Tag: chicks

Brooder Set-up Ideas to Simplify Raising Chicks

Raising chicks in a box somewhere in the house is not a very pleasant experience, at least after the first two weeks. Chicks are messy, and smelly if not constantly cleaned up after. This is difficult without a proper setup. Without the right tools for any job means working twice as hard, and raising chicks is no exception.
Caring for and housing chicks shouldn’t feel like a chore. The planning, building, and improving your set-up is half the fun. Just like anything else, once a hobby becomes a job it’s just not fun anymore.
After years of looking for an easier way to raise chicks on a budget, this is what I came up with.
I had an 8×10 bare bones shed built with one window, two airflow vents, and a double door. Then the finishing was up to me, it took probably close to two years to afford everything.
Today it has painted walls, a tile floor, electricity, and a custom-made brooder to accommodate 50 chicks comfortably. All my supplies are handy, and any mess sweeps right out the door. I enjoy spending time in my brooder shed. My cute chicks, a window fan, soft music, and a cup of coffee. That my friends is how to enjoy your birds!

Brooder Shed
Brooder
Brooder and Chicks
Back to Chicken Keeping Resources HOME PAGE

Adding Chicks of Different Ages to the Brooder

Sometimes size matters in the brooder, but there are ways to avoid and resolve the trouble. I added four new chicks to the brooder a week ago. Two blue and two silver laced six-day-old standard Cochins… and put them in the brooder with my three-week-old Silkie Bantams.
Age doesn’t matter much to baby chicks, size, however, can be reason enough to start a bully fest. The six-day-old Cochins were the same size as the Silkies, but now, a week later, the Cochins are substantially bigger. The size issue seems to go unnoticed when chicks are raised together, so they’ll continue to share the same brooder in harmony.
If new chicks refuse to get along, it’s easy enough to put a divider between the chicks, as long as they can see each other it will be pretty uneventful to reintroduce them in a week or so.

Leaving the Brooder

At two months these little fuzzy butts will be moved from the brooder to a transitional coop where they’ll be in full view of the existing flock. Around four or five months the coop door will open and they’ll have a choice to venture out and join the existing flock,  but they probably won’t for days, sometimes even a week! Then What?
It’s reality time, and their peaceful world comes to a screeching halt when they’re finally brave enough to step out and explore the real world. A world that is run by powerful chicken rulers who have earned their significant positions in the pecking order.
Learn More about the Pecking Order and Adding Chickens to an Existing Flock

Back to Chicken Keeping Resources HOME PAGE

From Egg to Brooder, When to Move Chicks

From Egg Incubator to Brooder.
How to Move a Chick From One to the Other Safely.

by Raising Happy Chickens Read Article
Back to Chicken Keeping Resources HOME PAGE