Universal Box Brooders

We just got one of these contraptions:

https://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=60

and putting it together was an exercise in patience. The diagram was small, complicated and hard to figure out! We got the waterer, too, and the float that was included is different from the photo and there were no instructions about how to set it up so we had to wing it. Has anyone else had any experience with these? We had been using a wooden box for years but the wood finally rotted out and we had to replace it. I'm hoping this will work well, at least!

Looks Good i don't personally have one but i have heard rave reviews about them {:~)

Harmony, where have you heard the reviews? I hadn't heard anything - they just looked as though they'd be a lot handier than the wooden structure we were using, so we bought it on faith. But I was distinctly underwhelmed with the instructions on how to put it together.

From Friends and Back Yard Chickens i have heard once you use these you won't use anything else.
They are fairly expensive my friend has the stacked ones on wheels you go to his house and it's loaded with bantams.
I'm sure once you get it going you will love it when they come thru the auction where i go people really go for them even with a little rust these are prized by breeders.

Wow, that's an awesome brooder. How many chicks will it hold?

Well, that's a relief. We only have one unit, and we have it up on milk crates in a section of our new chicken coop. The coop is one of those sheds that are built in Amish areas and trucked to your site - 8 x 12'. We're thinking we'll put up a loft to use that wasted headroom, and store the brooder up there covered with a tarp when it's not in use.

Our Cuckoo Marans and Cherry Eggers are due this week, so we got it assembled just in time!

Beclu, here's what they say on the Murray McMurray site:

Thanks g_g. My bator only holds 24, so I wouldn't need a brooder that big. Sure is nice looking though.

48 is the maximum. No reason why you couldn't use it for a smaller number, though. Normally we only have 25 ourselves, but last spring's chicks didn't do well at all and we only have two hens from that batch, so we really need to make sure we have some new layers hens. I ordered 25 straight run Cuckoo Marans but 15 Cherry Egger pullets to replenish our laying stock.

I've never tried incubating my own eggs; that sounds neat.

I emailed the manufacturer about the problems I had assembling the brooder and the issues with the float for the waterer. I got a very nice email back including much improved directions for assembly, with good photos; I wish I'd had them when I was actually putting it together but at least they recognized that a correction was in order and had taken steps to address it. They also said they would send me an adjustable float valve and apologized, stating that they had just become aware of the problem. Good people! I was really impressed!