When raising chickens, it is incredibly difficult to do without a brooder. IN natural conditions The chicken always monitors the condition and vital activity of the young animals, but during breeding large quantity chickens, and even using the incubator method, there is no one to monitor the young animals. In this case, a brooder is built, which is a home for the chickens during the first 2 months of their life. You can read about what a chicken brooder is, its arrangement and equipment, as well as the method of building it yourself, in the article below.
Chick brooder
Translated from English word"brood" means "to bear." And to some extent, the name of this design fully suits its purpose. A chick brooder is a small box that holds newborn chicks until their first 60 days of life (sometimes less). This structure contains everything necessary for their normal life and development (food, heating, water, dry bedding, ventilation, lighting).
If a brooder is purchased in a store, it is important to inspect it for safety, and also remember to check the operation of all systems (heating, lighting, ventilation, etc.).
If you take into account all the main points regarding the purpose and arrangement of the brooder, you can make it yourself - it’s not at all difficult. The main thing when building is to take into account that it should be comfortable for the chickens. After all, big, healthy chickens and roosters will grow only if they are initial stages developments were grown in the right conditions.
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What features should a good chicken brooder have?
Chickens that have not yet turned 50 days old must be handled very carefully and not disturbed unnecessarily.
Tool
If you make a brooder for chickens yourself, you need to make sure that you have everything at hand necessary details and tools. For construction you will need:
In addition, you must purchase good material, from which the brooder will actually be built. As a rule, wood, chipboard, plywood, multi-layer cardboard or something similar is used that keeps heat and is safe for young animals.
Interesting!
Sometimes ready-made boxes, barrels, bedside tables, tables, boxes, and containers are used as the basis for a brooder. The main thing is that they are comfortable, durable, and that there is an opportunity to improve them a little.
Making a brooder does not take much time. This is a fairly simple design.
The brooder is checked for safety before use. All electrical devices should work well.
Raising chickens
Raising chickens in such a small space as a brooder is not difficult at all. All you need is to be attentive and take care of the kids on time. What are the responsibilities of a breeder?
Temperature and lighting
Young chicks need a certain temperature, so it is constantly adjusted.
You can heat the chick brooder using a simple incandescent lamp, an infrared lamp or infrared film, which is placed on the wall of the brooder.
Lighting is also adjusted as the birds grow. So for the first 3 days it should be turned on for 23 hours. Then the amount of light is reduced daily by 1 hour until the daily day reaches 12-15 hours. After this, the lighting adjustment is stopped and maintained at this level.
Raising chickens in heated brooders is an excellent solution for poultry farmers who buy day-old chicks or hatch chicks using an incubator. IN natural environment brood hens take care of the chicks, and during incubation hatching this responsibility falls on the shoulders of humans. Professional brooders are quite expensive: their cost reaches 10 thousand rubles. Therefore, many poultry farmers prefer to make brooders for raising chickens with their own hands from available materials.
In order for the inhabitants of the brooder to be comfortable, it must meet the following requirements:
The design should provide two zones with different temperatures: if the bird overheats near the lamp, it should be able to move to a cool part of the room.
It is good if the brooder is not located in a house or barn, but in the open air. This way you will ensure good ventilation air and allow the young animals to enjoy natural sunlight. This will help improve the health of the chicks and also reduce the cost of heating the brooder. During the day wooden structure will heat up, and in the evening you can cover it thick fabric and maintain a comfortable temperature for a long time.
The note! If you place the brooder outdoors, be sure to protect it from drafts and precipitation. To prevent raindrops from entering through screen doors, you can cover the roof large sheet slate.
To make a brooder, you will need the following tools:
Before you start work, make a drawing of the future structure. This will help you more accurately calculate the dimensions of parts and the amount of materials.
To make the brooder base, use natural materials, which are highly durable, are not afraid of moisture and direct exposure sun rays. At the same time, you don’t always need to make a box yourself: you can use an old bedside table or barrel as a basis. This design will be less reliable and durable, but you will spend less time and money on its construction.
If you want to make a brooder from scratch, you will need the following materials:
Table 1. Materials for making a brooder from scratch
| Material | Purpose | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Wooden bars or slats | These are used to make the base of the brooder, the frame for the mesh floor and the container for the litter. | section 30×30 mm. |
| Plywood sheets, oriented strand tiles or fiberboard or chipboard sheets | They can be used to make the walls, floor and ceiling of a future structure. | thickness from 1 to 2.5 cm |
| Galvanized metal mesh with small cells | It can be used to make floors and doors. Through such a mesh, bird droppings and spilled food will fall into a removable tray, and the brooder will remain dry and clean. | cell size –10×10 mm |
| Plastic mesh | Suitable for making doors. | cell size –10×10 mm |
| Incandescent or infrared light bulb | It is installed in the upper part of the structure and allows for optimal temperature and light conditions. | power up to 40–60 W |
| Thermometer and automatic thermostat (dimmer) | These devices are installed in the brooder so that the bird owner can constantly monitor the air temperature. | - |
| Self-tapping screws, nails, stapler with staples | Nails are used to make a static structure; if you want to make a collapsible device, you should use self-tapping screws. A stapler and staples will be needed to attach the mesh to the wooden frame. | - |
| Metal corners, hinges and latches | Used to make walls and doors. | - |
| slate sheet | This material will be needed if you are going to keep the chicks outside. It will protect the brooder from precipitation and excessive overheating. | - |
| Plastic panels or oilcloth | Suitable for lining a litter container. | - |
The note! Multilayer cardboard is often used as a basis for a brooder. plastic panels or oriented strand board. However, structures made from these materials are not durable. After raising the first batch of young animals, it is difficult to clean and disinfect. Therefore, you should not save: choose wear-resistant materials that are not afraid high humidity and exposure to high temperatures.
The standard dimensions of a brooder are 1×0.5×0.5 m. Its frame is made of wooden blocks, and the walls and bottom are made of thin plywood(or other similar material). It provides nipple drinkers, feeders, doors, mesh floor and removable litter tray. The room is conventionally divided into two compartments: for food and for heating.
The note! To extend the “life” of the brooder, before final assembly Coat all wood and metal parts with wood and metal primer.
Table 2. Making a box
| № | Action | Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cut a sheet of plywood and make blanks for the walls. You should end up with 3 blanks measuring 1x0.5 m (for the back wall, floor and roof) and 2 blanks measuring 0.5x0.5 m (for the side walls). |  |
| 2 | Assemble a box from the blanks. To fasten sheets of plywood together, use metal corners and self-tapping screws. Before screwing in the screw, make a hole: this way you will avoid cracking the plywood. Ready product place it so that the front part (without the wall) is in front of you. |  |
| 3 | Make guides for the removable floor and tray. To do this, take 4 bars 0.48 m long and 2 bars 1 m long. Using self-tapping screws, attach one long bar to the back wall of the box so that it is exactly between the wall and the floor (in the corner). Then attach short bars to the side walls so that they are between the walls and the floor. It is advisable that they do not reach the front of the side wall by 1 cm. Then, at a distance of 3 cm from the first row of bars, attach the second row. |  |
| 4 | Strengthen the walls of the brooder with stiffening ribs. To do this, take 4 bars about 0.4 m long and attach them to the sides so that they rest against the ceiling and rise about 3 cm above the upper guide bars. |  |
| 5 | Make a frame for the doors. To do this, attach 2 bars approximately 98 cm long between the stiffeners in the upper and lower parts of the brooder. Install another rail between the upper and lower beams so that it divides the front part of the product in half. |  |
The note! When making guides, make sure that the bars are located at the same distance from each other. This will ensure that the tray glides easily and makes it easier to remove litter.
Table 3. Floor production
| № | Action | Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Make a removable mesh floor. To do this, make a 1x0.5 m frame from the bars and attach a galvanized mesh to it. Insert the resulting structure between the stiffeners and the top row of guides. |  |
| 2 | Make a litter tray. To do this, make another 1x0.5 m frame, attach a 1x0.5 m plywood blank to its lower part and line the inside of the resulting container with oilcloth or thin plastic panels. |  |
| 3 | Attach a front wall to the tray, which will make the brooder airtight and prevent the spread of unpleasant odor. To do this, take 1x0.1 m plywood and attach it to the front of the pallet (the width may be different: it depends on how large the gap is left between the bottom and the future doors). Insert the tray between the first and second row of guides. |  |
The note! Metal grid may injure the chicks' delicate paws. Therefore, in the first days of keeping chickens in a brooder, you can put a fine nylon mesh on a large mesh. After 3-4 days it will need to be removed: it is difficult to clean from droppings and quickly becomes dirty. The nylon mesh can be replaced with newspaper.
Table 4. Hanging doors
| № | Action | Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Make doors from wooden beam. To do this, make two blanks (their dimensions are about 49x40 cm) and attach a fine metal or plastic mesh to them. |  |
| 2 | Install doors at the front of the drawer using hinges. Place latches on them and also attach a stopper that will prevent them from closing inward. |  |
| 3 | Place feeders and nipple drinkers in the brooder so that the birds cannot spill the feed. Ideal option There will be bunker feeders that can be installed on the doors. |  |
1. It should be warm and light inside the brooder, so you need to provide a place in the design for an incandescent lamp or an infrared lamp. To do this, make a hole in the top of the brooder for the cartridge so that the chicks do not have direct access to it.
2. Next, take a piece of cable (its length depends on how far the brooder is from the outlet) and attach a plug to one end. Place the other end of the cable in the previously prepared hole and attach the cartridge to it. Screw the lamp into the socket.
3. Place a reflector on the lamp. It will prevent birds from getting closer to the light source and organizes the space in such a way that there will be cool and warm parts in the brooder. The chickens will be able to move from the heated part to the cold part on their own.
4. To make it easier to control the temperature, back wall Attach a thermometer to the brooder.
The note! So that it is always preserved in the brooder comfortable temperature, you can install an automatic thermostat. If the temperature drops below a certain point, the incandescent lamp will turn on and inner space will heat up. If the temperature is too high, the lamp will turn off.
Table 5. Brooder temperature
| Age of chickens, days | t near the lamp, ºС | t in the brooder, ºС |
|---|---|---|
| 1–5 | 34–35 | 24–26 |
| 6–12 | 33–34 | 22–23 |
| 13–20 | 30–32 | 21–22 |
| 21–30 | 25–29 | 20–21 |
| 30–60 | 18–24 | 16–19 |
If you are going to keep a lot of chickens, make several brooders and stack them on top of each other in tiers. This way you will have an excellent design for raising a large number of young animals.
To raise young birds, you need a specially equipped place - a brooder for chickens. This is a box, cage or fenced corner in a room with a heated floor. After all, chickens need warmth, light, and air. There it is necessary to provide for the organization of feeding the young animals. Cleaning the floor from waste products is also an important stage of care. This process should be simple. After all, chickens growing among the litter peck at it and get sick. This could lead to their death.
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Often, a poultry farmer needs to raise young animals without the participation of a hen in the process. Then you need to create for chickens the necessary conditions for growth, healthy image life.
Chick brooders must meet the following requirements:
Methods for making a place to keep chickens:
Each option has its advantages and disadvantages.
The simplest and cheap option keeping chickens. The place where the brood is kept is made from waste material. Anyone can make such a nursery for broiler or quail chicks with their own hands: no drawings or special skills are required. It is enough to figure out how to heat the chickens, and the “room” itself is already ready.
Chick brooder made from cardboard boxes
Another advantage of using cardboard boxes for raising poultry is that they do not need to be stored until next year.
Disadvantages of using cardboard boxes:
Cardboard boxes are used for short-term replacement of stationary heated cages or when keeping a small number of chickens.
The use of glass containers for keeping young birds is possible. Even if a crack has appeared in the wall of the aquarium, it has become unsuitable for its intended purpose; it can be given a second life in the form of a house for chicks.
Brooder for aquarium chickens
Advantages of choice:
The disadvantages of glass poultry houses are:
Wooden structures in the form of boxes without a top - mangers - are easy to make if the craftsman is familiar with working with a hammer, nails and a saw. Typically, a brooder of this type is put together in the shape of a pencil case.
Wooden brooder nursery
While the chicks are small, the top is left open. Then, as the chicks grow, they try to jump out - a net is required to cover the brooder. It is not recommended to use a solid roof: air flow is hampered and there is no access to sunlight.
If there are holes in the brooder roof and using heat sensors connected to the heating system, you can cover the brooders with tight lids at night to save energy costs. And chicks without light reduce their activity and become quiet.
Such mangers are inconvenient when cleaning the floor from waste products. Chicks need to be moved to another place during cleaning, which is fraught with loss of time for the caretaker, nervous stress of the young, and the search for boxes for temporary housing of the chicks.
If there is unnecessary furniture left in the house, it can be used as a brooder frame.
Brooder from an old bedside table
To improve the design:
Possible at side walls fill the slats from below. They will serve as rails for the pallet. This will make cleaning the brooder more comfortable.
Brooder tray for collecting bird droppings
A double floor in a poultry “house” will save chickens from poisoning and reduce the mortality rate of young animals. The droppings instantly fall down. The chicks do not have the opportunity to peck it.
Heated brooders are usually installed indoors. Poultry farmers use them during the first period of life of chickens or if a brood appears in early spring when it's still cold outside. IN warm weather in the open air, other cages are used for walking young animals, without additional heating.
The design of this structure is the same as in the version described above - “Bird houses from old bedside tables, kitchen tables"Only the master makes the walls here himself. To make a heated cage, you will need a drawing.
Drawing for making a brooder frame for chickens
The sizes can be arbitrary. Here we offer the optimal 30 heads of young birds for keeping. This design is suitable for indoors and outdoors. IN home version heating of the chicks is used; when outdoors, they do without it.
Wooden chicken brooder
You can complete the job according to the instructions in a few hours. The main thing is to have everything you need on hand:
First, the side and back walls are cut out of plywood.
Side walls of the brooder
On the sides and the rear wall along the bottom, slats are stuffed: for the grate and pallet rails.
Ready-made side walls for the brooder
Vertical slats play the role of stiffeners.
Now the side and back walls need to be knocked together.
It is important to ensure that the points of the nails do not protrude anywhere. Even small nicks can cost chicks their lives.
The master can design the front wall-door at his discretion with two or single doors. Depending on this, hinges are placed on the door.
DIY chicken brooder is ready
After this, you can stretch the mesh over the door, securing it to the overall structure. You need to stuff a metal grid at the bottom. The roof is optional - home brooders can do without it.
The pallet is cut to size, and slats are stuffed around the edges to ensure that the litter is collected without the possibility of it falling out on the floor. The brooder frame is ready, all that remains is to install the feeder and drinker inside, install the thermostat sensor and heating.
A chick brooder is a box in which favorable conditions for raising young animals. The peculiarity of these structures is that they are equipped with a microclimate control system, which allows you to change the conditions of detention: temperature, lighting, humidity.
People begin to think about building or purchasing a brooder when there are no hens taking care of their offspring. Many farmers do not breed purebred birds, but crosses, the representatives of which lack maternal instinct.
More often these are meat birds. For such crosses there are summer and winter options.
Therefore, to produce offspring, you need a brooder for broilers, which differs from the one intended for chickens only in name. Thanks to the special design and equipment, in any device it is possible to create the conditions that are optimal for a given breed or cross.
Chickens are kept in these houses for no more than a month. In one room measuring 100x50x50 cm you can keep no more than 35 chicks aged from 0 to 30 days.
Grown-up babies are seated in two brooders.
Cages for raising young animals vary in size and materials. The most simple designs constructed from cardboard boxes.
Purchased brooders are more convenient to use, but not every novice poultry farmer has the funds to purchase them.
All structures for raising young animals, both purchased and homemade, must consist of the following elements:
An important element of equipment for a brooder is a thermostat. Universal devices for this purpose are equipped with sockets and temperature sensors. Can work in conjunction with cooling devices. You can buy an analog or digital thermostat.
Installation of equipment for microclimate control is simple: plug the device into an outlet and set the required temperature on the panel. Automation will monitor its maintenance. If necessary, the cooler or heater will start operating. The range of adjustable temperature in the brooder is from +16°C to +40°C.
At the stage of designing and creating a drawing of the future house for raising chickens, its dimensions are determined. You can make a long brooder consisting of several rooms connected by holes with doors.
But a small house is enough for a novice poultry farmer. You can take the dimensions of the factory brooder model you like best as a guide.
For reusable structures, you need to choose wear-resistant and easy-to-clean materials. It is important that they do not absorb water and odors, do not change their properties under the influence of heat and light, and do not emit toxic substances when heated.
These requirements meet:
As connecting elements, you can take bars with a cross section of 30x30 mm. All wooden materials covered with special antiseptic solutions.
To make the walls of the chicken room easier to clean, internal surfaces can be pasted over or upholstered with thin linoleum or polycarbonate.
For the floor you will need a galvanized mesh with a mesh size of 10x10 mm or 12x12 mm. It is convenient for chickens to move on such a surface, and droppings and leftover food will fall down. This ensures cleanliness and reduces the risk of disease in young animals.
Those who are already quite experienced in keeping chickens are sure that the galvanized mesh proposed above is not the best choice for floor installation. For reasons:
In this regard, experienced poultry farmers advise installing a floor made of mesh with a mesh size of 10x20 mm or 12x20 mm.
The rod should have a cross-section of 1.5 or 2 mm. Chickens move on this mesh without difficulty, and droppings easily fall through the holes.
It is advisable to make the pallet from galvanized steel. To do this, all 4 sides of the metal sheet are cut and bent upward, forming the sides. You don’t have to weld the corners, but fill the gaps with a moisture-resistant sealant.
Suitable for tray and plastic devices. If necessary, you can simply place a piece of PVC panel under the mesh floor (used for wall cladding).
Influx is important for chicks fresh air and lack of dampness. Therefore, high-quality ventilation is necessary in the house. It can be arranged on the principle of natural air draft, ensured by the presence of two holes in the walls of the room.
Device forced ventilation relevant for large houses. To do this, you will need a fan, which is installed under the cover.
Infrared lamps are used as a heating element. To control the temperature, a thermostat is installed.
In a small space, such a powerful lamp will get very hot and needs a heat-resistant socket.
The brooder door can be hinged or sliding. It is easier to make the first one, but it requires devices to hold it open. This could be a hook or latch.
The door can open in any direction: top-to-bottom or left-to-right and vice versa. This structural element must be made of durable material: metal, wood, plastic. But it's easier to do wooden frame and cover it with polycarbonate.
Equipment installation algorithm:
If desired and necessary, you can make several similar structures and build a battery out of them. It is most convenient for keeping chicks of different ages.
To create a brooder for chickens with your own hands, you need to study the design of popular models offered by manufacturers.
Most popular models are made from galvanized sheet steel. The choice of this material is not accidental: the metal does not rot and has an easy-to-clean surface. The litter collection tray is also made of galvanized steel.
Installed:
The floor is made of galvanized mesh with a mesh size of 12x12 mm. Design dimensions (L/W/H): 750x450x450 mm.
It's easy to buy everything necessary materials for making your own chicken house. Temperature control equipment is a mandatory attribute of these structures. Low-power devices for small rooms are inexpensive and are able to maintain the desired temperature.
Breeding broilers is a profitable business, but quite troublesome.
To get eggs and meat, you will have to take care of the poultry house, purchase of feed, and vaccination.
If you purchased day-old chicks or young animals aged two to three days, the birds need to be provided with comfortable conditions, since broilers are very sensitive to external factors.
In order for broiler chickens not only to survive, but also to grow and develop, they will need a brooder - a special box where chickens are placed in the first hours and days of their life.
The brooder creates the necessary temperature and humidity conditions that are so necessary for small chickens.
A brooder is a box, box or part of a room equipped for raising chickens.
Its use is extremely important in the first days of life of the chicks, since during this period the greatest mortality of birds is observed.
The cost of ready-made brooders in stores starts from 6,000 rubles; you can also purchase drinking bowls, feeders and other useful devices for them.
Then the price for the device will increase up to 10,000 rubles. But why overpay if you can make a brooder from scrap materials.
The advantages of homemade brooders include:
For these reasons, many farmers decide to make their own brooder rather than buy one from the store.
Let's consider how and from what materials this structure can be made at home.
The main requirements include the following:
The dimensions and design of the brooder for broilers are individual and depend on the selected materials for its manufacture.
Materials for production:
From what you might have on your household, wooden boxes and plastic containers are suitable.
When deciding on the size, keep in mind that the permissible density of chicks per square meter is no more than 25 pieces. If there are few broilers, a simple wooden box will be enough.
For 30-35 birds, a brooder measuring 120 cm x 45 cm is suitable.
Consider the option of creating a brooder from inexpensive materials, you can buy them at any hardware store.
For this you will need:
VIDEO INSTRUCTION
Operating procedure:
Worth purchasing infrared lamp, but if there is none, a regular 60 W one will do.
If desired, the structure can be painted, and drinkers and feeders can be placed so that the kids are comfortable.
They should not be glass, but wooden. It is better to use standard or bunker type. Chicks will not throw away food from such feeders. Take small drinking bowls so that the chicks do not drown in them, and the water does not increase the humidity level in the brooder.
If you do everything correctly, the design will provide baby broilers with the necessary comfort.
VIDEO DESCRIPTION
It is not enough to simply build a brooder. It needs to connect both heating and lighting.
The mesh for the floor should have small cells so that the chicks do not fall through. Optimal size 10 mm x 10 mm.
To ensure that the chicks grow well:
Thus, using available means, it will be possible to easily and with minimal financial costs build a high-quality and reliable brooder for broiler chicks, which will successfully replace their mother hen.
