Building a Brooder

A brooder is temporary home for baby chicks. This is where they live for 5-6 weeks until they are ready to move outside to their coop. A brooder can be a wire cage, a wooden box, anything that is large enough, secure enough, well-ventilated but not too drafty. I built a brooder from things we already had lying around the house.

A couple years ago I salvaged heavy plastic sheets that were part of a counter display in a retail store. The great thing about using plastic (according to Erin) is that it isn’t too flammable. Lots of people use cardboard boxes for brooders but cardboard+heat lamp=fire risk.

I drilled the plastic to 4 remnants of 2x4s, one in each corner. I used the fifth sheet of plastic on the bottom although we will also be using a tray (just a piece of sheet metal or plastic cut to fit) that can slide out for easy clean up.

Once the box was done I built a lid out of left-over heavy-gauge screen and some 2x2s, cut to fit tightly on the brooder. With three curious cats we need heavy screen and a secure fit.

Temperature of a brooder is supposed to be between 90 and 95 degrees so you need a heat lamp. We got a 100 watt red flood light. The lamp should be positioned to one side, not centered, so chicks can move away from the heat if it gets too much.

We still need feed and a water-er but we can pick those things up at the hatchery.

For more info about raising chicks I recommend Keeping Chickens: Tending Small Flocks in Cities, Suburbs and other Small Places