Who'd like to help Wellies&Pyjamas build a chick brooder from scratch by Saturday?

[WelliesAndPyjamas]

Do come and judge offer your thoughts on my plan...

I have a large plastic container (about 45 x 25 cm) which I will put inside a tall polystyrene box with lid. I'll put wood shaving and/or shredded paper inside plastic box. And I will somehow link a light bulb to come down through the lid to keep them warm. I'll be keeping the whole lot inside the house since we had another snowfall last night, and the original plan of keeping them in the garage is not that practical any more.

Sound OK?

This is our first batch of eggs using the incubator and DH is away working so I can't let --him- make the mistake himself I must build this myself. Eggs are due to hatch on Saturday.

All joking aside, I would really appreciate any advice and ideas on this. TIA

Good luck Wellies and here is a useful link to this person's home made brooder.

thanks for the link, otter

it's not dissimilar to what I am hoping mine will be like, except a bit bigger.

am trying to read the rest of it now (bad font colour choice )

ps My brooder was a plastic box that you get when the groceries are delivered and the heat lamp was tied to a criss cross wine rack so it dangled over the chicks. It was weighted down with a bag of flour and propped up with old paperback books. Yes, OK very Heath Robinson.
They are now outside in a halfway house which is warm and safe but they can peck at the grass from a run.

The purple text is terrible.

sounds great - I don't believe in aking things over complex so the simpler the better!
What type of lightbulb did you use?

(making things)

Is it ok to use wood shavings. I have been told to just use paper for the first few weeks as chicks eat the wood shavings.

Otherwise sounds ok. I'm planning on using our plastic indoor guinea pig cage with a heat lamp but my eggs don't even go into the incubator until this evening .

How deep does the box need to be? I might have to rethink.

I'd come across the wood shavings reference somewhere on the internet, can't remember where now, and assumed they meant the bigger shavings not sawdust or small shavings. Paper will be easier for me source anyway so I may stick to that to be on the safe side .

I'm guessing that the cage will probably be ok as long as they are warm enough. Will you insulate it in some way?

The bulb is an infra red one about 4inches wide . The box is a foot deep by 2 foot wide. Their new home is an old rabbit hutch (it was a big fat rabbit) with an enclosed run attached. On cold nights the hutch gets taken indoors.
As they got bigger they were in a series of big cardboard boxes - easy to get hold of and I burned them once a week.

I lined everything with newspaper. You can change it daily as the little devils will nibble at it or rip it with their feet.

how long did you need to use the lamp for?

aha! free newspapers are the way forward then

Think I'll cover one end with a blanket ??
Ours will be in the spare bedroom but the heating is turned off in there so it stays cool but not cold.

this is the best explanation I have found so far

nice and easy to follow

Sorry Wellies- we were off making another hen run. A bit scary when I held the posts while DH chapped it in with a big boulder
I used the lamp all the time for about five weeks then started switching it off for spells increasing the time each day without the lamp but keeping it on at night.
Week 6/7 the lamp was hardly on except for a really cold snap we had.
Yes, newspaper -cheap and cheerful. The lamp was high enough not to ignite the papers but warm enough for the chicks to be comfortable.
I changed their drinking water twice a day as it went that bubbly hospitally way.

scarey stuff, otter!
Thanks for the reply on the lamp. I think my plan is coming together nicely now. I bought some extra bulbs today just in case. (I did however have one of those cringey moments when trying to explain to the nice young asistant in the DIY shop with my limited linguistic ability that I was looking for 'lights to heat my chickens' ... not sure if he really got what I was talking about tbh! Should have taken the dictionary with me!)

I'm so excited now about the chicks!!

so far, no chicks

this is like watching a kettle boil...

zzz

zzzzz

zzzzzzz

cow!

oh sweetie, I hate to tell you, but you ain't NEVER gonna hatch one of them things out o' yer eggs!

We're not allowed chickens

gonna prove phd wrong
gonna prove phd wrong
gonna prove phd wrong
tra la la la la la

my mean ol' dh won't let me have chickens.

psst Red, let's harrass Wellies about coming to the meetup on Monday. evil

The deeds to our house won't allow us to have them Mind you, I don't think DH would be overly keen either.

I do think that WaP should get on a plane and come to Birmingham on Monday, but then again I'm self-centred and mean. (evil cackle)