Updated Brooder Tips
Here you will find all my best advice regarding:
Chick Housing: Brooder, Nesting Box, Heat, Snugglers and Bedding
Chick Food and Water: Waterers, Supplements, Feed, Feeders, Toys and Amusements
Chick Housing
Brooder
In the past, we used a variety of brooders: a wooden kitty carrier my Grandpa built, an old dresser drawer with a makeshift lid, dog kennels, or an official brooder box. Now we have switched exclusively to Bunny Cages! Surprised us too. Here is why:
brooder box, no longer recommended
We appreciate that the gaps in the sides are too small to allow the chicks to pop out as they did in the dog kennels and too small to let the kittens reach in. The kittens do not approve of this feature.
We like the semi-walls — helps the chicks stay out of the draft but does allow for air exchange. The brooder boxes that I previously used seemed to get very stuffy and stagnant.
We like that the chicks see us passing to and fro and get comfortable with us. The brooder box only let them see us hovering above them in a scary predator-like manner.
We find the very easy to clean; more on this later.
Easy to take apart and store flat.
We keep them in the bunny cages until they are ready to put them out (I put them out, with heat, far before they are fully feathered) which you can read about here When Can I Put My Chicks Outside, More suggestions here Juvenile or Grow-Out Care and Housing and Adding Teenagers to the Big Girl Flock.
Nesting Box
As it is so important that the chicks be kept out of drafts, and as they naturally seek out secure corners for their puddle of fluff co-sleeping habits, we like to use these nifty corner nesting boxes, with a little bedding in it, see below.
All snuggled up under the heat bulb.
Heat for Chicks
A steady source of heat is essential to your chicks’ health. Best is a set-up where they can move towards or away from the heat source as they see fit.
Lizard or Reptile Bulbs
I really like the lizard bulbs for a variety of reasons.
They do not emit light, so chicks sleep at night.
The bulb is smaller and recesses into the fixture so you have a slightly better chance of survival if the fixture falls into the bedding, which is not going to happen because you are going to zip tie and carabiner that puppy into place.
They last a long time. Much longer than those red bulbs that the feed stores sell that shatter into a million pieces and that I highly recommend you avoid.
I can see the chicks. Heat plates, discussed below, are another good option, but they do allow the chicks to hide themselves away. I like to see them.
You can see in this picture how low the light fixture is.
Moving forward, all our future purchases of heat sources for chicks will be lizard bulbs in properly rated fixtures.
You will need to hang the fixture very low, lower than the dread red bulb sort, see pic above.
Heat Plates
Heat plates are super safe and the chicks love them. The chicks press their backs up into the heated surface and get all cozy warm. Alas, as mentioned above, we don’t get to see them as much, as they are usually tucked away underneath.
That said, if you are going to get one, I like this one because it is easy to raise or lower the legs when the chicks are still under it. I usually leave the front a little higher than the back so they have choices. You won’t regret paying the little extra for the cover, otherwise they will hop on top and poop all over the place.
Thermometer
You don’t need a thermometer to see if it’s warm enough in the brooder. If they huddle together, they are cold. If they flee the heat-source and stand panting with wings akimbo, they are too hot. Why buy a man-made device to tell you what they are already telling you? Unless you aren’t there to check — if you are away from your brooder for long periods and you want some way to know the temperature, or maybe you are curious about the overnight low, I recommend the Govee.
The Govee thermometer pairs to your phone so you can check up on things from elsewhere and best of all you can set it to alert you if things get too hot or too cold.
Snugglers
Do offer a stuffed toy. I like to get them from the dollar store and they love to climb on top and snuggle.
Don’t use feather dusters. Yes, they are cute. Yes, the chicks love them. Except for the ones that get spun around and tangled and die a slow death of strangulation; they don’t love it, and neither will you.
Chicks love a soft warm stuffie with which to snuggle.
Bedding for Chicks
Make sure their floor is not slippery. I use hemp nesting box mats, but you can also use puppy pads with a light layer of wood pellets and pine shavings on top. The puppy pads absorb moisture and make it really easy to clean. When we used them, we would just fold the pads over from the outside in and lift the whole thing out. The bedding went to the compost and the puppy pad to the trash. Now that we use the hemp, we shake the mat out and pop it back in.
Chick Food and Water
Chick Waterers
Start them off on rabbit waterers. They can’t kick shavings into it and it’s an easy transition to nipple waterers later on. I like the kind with a floating toy in it, so it is easy to glance at it and see the water level.
If don’t have a rabbit waterer — or you just like cleaning shavings out of the waterer — add pebbles or marbles so that sleepy or ill chicks don’t pass out in it and drown.
Add Apple Cider Vinegar with the Mother to their drinking water. The probiotics in the ACV helps prevent poopy bum.
Chick Supplements
These are the two I keep on hand. Because I use the Apple Cider Vinegar with the Mother in their drinking water I don’t have to add any other pro-biotics or electrolytes.
VetRx
Occasionally a chick will develop a respiratory ailment. When they do, I reach for the VetRx. It’s like Vick’s Vapo-Rub but for chicks. I dab some in the wing pits and a little on their beaks and add a little to their water.
NutraDrench
This is a supplement that is added to their water. I usually have Apple Cider Vinegar with the Mother in their drinking water, but if anyone is looking poorly I switch over to NutraDrench.
Chick Feed & Feeders
I start everyone on Purina Start & Grow medicated chick starter dry crumbles. I usually try to avoid big commercial brands of anything, but the chicks do best on Purina Medicated Start & Grow.
When they are between four to eight weeks old — depending on the time of year — they are usually living outside and at that time I offer them the fermented chick starter in the run.
In the meantime, we use these hanging rabbit feeders. So much less food ends up on the floor where it apparently becomes invisible.
Chick Toys and Amusements
Bored chicks pick on each other. Be sure to offer an ever changing selection of amusements. A box to jump on and off of, a mirror in which to admire themselves, a hanging toy to investigate, wooden blocks and perches to try out. You can buy them ready-made or just grab some 2x4 scraps or some fruit tree prunings and use those.
Your Ideas
Please drop your ideas in the comments. There is always something to learn.
