what is a brooder?

Question

for chickens

Answer 1

A brooder is a heated container that can have it's temperature controlled in at least one area. It is used to confine chicks with their feed and water until they are 6 weeks old and ready to go outside.

Building a brooder is as simple as you want to make it. What you need is protection from drafts, a warm area, and an area for them to cool off. Food and CLEAN waterers and feeders must also be readily available. Let's break these features down individually.

A large cardboard box, stock tank, big Rubbermaid container, plastic swimming pool, or just a ring of cardboard on the coop floor will do well. The brooder box has to incorporate two important elements.
1.) A non-slip surface on the floor. Newspapers alone are the worst floor covering you can use. The chicks need to be able to get traction for their legs to develop properly, and newspaper is like ice to baby chicks. Just cover the newspaper with paper towels for the first 4 or 5 days, and you have what you need. Wood shavings are okay, but again, need to be covered with paper towels for the first 4 or 5 days until the chicks' legs get strong.

2.) Protection from drafts. The sides should be high enough so that the warmth from the heat source will not be wisked away by a draft. If your brooder is in a well protected area, short sides will be fine. If you are brooding in a barn, or outside, the sides should be high, and the top covered.

A heat source can be achieved by use of a simple shop clamp lamp, or any kind of lamp with a shield that will concentrate and direct the light and heat down to the floor of the brooder. The light should be raised or lowered so that the heated spot under the light is 95 degrees. The light can be raised a little every week for the first 5 weeks, so that the area underneath is lowered by 5 degrees. Or... you can decrease the wattage of the bulb to produce the same effect. The entire brooder does not need to be, and SHOULD NOT be all the same temperature. The peeps have to get out of the heat. If they can't, they stand a good chance of cooking. Peeps will lay in a ring around the circle of light, and situate themselves to get exactly how much heat they need.

If they are peeping loudly, they are cold. If they are laying to one side of the light in a huddle, there is a draft. If they are pushed away from the heat source as far as the brooder allows, they are too hot. Too hot will kill your peeps. Too cold, they will tell you. Worry about too much heat, instead of not enough.

Waterers and Feeders

Here's a place where a little common sense can go a long way. Food can be thrown on the floor, in a low dish, or in a commercially prepared feeder. Any are fine.

Waterers can also be most anything. They need to be shallow, and preferably filled with marbles so the chicks can't drown. We use $2 mason jar waterers. They work terrific. Sometimes we do the marble thing, sometimes not. It depends on the chicks. Quail and pheasants will drown if they just look at a water dish, while chickens are much smarter. The type of water dish will dictate how safe it is.

Answer 2

What Is A Brooder Box

Answer 3

a brooder can be an enclosed area with a heating light hung from above so the chicks can huddle under to stay warm or it can be a metal structure with the lights, we would always take wood and make a square either on the ground or on small wire for droppings to fall through and hang a heating lamp about 12 inches from the floor, if it gets to warm for them they will move around. be sure to keep plenty of water in the chick waters and food in the brooder.

Answer 4

A heated chamber used to keep young chicks warm.

Answer 5

A heated chamber for new born chicks

Answer 6

its a long wooden box sectioned off so several chickens can get in at once and have their own little room to nest and lay eggs in you line them with hay.