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DIY Let's build a brooder!

We've built an incubator https://poal.co/s/Quail/260060 We've hatched some chicks https://poal.co/s/Quail/260066

Now it's brooder time. Things you need: rubbermaid tote, hamster bedding, 28% protein feed crumbles (turkey feed, or as close to 28% as possible), 100w incandescent bulb, and a little waterer like in the picture below. You know those little lamps with the big chip clip thing to hold it in place? Those work great to hold the bulb onto the tote. You could also use those 100w ceramic bulbs for lizards.

https://files.catbox.moe/mrtx3d.jpg

Don't place your lamp in the middle or on one side. Offset it from center so you have a warm side and a cooler side. Get that bulb in there so the bedding on the warm side stays around 100F. If your birds huddle up, too cold. If they scatter or make a big ring, too hot. Just watch them and adjust your bulb up or down. Place your waterer in the middle. Get a small one like I have or place some marbles in a larger one so they can't get in it. They're almost too stupid to live as chicks. They'll try to swim and get cold and freeze. They'll also maybe forget to eat, dumb right? Skip buying a feeder and simply make a couple piles of food so they can't miss it. You should end up with something like the image below.

https://files.catbox.moe/wcgshx.png

At 10-14 days, they'll be nearly feathered out and can sort of fly. Make sure you have a lid. If you're doing this indoors, you can begin reducing their heat by raising the lamp a little every few days. By 21 days, they can survive without heat indoors (or outdoors if the weather is nice). If it's cold in your area, give them until week 4 before tossing them outside.

Congratulations, if they survived the intial 10 or so days, they'll probably be ok.

Disclaimer: This is how I started, but this is not my current setup. For 30-50 chicks, I use a 3ft tote with bedding for the first 10-14 days. Then, I move them into a smaller wire-bottom brooder for a week to keep them closer together. This teaches them not to be assholes and to walk on the wire.

I use this for brooder #2 only if I have a huge batch of chicks https://files.catbox.moe/pp83uj.jpg with the ceramic bulb and a regular bulb (for light) https://files.catbox.moe/ebiku8.jpg

This could quickly become 10 pages of rambling, and I tried to keep that from happening. If you have any questions when you get to this point, I'm happy to answer.

We've built an incubator https://poal.co/s/Quail/260060 We've hatched some chicks https://poal.co/s/Quail/260066 Now it's brooder time. Things you need: rubbermaid tote, hamster bedding, 28% protein feed crumbles (turkey feed, or as close to 28% as possible), 100w incandescent bulb, and a little waterer like in the picture below. You know those little lamps with the big chip clip thing to hold it in place? Those work great to hold the bulb onto the tote. You could also use those 100w ceramic bulbs for lizards. https://files.catbox.moe/mrtx3d.jpg Don't place your lamp in the middle or on one side. Offset it from center so you have a warm side and a cooler side. Get that bulb in there so the bedding on the warm side stays around 100F. If your birds huddle up, too cold. If they scatter or make a big ring, too hot. Just watch them and adjust your bulb up or down. Place your waterer in the middle. Get a small one like I have or place some marbles in a larger one so they can't get in it. They're almost too stupid to live as chicks. They'll try to swim and get cold and freeze. They'll also maybe forget to eat, dumb right? Skip buying a feeder and simply make a couple piles of food so they can't miss it. You should end up with something like the image below. https://files.catbox.moe/wcgshx.png At 10-14 days, they'll be nearly feathered out and can sort of fly. Make sure you have a lid. If you're doing this indoors, you can begin reducing their heat by raising the lamp a little every few days. By 21 days, they can survive without heat indoors (or outdoors if the weather is nice). If it's cold in your area, give them until week 4 before tossing them outside. Congratulations, if they survived the intial 10 or so days, they'll probably be ok. Disclaimer: This is how I started, but this is not my current setup. For 30-50 chicks, I use a 3ft tote with bedding for the first 10-14 days. Then, I move them into a smaller wire-bottom brooder for a week to keep them closer together. This teaches them not to be assholes and to walk on the wire. I use this for brooder #2 only if I have a huge batch of chicks https://files.catbox.moe/pp83uj.jpg with the ceramic bulb and a regular bulb (for light) https://files.catbox.moe/ebiku8.jpg This could quickly become 10 pages of rambling, and I tried to keep that from happening. If you have any questions when you get to this point, I'm happy to answer.

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[–] • 1 pt

Yeah, sorry if I wasn't clear. If just keeps them out of your orchard or yard or whatever.

[–] • 0 pt

Its amazing what they can destroy with antlers. And have some survive and some die jumping over 8ft fence.

[–] • 1 pt

I bought my last dog off an amish family about an hour south of me. They raised deer. Hundreds of them. I'd never seen that many in a pen before.

I've seen them jump the 8ft fences at the power plant near me. Some do it almost effortlessly.

[–] • 0 pt (edited )

Where I work is 17 acres of pens, 22 pens. Have a perimeter fence around all the pens. So one would have to jump two fences to get loose. They dont do that, most break their neck if trying to jump it, the only ones who have made it are now breeder bucks :).