a 150 watt or even a 75 watt bulb to keep from overheating them.
One summer in a brutal heat wave I turned the daytime heat off at 2 days and the overnight heat off at 5 days. It was so warm they did not need the heat.
I want my chicks exposed to whatever the flock may have as early as possible so they can get started on whatever flock immunities they may need. Many flocks have diseases or parasites that they have total immunity to (Coccidiosis is one example) but the chicks are vulnerable. I keep the brooder as dry as I can to reduce the risk of coccidiosis if they have it (my flock does so I'll use it as an example). On day 2 or 3 in the brooder I feed them some dirt from the run where the adults are and then feed them some more every 3 or 4 days. After three weeks the chicks should have developed an immunity to it so they are safe.
If the chicks are mailed from a major hatchery they should be very safe as far as bringing in any diseases to your flock. Feed store chicks are pretty safe but chicken owners are in there every day and could possibly transmit something. If you hatch them yourself in an incubator they should be pretty safe, very few diseases are transmitted though the eggs. If you get the chicks from somebody else they may have anything that other flock has.
I want my new chicks exposed as soon as possible but mine come from a major hatchery or I hatch them myself. The chicks can start developing whatever immunities they need from the main flock. If you get them from another person and do not consider them safe you might want to raise them in your house in quarantine for a month before you expose them to your chickens to be safer.