Ahhhh baby chicks. How can anyone resist them come spring time? I know I sure can’t.
Every year I “talk” Beau into getting a few LOT. They are so cute and fuzzy! Then when they grow up they give you the nourishment of food (whether meat or eggs). What a wonderful way God has blessed us right?
Especially when you can do it in your own backyard.
Chickens are a great start to starting a homestead…even if you don’t own acres of land.
So…You Want Chickens! What’s Next?
Okay. SO, you decide that you want chicks and you know that you have to prepare for their arrival but are stuck with what to actually put them in when they arrive. You google search and BOOM!
You find brooders…for HUNDREDS of dollars. And…your heart sinks. At least mine did. I don’t like to pay hundreds for something that I will only use for 4-6 weeks. Even if I use them EVERY year! This is our third year buying chicks in the spring time so we have tried MANY different homemade brooders. Prior to this we usually used a good ol’ rubbermaid container. But this time Beau and I wanted something CHEAPER since we needed four of them. Say what?!?! Four? Yep. We needed four for:
- 25 Meat Chickens
- 10 Cornish Cross
- 10 Easter Egger Pullets
- 12 ducklings
A good ol’ rubbermaid container is about $18-22 for the ones we needed. That becomes super EXPENSIVE when you need four y’all. We just ‘ain’t’ paying that. So standing in Walmart we had to think of something else. And we did. A KIDDIE POOL! Beau is a granite fabricator so he brought these awesome things of cardboard home. I am sure you can find these anywhere that uses boxes…for FREE! You could always take apart a box too. The coolest thing about these brooders is that you can change out the cardboard with a taller one as the chicks grow (and learn to fly). And believe me they do that VERY young! So, here’s the breakdown for supplies:
- piece of cardboard
- kiddie pool (cost $6)
- duct tape
Yep! You read that right. THIS CHEAP DIY CHICKEN BROODER COSTS UNDER 10 BUCKS TO MAKE! Whoop Whoop!! Here is how we did it. And YES, there is BLUE carpet in our house (so circa 1990s but ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ folks). And YEP! We put the chicks/ducklings in our school room. And yes again, we kept them there until they were 3 weeks old then we moved them to the front porch (yeppers… it is enclosed).
Pool. We put an old sheet underneath it in case it leaked somehow. It didn’t.
Handsome–est man in the world cutting the cardboard.
Cuttin‘ the cardboard.
Makin’ sure it’s cut right!
Wrap cardboard around pool. There is dust on our cardboard from Beau’s shop.
Take out your good ol’ duct tape and tape away!
And more taping...
Voila! All taped and together!
Add pine shavings and BAM! You’re done!
Now, here is what we did once they got bigger and we moved them to our front porch. We used another piece of tall cardboard that they couldn’t fly out of. Beau made it to where one side folded down so we had easy access to their food and water. Then you just “fold” it up when you are done putting fresh water and food in! Note: You could just use the larger piece from the get-go but the kiddos wanted to see the baby chicks so we started small.
Taller cardboard with fold up/down side.
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Excellent!! I unexpectedly found 11 Easter Eggers (and another 2 buff orps) at TSC yesterday so although my husband has “cut me off” from buying anything more concerning chickens, I need to formulate a different brooder. I’m using a rubbermaid tub (found on discount) and it would have been fine, if I hadn’t found another 13 birds…
I’ll have to “enlist” my husband into “service” again. Teehee!! I have a 6-month old son, so although he isn’t thrilled, my hubby is a little less likely to argue lately when I need his help with projects or taking care of Little Frog. 😀 Yay for babies lol
Heidi,
Our 10 Easter Eggers are about 1.5 months old now and they are absolutely gorgeous! We had 75 chickens and 10 ducks delivered to our house last month. Two days later I unexpectedly picked up 2 more ducks and 10 chickens at Tractor Supply too! Needless to say, Beau has also cut me off, so we did another “science project” for homeschool. We incubated 13 of our own eggs. So, in another 2 weeks we will probably have 8 more chicks! (Whoospie ;))
And yes, YAY for babies. Last year NL was born 3/2 and we had two-week-old chicks, so I know what you mean!
yes, I am going back and blog stalking you 😉 I am so excited to get our first chickies this spring and bonus, I already have a pool for this purpose since I can just repurpose the one Guinness uses for cooling off during the summer. Sadly though I probably don’t need one quite so big since the city limits us to 4…ok technically 2 with our lot size….but I’m a rebel
Hi! My family is getting our first chickens soon and I’m so glad I found your blog! My husband and I have been talking about getting chickens for years, and we are finally in a place (physically and mentally) that we are going to for it! I teach in a rural school, and my teacher BFF hatches chicks as a science unit. They had 29 chicks hatch this year, and only 11 students are in her class, so, I get whatever is left! My husband isn’t super thrilled about the whole thing, but he’s agreed to build everything we need as long as I and our two children (7 and 5) do all the work. We are so excited!