Chick Brooder
Spring is upon us and that means BABY CHICKENS! We have had chickens for 6 years now, this past summer we had a fox come through and wipe out all our flock except 2… it was a sad summer. We have since reinforced the fence and have gotten cameras, so it’s time to rebuild out little flock! We always start from chicks, I like to hand raise them so they are friendly and not as skittish. With chicks needing to be kept warm I typically keep them under a heat lamp, ceramic brooder heaters are a safer option, but I keep close eyes on my babies and have never had an issue with the heat lamps so I’m sticking with what I know! In the past I have used, a pack and play, a baby pool, a throw together wood and wire pen, this year I’m trying the plastic tote method I saw on tiktok but modified so I can reuse the tote to store my chicken feed/supplies in the future!
For this I used:
- 1 - 38 gallon tote from Home Depot
- 2-1x3 board from my scrap wood pile
- 4 -1x4 board, also from my scrap wood pile
- wire mesh
- staple gun
- kreg jig
- 1-1/4” pocket hole screws
- pine shavings
My boards surprisingly we’re already at a good length so I did not need to cut them, if you would like to make this yourself I can measure the cuts for you, comment below for a cut list :) I added pocket holes to the ends of the 1x3 board and to the side of the 1x4 boards, attached them all together, the 2 1x3 and 2 of 1x4 make a frame, and the other 2 1x4 boards attach to the ends at a right angle to create a lid! I added the price of hardware cloth with my staple gun!
I love how the lid is able to stand on its own
And it stays nice and snug on top even if it gets bumped it doesn’t fall off!
I added another scrap from a 1x6 for a platform for the food and water, and 2 scraps of 1x2 for little roosting bars(they typically don’t roost ‘em when they’re tiny, but at about a week old they will start to hop around some! Add the heat lamp with the clamp or a heat plate and some babies and you’re all set! This setup allows a cord to come out without interference with the top! This will get me through the first few weeks, then we will graduate to the enclosed area in out chicken coop!
Ready for babies! I hope you found this useful! Let me know if you have questions! I will gladly answer in the comments!
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