I melted holes thru the lid and used wire ties(those plastic things they use for electric stuff)
So low tec....
Modern Brooder Design
Thanks to both of you! You just gave me some good ideas. This brooder is for week one. I still need to think up something for weeks 2,3 & 4!
MollyD
Found this page http://www.poultryhelp.com/brooders.html I liked their suggestion for using two lids. One with screen and second intact sideways across the two brooders!
MollyD
Okay I just got back from Walmart. Went to get a bigger tote. This one is 105 gallons. I'm putting the chicks in this one and the geese in the smaller one. The two will be side by side. Yesterday I got a 250 watt heat lamp bulb. Today I found an 85 watt red bulb. I wanted to have the 250 on hand just in case I needed it. Haven't been able to find a 100 watt red bulb. Spotted white ones though. Those seem easy to find.
Now pine mulch. I've got a pile in my garden. Do you guys do anything special to it or use it as is? I'm getting ready here. Reminds me when I was expecting my first baby and getting all his stuff ready ^_^
MollyD
Molly, go to petsmart.. or local pet store and look in the lizard section for the lower wattage red bulbs. They have 100, 75, 60, 45.. etc
I am wondering about mulch too..
The manstore (lol farm supply) sells bedding for $5+ for what looks like 2 CF, there is a pallet place up the road that mulches pallets for farm bedding, local horse people buy from them.. $20 a truckbed load.. I have bought it for the gardens.. but wondering.. what about the coop? I wouldn't use this in my house.. might be a stray bug here and there.. it is stored outdoors.
Thanks frans530. I hadn't thought of the petstores for bulbs! All I need for now is the 100 watt.
btw I stopped at Walmart and looked at their version of those light fixtures. They're rated for 250 watts so there is no reason to spend money on the expensive ones at poultry suppliers! No fire potential.
I agree with you about the mulch. What I have I wouldn't want inside the house! I wonder if it's sold in nice clean bags (not like the ones that go in gardens since those were stored on the ground before being bagged!) I'm starting to think it may be cheaper to buy lots of oatmeal! Feed store maybe? Lots to think about here.
MollyD
The packaged bedding at the manstore is wrapped and very clean.. do you have a tractor supply near you? they carry the $5 or so bedding.. I bought the little bag at walmart, cost me $3.. and I used 1/2 under my paper towel.. I will be able to reuse it for a couple of days buy using the paper towel for the rest of this week... but These little guys really need cleaning up at least 2x a day.. never seen tiny things poop so much.. I just keep repeating... compost.. healthy, happy, hosta. I don't know if walmart carries larger bags of pine mulch.. I really didn't look.. because I really thought this little bag would last a few weeks.. NOT!!
Thanks frans530 I'll check the pet section at Walmart. I also have a Tractor Supply near me but I'd bet Wally World is cheaper. I just have to make sure it's not cedar shavings!!
MollyD
I buy the big bagged bales of fir/pine shavings at the local feed store for about $5. It is very clean and smells great. Like a carpenter's shop. I use it in the brooder and the coop--also in the dog's yard to keep down dust.
Paul told me to check Country Max too. So I'll check all three. LOL kept wondering about that garden mulch while I was prepping their brooders thinking that can't be right! That stuff is so dirty! LOL
MollyD
Molly, I just got turned on to using wood shavings, and I love them. As Catscan says, it comes in large bags for around $5.00. It is 3 cubic yards compressed which fluffs out to 6 cubic yards. My brooder/pen is about 3 x 6 and I put about 4 inches deep in and used only 1/4 of a bag. So it goes a long way. In fact, I told DH I was going to change over to using it all the time in the henhouse instead of straw. We have a hard time getting wheat straw here so this would work out real good.
OH MY
I never thought of anyone using any BUT wood shavings
didn't know there were other things
I'm living such a sheltered life......LOL
thier first year of laying the hens got spoiled to finely chopped straw. my DH was building a house for the feed store owners out of STRAW BALES! it required a lot of cutting and shaping, and we would sweep up what didn't blow away and bag it.
now they get the wood shavings, grass hay, etc.
Love the brooders, Frans! Great pictures, too. I am
going to show DH that it can be simple! He is funny,
sometimes goes around the block to get next door.LOL
What he did do for the top of this brooder was to add a
hinged top, that way, the 'popcorn' quail won't pop out
when I open one side.
The entire top is wire, and this helps with the increased
ventilation for more ammonia coturnix quail tend toward.
I have pine wood shavings for everyone. I would worry
about chick's nutrition using oatmeal for bedding. If they
fill up on that and not their starter, they would get nutrient
deficient. I also think it could get gummy in their crops?
Tiel babies were different in that they did not feed themselves for almost a month. Around 3 weeks they'd start to peck at things but being babies you could see they were just trying it out and not really eating anything. Maybe that's why it worked for them.
truest I can't really say what it might do to chicks. Adult tiels had no problem with it and treated it like snack food. It never replaced their regular foods. For adult tiels with babies I fed them boiled popcorn. It make great baby food for them to feed their babies! They loved it!
I went looking for shavings today at our Tractor Supply. All they had were cedar and cedar based mixes. I'll keep looking for pine shavings.
MollyD
ask for "Animal Safe" bedding. almost any horse place has it...
I'll try the other Tf. Tractor Supply only had the cedar in different sizes. (they supply horse people here).
MollyD
It's interesting about the cedar shavings. We live in a
rural area, and cedar abounds. It is invasive, in fact.
Lots of horses, but every bag of shavings I have seen
at our local feed stores is pine. You would think more
of these darn cedars would go in the wood chipper and
end up as bedding. Maybe it's the type of cedar?
Oh, I see on the oatmeal. I thought it was being used for
the baby chickens.
truest,
I don't know if there are different kinds of cedar as far as the effects are concerned. All the warnings just say cedar.
Oatmeal, yes I used it for baby tiels. Was pondering using it for the chicks but as someone pointed out they would eat it and get full without getting the stuff they need from their regular food. I'm assuming their packaged food is a balanced diet which the oatmeal wouldn't provide.
MollyD
bumping this up...
[quote="frans530"]Molly, go to petsmart.. or local pet store and look in the lizard section for the lower wattage red bulbs. They have 100, 75, 60, 45.. etc quote]
OH I love to read the old threads, I could not find red lights, now I know where to look at...
And wheels are turning, Billy and I can turn some totes into Chick TV using screen and wire ties... WHOOO HOOOOOOOO
This message was edited Mar 7, 2010 11:26 AM
These are great ideas! The solid walls do keep the heat in better.
Here is a mini tractor I made for in the house.. I just lift it up and slide out the tub to clean.. also the wire allows to just set the light on it so only part of it is heated. I put the light on a dimmer so I can turn it down and wean them off the light. Works better for me cause I need to get them outside asap. When they can venture away from the heat, they get "hardened off" faster I think, and don't get so dependent on the light.
PVC pipe is cheap... this was relatively easy to make..
ZZ where are the directions? and did you buy a whole role of chicken wire? I can only find it in rolls and they are pricey like 70 bucks...
MissJestr I found red lights at both Walmart and Lowes when I was looking for them. They label them as outdoor floodlights for about $7.
MollyD
Ok.. what have I learned about lights since this..
Yup you can buy red "floodlights" for $4-$7 but they are 250 watts..
if you can get the smaller wattage.. 75-10, for around $10 you still get the heat.. the red light and.. a MUCH smaller electric bill! I had no clue that a 250 bulb could run your electricity up so darn high.
And I agree with ZZ, try to get them weined from the light as fast as possible..
the ones I got at Walmart and Lowes were only 75 watts frans
MollyD
cool molly.. now I will have to go look.. I can always use a red small wattage bulb.
MsJestr,... I just made it up on the living room floor! I've made like 3 or 4 of them. They are fun to make.. Just take your time and visualize the whole picture... LOL
I like them cause I can use them outside on the grass (leave the tub in the house) for a playpen for a few minutes.. gotta watch em, cause a cat will knock them over.
PVC is very forgiving.. if it's off just a little, so what! LOL You can pound one end in a lil farther. I use a rubber mallet.. and one of the hand held cutters.. and I just used spare chicken wire. or Hot glued some of the plastic chicken wire to the PVC pipe. Just not the area where the light goes.
I use 100 to 150 watt heat lamp from the pet store. Yes, they are pricy, but they put out less light and more heat... Hardly ever have it up full blast. Also the dimmer is $10. but well worth it in the long run... I never noticed anything on my electric bill.. I turn the light way down during the day if it's warm.. I really only used it for like 2 weeks... then had it so low, it could go off without much trauma.
That is really cute ZZ! I can see your chicks being very safe in there.
Is the 'wire' the plastic mesh type or metal?
MollyD
i can't find a red light bulb smaller than 250W to save my life in this dumb town! All of the reptile bulbs at the pet stores are white light. Its getting annoying. I've got to locate one this week. I guess I'll have to try a couple towns out & see what i can find.
I find 100 watt red flood light bulbs at Lowes and OSH, another local hardware store.
You have to look for them and they aren't that cheap... but it does save on electricity.
ZZ's use of a dimmer is genius...it makes weaning the chicks off heat much easier. Right now I have 10 six-week old Seramas who are convinced I am trying to murder them whenever I turn off the light. Some of them are very small, however.
i tried Home Depot.. i forget we have a Lowes.. i'll try there. I really wanted about a 40w.. but i doubt i can find it. A white light, even a 60w bulb works ok.. but its awfully bright to sleep with & they are in my bedroom.
There are 20 watt red "party lights".
not here! i can only find 60w party lights! in green & blue. seriously considering one of those! well.. haven't been to Lowe's yet so I guess i can't say i can't find one.. but i have yet to find one. Going to look a lot this week. I need it before these start hatching.
I think blue is okay. The red is just to prevent picking.
I was going to say I believe I used a green one a few years ago.. It just didn;t last very long.. not sure why.. but when I went back I found what I was looking for so didnt go with another..
Pretty sure your just looking for a source of warmth not light.. any color will work.. well besides bright white which reflects little light stars in thier eyes which they will peak at.
didn't really want white, but it was all they had other than blue or green. wasn't sure at the time i could use blue or green so i got the white till i found a red one.
Thank you!!
lol..peck not peak/peek