how big should my brooder be for 60 one day old chickens

[bornthrifty]

I have carboard I am making into a larger box but it turns out my boxes aren't as great as I thought

I am going to build a wood one next week, but what sort of space do they need this first week of life?

thanks

 

[rebecca100]

I would think a 6x8 would be enough for the first few days. Thats about how big mine was when I had a whole bunch of chicks. It should give them enough room to move until you get something built.

 

[bornthrifty]

thankyou, that's about what I had in mind

 

[bibliophile birds]

i don't know if i would actually build one. they are going to require quite a bit of space before they leave the brooder and then you are going to have to store a huge wooden box... but i also have no helpful suggestions on housing that many. good luck and let us know how it turns out. (i'm hoping to get about that many freedom rangers in the next few months and i have no idea what i'm going to do with them before they go to the tractors)

 

[miss_thenorth]

The first week of life, they are pretty much gonna hubble together under the heat lamp. I have used the big cardboard boxes that watermelons come in from the grocery store--if you get one ask for the lid too as it can be put on the bottom. As they grow up, maybe you can get a few of them and separate as necessary. Wuo will be able to tell when they start getting crowded , and then thin them out a bit until they can go outside. Or, you can partition off a section of your barn if you have one and hang a couple of heat lamps in there. As lond as it is predator, and draft proof.

 

[bibliophile birds]

Or, you can partition off a section of your barn if you have one and hang a couple of heat lamps in there. As lond as it is predator, and draft proof.

i've been thinking about that option for myself. i could easily give up a stall for a few weeks. but i keep thinking of Joel Salatin's description of the problems he had with rats- he could here the chicks, still alive, crying down in the rat holes where the rats had drug them. that sounds like a complete nightmare. i don't know how i'd make the stalls rat proof. i'm doing some research.

 

[bornthrifty]

great help, (this is such a terrific site so much knowledge and experience here...)

wanted to reply that I don't have a barn ...Y e t

was hoping to get one soon though, (within the next year I f we can manage move)

but that rat hole story is toooo creepy for me, almost talked me out of wanting a barn...lol, I hope I don't have nightmares...lol