Serious chicken math misunderestimation! Help

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Mon May 16, 2016 7:00 pm

OK so I admit I overdid the hatch- but really I was NOT expecting this many to hatch and I got more than twice as many chicks as I expected. So, I have 93 chicks in my spare bedroom. They were supposed to go out into the new barn coop. I put the 27 older ones out there today, I blocked off part of the coop to make a nice brooder with solid walls- and the chicks were too cold so I had to bring them back in. The chicks will be two and a half to- 3 weeks old this weekend. They were really supposed to be out by 2 weeks but it's been too cold and now we are having this cold snap again.
Space is getting to be a premium in the bedroom and they are in multiple totes and cardboard boxes that I have attached together with tunnels. I have 3 heat lamps going, so far no problems but the chicks are getting to their spazzy stage where whenever they see something from above they panic. So I have to do something very soon. That and the chick dust is getting problematic. I can keep the smell down by replacing all the bedding daily but it's still rather uncivilized.
I thought I was being clever by hatching all the chicks at once so I'd have only one age group to deal with , but it seems to have backfired.
What can I do to make the barn more cozy? I tried one heat lamp, 250 watts, they were cold, the thing was a foot away from the floor and the chicks were standing under it . They all had popsicle toes. The barn is like a glacier, it's only around 5 degrees C in there right now. I don't think all 3 heat lamps would have been enough for all the chicks.
I was planning on putting the older chicks down there first, then spreading out the chicks in the bedroom better, to give them a few more days indoors so they could go out into the coop at 2 weeks. But it seems too cold down there even for the older chicks.
I'm wondering if some sort of "roof" over the brooder area would help keep the heat in?
Any ideas what I can do? I only have some plywood sheets, no sheet metal I can use. I REALLY would like them to be in the barn soon! Other than gutting the bedroom and turning that into a coop........ nah.......

Post by **WLLady** » Mon May 16, 2016 7:08 pm

Do you have any straw or hay bales-small squares? Otherwise make a space lined with walls of cardboard boxes and put 2 heat lamps in....something about 4x4 feet walls high enough to stopp all drafts and heat lamps hung to be below to top of the walls. That should keep it warmer. The killers in the barns are drafts. Cut those and you can make a space very toasty.

My favorite brooder is 12 inches tall walls with welded wire lid laid over and a saddle pad or horse blanket covering half with a brooder plate under. Theyre toasty and it keeps water liquid in there to -10c easily.

Jaye · Post by **Jaye** » Mon May 16, 2016 7:17 pm

Do you have a garage? Access to free pallets to use as enclosure fence? You could put lots of straw down in your barn, and go 19th early 20th century and heat up bricks, clay pots, mason jars full of water, hot water bottles, that sort of thing. Do you have an electric heating pad? There are lots of DIY ECO Glows out there that are made from heating pads. I will see if I can find some again for you. Sorry I can't be more help, but I'm not exactly an experienced chicken keeper, and have never incubated any chicks. Ooh, WLLady just posted - yay! She'll know what to do.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Mon May 16, 2016 9:39 pm

Thanks WLL and Jaye. No straw bales but I have some plywood. The walls of the brooder are about 3'tall, solid, I have lots of brooding lamps, I think I need some kind of roof to keep the heat in -it looked like the heat was going straight up out of the brooder - but something non combustible? I'll try to cover half with plywood and see how that goes.

Post by **poultry_admin** » Mon May 16, 2016 9:59 pm

The more difficult to catch fire, the better. Plywood, solid wood is certainly better than cardboard.
We got some shipments from amazon that had cardboard with combustion resistant stuff impregnated. If you have that, that should do as well.
If you are worried, you can always cover the lid in aluminum foil. It will act as a flame retardant. You will need much more heat to get it to go.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Mon May 16, 2016 10:03 pm

poultry_admin wrote:QR_BBPOST The more difficult to catch fire, the better. Plywood, solid wood is certainly better than cardboard.
We got some shipments from amazon that had cardboard with combustion resistant stuff impregnated. If you have that, that should do as well.
If you are worried, you can always cover the lid in aluminum foil. It will act as a flame retardant. You will need much more heat to get it to go.

Oh good! I do have lots of tin foil.

kenya · Post by **kenya** » Tue May 17, 2016 3:48 am

Yes I moved some of mine to the garage, you really need to cover it to keep in the heat, lots of shavings as bedding helps keep their toes warm.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Tue May 17, 2016 8:52 am

Thanks Kenya, I have the floor pretty well insulated, with plywood and EVA foam panels and lots of shavings (I'm being cheap using the McFeeter's shavings, since I can't separate out the chick manure from the bedding and it all has to get dumped with each cleaning). So today I'm going to scrounge for a roof.

Doug The Chickenman · Post by **Doug The Chickenman** » Tue May 17, 2016 10:33 am

This is why they make bathtubs in your bathroom.
Works even better when they are ducks.

Post by **WLLady** » Tue May 17, 2016 10:38 am

i had mentioned a bath tub as a brooder/sick pen just recently....hm....wonder which thread that was in.....