Chicken Brooder or Pen
We decided to go with a water tank as our chicken brooder or chicken pen. We could have built an enclosed brooder (traditional brooder) with doors, latches, and screening but as a
versatile homestead we wanted to be able to use our supplies and space. This Rubbermaid 150 Gal tank also comes with a 1 1/2 inch outlet/drain plug at the middle bottom that will be easy to connect o PVC or use for draining/reservoir late on the homestead. We used a local Tractor Supply co. in our area because they were recommended to us by friends (who also raise chickens) and that's where we decided to just make it a one-stop-shop for this part of our chicken journey. We like that the tank is Foam insulated, and also that the walls are deep 39 inch walls. The rest seems to be the usual brooder equipment, the heat lamp, the chick feeder, chick waterer, the pine shavings all were very straight forward and quick to set up. Overall it took maybe 30 minutes to un-package and set up and have the chicks already to go. What we had was a curtain rod and some C-Clamps to hold the curtain rod secure so the Lamp could be right over the chicks. The next purchase or modification we will have to make is the top of the Tank needs to have a mesh like hardware cloth or chicken wire to prevent anything falling in on the chicks or the chicks from jumping out in a couple weeks. Another thing we did was to have the chicks inside the house in our workout room. The other option is the garage. Maybe we were just too excited and also we read and heard on various videos that the more the chicks are around the family then they will get used to us. Safety-wise it felt better to have them inside so we could hear them if something was going wrong. Apparently, they will get louder when their needs aren't being met and if they are in the garage this might go a little longer.
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Here’s all the links to the supplies we used in this video for our brooding chickens :
- Chick Brooder Pen https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/rubbermaid-structural-foam-stock-tanks-150-gal-capacity
- Feeder https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/little-giant-plastic-flip-top-poultry-feeder
- Chick Food https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/purina-flock-raiser-crumbles-premium-poultry-feed-50-lb
- Pine Shavings https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/tractor-supply-co-flake-premium-pine-shavings-covers-8-cu-ft
- Red Light Bulb https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/feit-electric-250-watt-incandescent-r40-red-heat-lamp-reflector
- Heat Lamp https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/producers-pride-brooder-lamp-6-ft-cord
- Chick Waterer https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/harris-farms-poultry-drinker-5-qt?cm_vc=-10005
*We are not supported or endorsed by any company. We just use whatever company because of cost, ease, location or product recommendation.