Chic-Ken County Medical Center Maturnity Wing
IT has taken me about 3 weeks working on this in my spare time, but it is finally done. I have the lights on setting the dimmer switch to get 95 degrees. I will check it 2 days before arrival. Then the day before I will turn it on and leave it on so it is all ready for the chicks. I am getting 3 of each Black, Brown, Gold, and Red Sex-Links, 2 Buff, Dark, White Laced Red Cornish, and 2 Delaware males for meat. After all these are out of the brooder, I am gonna order 25 Colored Rangers for meat as well.
Brooder Details
This is the first thing I have ever built in my life. Well I did start on my coop first. The coop will get a lot more attention now. I stopped work on it to build the medical center. I built the brooder out of 2x2's and 3/8" plywood. It is 4'x4' with two plexiglass viewing windows. It stands 12" off the floor and the brooder itself is 2' tall. I have two 125 watt brooder bulbs in it both on a dimmer switch. I had to put doors on top with hardware cloth, I do have 3 cats in the house. I didn't want the cats in there playing with the chicks. I painted everything white and then painted the walls the color they are. Not sure what the color is because it was $3.93. Someone mixed it incorrectly. I is sort of an oragne/red looks like more red than orange. I wanted it too tone down the lights inside the brooder and from what I see it is doing it's job. I actually have 4 waters, and 4 feeders, so we can pick one up and put another one down. Then we can wash them in between changes. Waters will be changed at least 3 times each day to keep the water fresh. As the chicks get bigger I will replace the small water bowls with ones of more appropriate size. Oh, I acquired our cats and dog placemats. Don't worry we bought them new ones. The mats have a ledge around them. I am hoping these mats will help keep the shaving out of the water bowls and keep any feed or water messes contained. The brooder will play double duty as a hospital. If any of our chickens I can keep them inside it to keep them away from the others. Hence the name.
