{"id":78,"date":"2009-01-01T15:56:26","date_gmt":"2009-01-01T22:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/?p=78"},"modified":"2009-01-04T09:08:09","modified_gmt":"2009-01-04T16:08:09","slug":"brooders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/brooders\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brooding the chicks is a critical step in the rearing of chickens. \u00a0In Central Oregon we have the added challenge of huge temperature swings – 40\/50 degrees difference between day and night. \u00a0We started our chicken adventure with metal brooders. \u00a0They work okay for layers; however, broilers out grow them well before they are able to survive out on the pasture. \u00a0This left us thinking we should make a two stage brooding system – one week in the metal box and then out to deep-bedding brooders outside for the final 2 weeks. \u00a0Then we came to the realization that this was silly and we should not turn a chick’s world upsidedown any more than necessary. \u00a0<\/p>\n

So we set a couple objectives: brood the chicks from day 1 to 21 in the same brooder; control temperature during the extreme swings, eliminate the crating step between brooder and pasture, and, finally and paramount, provide a healthier brood for the young chicks via deep-bedding. \u00a0Our solution (at least, for now) is a 4’x8′ rolling brooder. \u00a0We hope to start the chicks in the heated shop, then roll them outside to finish their time in a less controlled environment. \u00a0Then we can hook up the brooder to the golf cart and roll them out to the pasture. \u00a0With deep-bedding we can reuse the brooders for the next batch with beneficial bacteria already working away in the brooder- giving the next batch a better chance coming out of the gate. \u00a0 \u00a0We just sprinkle pine shavings over the old and in with the new batch. \u00a0Our heat source can move up as the depth of the bedding increases. \u00a0Also with the 12″ pneumatic tires we hope to make it out to pasture in one piece. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Frame

Frame is built up from 5\/8" sheet of plywood<\/p><\/div>\n

We used 5\/8″ plywood on the bottom to hold the wheels in place. \u00a0The sides are 2′ OSB and the frame is just 2″x2″. \u00a0The heater in connected to 2″x2″ across the top. \u00a0In the photo the heat is in the highest position. \u00a0The \u00a0roofs are just corrugated sheet-metal and plastic. \u00a0We feel better with the sheet metal over the heat source, but we need to let light in with the plastic panels. \u00a0We have no other light source for the chicks- they will rise and shine with the sun. \u00a0The temperature of the brooder is only important at chick level. \u00a0This is why we drop a wireless temperature sensor to regulate the temperature. \u00a0This was the big problem with the metal brooders- the controls are at the heat source. \u00a0So once you set the desired temperature it would hold fine; however, ambient temperature would change so much that the system would yo-yo the chicks. \u00a0Even in the heated shop the metal brooder couldn’t maintain a steady temperature. \u00a0This style holds temperature much, much better. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"We

We used 12" wheels so we can roll directly to the paster without having to crate the chicks<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Home

Home at last!<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brooding the chicks is a critical step in the rearing of chickens. \u00a0In Central Oregon we have the added challenge of huge temperature swings – 40\/50 degrees difference between day and night. \u00a0We started our chicken adventure with metal brooders. \u00a0They work okay for layers; however, broilers out grow them well before they are able […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[10,31,58,14],"class_list":["post-78","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shelter","tag-broiler-chickens","tag-brooder","tag-central-oregon","tag-pastured-poultry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions\/87"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}