# Brooding with what I have



## anakonia (Mar 23, 2014)

I am using part of a old bird cage, a box to be the bottom and keep the draft off the chicks and a old lamp with a 40 watt bulb in it. I have a better cage I use with a wire bottom, but the chicks were able to squeeze through the wire so until they get a little bigger this is their home. Not conventional, but it works. This is not my first time raising chicks and having chickens, I've done it like this before and it worked well. I am not having picking issues so I won't be using the red light bulb I have unless I have to. Personally I enjoy looking at my chicks with out the reddish hue from the colored bulb. Go ahead laugh if you want the Bible says
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.(Proverbs 17:22)
Hope maybe I can give some one a chuckle or show that it don't have to be all that fancy and proper stuff to raise chicks. This would NOT work for a large number of chicks at all ! They would crowd around the bulb and many would be lost, but for a hand full it works fine in a home that is heated and not by a drafty area. This is sitting in the corner of my kitchen away from the doors we come in and out of. (we very seldom use the sliding glass door that is to the right in this picture)









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## anakonia (Mar 23, 2014)

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## pypy_chicks (Mar 14, 2014)

Personally I don't get all the talk about the red bulbs I've never used them and actually have no idea what they are but never had pecking issues so I say do what you like or what works for you . I love your little makeshift brooder are , I'd be way to scared to leave my light/heat sources so close to my chicks but other than that it's lovely  


Current flock: 63


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I used the red more for night than pecking. White interferes with deep sleep. I tried a black incandescent once but it was not a high enough wattage to work well. I've seen where some have put photography film over a bell lamp to keep the warm but remove the brightness.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

I use a ceramic bulb, casts heat and no light. I use the red bulbs when I have to because as Robin said, they do not interfere with sleep patterns. 
Birds peck one another because they are stressed, which leads to blood which leads to cannibalism. The red lights are used in that scenario to not prevent picking but to prevent the other chickens from not seeing the blood and singling out another. The red bulbs also deliver an infrared heat, which is different than a radiant heat given off by your setup. It doesn't mean a lick either way if you are brooding in a draft free area.

I also brood in repurposed fish tanks and various sized rubber made totes. No need to buy fancy stuff for brooding when stuff you already have works just as well!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Fiere said:


> I use a ceramic bulb, casts heat and no light. I use the red bulbs when I have to because as Robin said, they do not interfere with sleep patterns.
> Birds peck one another because they are stressed, which leads to blood which leads to cannibalism. The red lights are used in that scenario to not prevent picking but to prevent the other chickens from not seeing the blood and singling out another. The red bulbs also deliver an infrared heat, which is different than a radiant heat given off by your setup. It doesn't mean a lick either way if you are brooding in a draft free area.
> 
> I also brood in repurposed fish tanks and various sized rubber made totes. No need to buy fancy stuff for brooding when stuff you already have works just as well!


I tried the ceramic bulb, dang things quit way too soon. I couldn't make it through a whole brooding period without having to replace it.


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## pypy_chicks (Mar 14, 2014)

Ty fierre and robin I might have to try that out didn't know the light would interfere with the sleep so I'll look into that for my next chicks .


Current flock: 63


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

Really Robin? Mines going on year 8. Spent the first three years never shutting off while I had iguanas, then I repurposed it for chicks. Maybe it's the brand?


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## anakonia (Mar 23, 2014)

The chickens sometimes go right up to the light bulb with no harm (it is just a 40 watt bulb). I've done this for years and never had one catch fire yet. Lol ! I guess I really shouldn't joke bout that because if that really happened that would upset me terribly and I'd probably cry. Anyways they do a good job of deciding just how much heat they want or don't want and have done fine. I had issues with one chick pecking at the others years ago and even the red bulb though it curbed the picking it didn't stop it. I have a red bulb if I need it. 


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Fiere said:


> Really Robin? Mines going on year 8. Spent the first three years never shutting off while I had iguanas, then I repurposed it for chicks. Maybe it's the brand?


I wondered the same thing. I don't have them any longer and no longer brood chicks so I can't even tell you which ones they were.


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## piglett (Jun 21, 2012)

Fiere said:


> Really Robin? Mines going on year 8. Spent the first three years never shutting off while I had iguanas, then I repurposed it for chicks. Maybe it's the brand?


 i use a 25watt & a 40 watt bulb in my 3' long bathroom brooder
i have to buy good bulbs not the junk that is made in china that's always on sale at wally world. i hear rough service bulbs that are used in drop lights work well but never used one myself


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

Anakonia, the red bulbs will not stop pecking. They stop blood from becoming visible leading to cannibalism. The pecking is due to a host if other factors and a red bulb will do little to stop them, so no, you won't notice a difference in pecking when using a red bulb unless they are pecking due to stress from inadequate sleep. 

Red bulbs are better than white because they do not interrupt sleep cycles, they are also better than white if you are brooding in a barn or what have you because they are an infrared heat not a radiant heat and therefor drafts are not as big an issue, with in-house setups infrared vs radiant doesn't make a lick of difference. I use solid sided boxes for brooding and brood in the house, so the ceramic bulb which transmits no light works perfectly for me and my chicks. 

Use what ever you are comfortable in using, but also know the pros and cons of your method.


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## anakonia (Mar 23, 2014)

Thanks for the info. I will check out the ceramic. I don't know what the deal was with that chick that pecked at the others but it never stopped even as it aged it was a problem chicken and I didn't keep it long. I am limited on funds right now and have to use what I have at hand, but I will check out the ceramic for the future. I learned something new today and I am always open to that. 


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Well, I remember when I got started so over the top that the brooder had to be special because they were chicks and depending on me to get it right. I don't remember how many hatched later that changed, got a cage? Use it. Turned out to work so much better than solid sided brooders since the chicks saw me coming and didn't see the ingrained predator from the sky like with solid sided brooders.

There was a study done about the effect that lights had on poultry. I read this years ago so forget the details. They found some colors could encourage blindness, some encouraged or retarded growth. Please don't ask which does what because I quite frankly don't remember. But I did decide I was safe using red.


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## anakonia (Mar 23, 2014)

Robin416 
Didn't think about that (air born predator). Always used cages. I like seeing the chicks and interacting with them through out the day through the cage giving them bits of food and cages is what I have on hand. 


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## anakonia (Mar 23, 2014)

Lol ! I mean (a ingrained predator)


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That's what I remember so clearly, how frightened they were whenever I looked over the top of the brooder. Even having it on the floor where I could be seen easier didn't seem to make it better for them. And reach in to pick one up after that? They became a solid bunch of squirming bodies trying to escape the thing that was coming at them. 

Using the cage was fun for me and so much easier on them in the fright area.


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## anakonia (Mar 23, 2014)

Makes sense what you said about the coming from the top bothering them. 
I just moved mine to the other cage. This one is better but when they were smaller they could slip through the cage wire. They can't now. 


























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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Cages are so versatile. If conditions are not just right you can cover the cage to hold in warmth, you can use the cover to adjust temps pretty darned easily.


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