Rural Gardening: Home made Brooder, 1 by Michaelp

Michaelp wrote:
they have automatic waterers, --[bowl type] they have to be cleaned [dumped and swished] morning and night, as they get some poop in them, -- the individual pens are 50x36, inside measurements, -- there are 40 chicks in each pen now, -- soon they will be split into another group, to reduce chick numbers/cage, --I used plastic 1/2x1/2 hardware cloth on this model, --thinking it would not rust as soon, -- the negative thing about the plastic is --the floor is much more dirty then the wire flooring, [I assume it is the larger diameter of the mesh/ smaller opening] I recieved 200 chicks, so far mortality is still 0, -- the picture was taken after feeding time, to get some chicks in the picture, the trays under the mesh flooring are plastic sheeting [made for shower walls] from Home Depot, -- they slide out for cleaning, they have to be cleaned each day now to keep the air quality in the room exceptable [not great] there is an exhost fan in the top corner to vent when the temps get too high [on warm days], and a circ fan [on all the time] moving the air around to maintain constant temp top and bottom condo's, -- the heat is controlled by a thermostat set at mid height on the wall, -heat is from a cheep electric heater, from WM.