Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

I built this brooder last year right on top of an old table. the legs were terrible so I kicked them off before we moved. a couple days ago I pulled it out of the barn, cleaned n sterilized it and then put some real legs on it. I found a nice spot in the shop for it, no more chicks in the house!!! now thats exciting but I dont really want dust in the shop either HAHA! the kids are right bummed out about that but I reassured them that they can come n see the chicks anytime they want and they cheered up!

So im all about automation, especially since I go back to work on friday and wont be around much during the day anymore. Iv been working on an adjustable auto waterer all day it feels like. I started with a completely different design n after breaking about 4 poultry cups I sat down and completely rethought exactly what I was trying to accomplish here, I came up with this idea. its fully adjustable as the chicks grow. I pressure tested everything and it works perfect. i still need to attach it to the bucket, ill do that tommorow.

So I had about 100 of these poultry cups, they are from China, very cheap but work surprisingly really well. I use them on my main quail hutch, they have been in use for about 8 months and I never imagined that they would survive the winter. but they did and not one of them have broken in anyway. As soon as the bucket thawed out the water flowed and filled up the cups. they dont take much to set up, hook up or maintain. HA the ones I broke I was trying to manipulate into a circle... they dont like that added stress very much! LOL.

tommorows project is feeders.

have a good night!

Fantastic! How many chicks will that hold? What are you using for a heat source?

That's awesome, Al!
What will you use as bedding?
Oh, and are congrats in order re: going back to work?

Thanks Robbie, iv never done the math to figure out what it should hold. the brooder is 48"x32", instead i will either split the group up or move to a bigger brooder when it gets too crowded. this year I will be starting all my chicks in this brooder n moving them out to bigger brooder that I havent built yet. I have a truck topper im looking to turn into a dedicated chick coop. that will be the next step. I also want to close in the bottom between the legs and make that another brooder as well.

I heat with 100w globe rough use bulbs, 2 of them in this case, one on each side about 8" from the ground. I pay attention to the chicks behaviour, if it seems to hot I will put one of the bulbs on low.

I use shavings on the ground and in between batches I will clean n sterilize with vinagar, hose it out then let it dry in the sun.

Thanks Jaye!

That is very cool, I like the accessibility, when your bendy parts stop working it's a huge advantage.

Thanks OC! I have to admit its a lil difficult to get to the wingnuts to adjust the height of the water. time will tell just how difficult it will really be full of chicks! HAHA.

I like how you re-purposed a drawer face to use as the height adjuster for the chick water cups.

Nice Al! Thanks for sharing. My husband is going to be building a brooder very soon. Maybe this will give him another idea to consider.

Thanks Jaye and Muffin! I really appreciate it! well Jaye I must have done a really good job as that "drawer front" was actually one of the cut outs from the doors, I had cut it down and used it on my pedestal plucker that I recently tore apart. I luckily found the handle in one of my junk drawers! hahaha Thanks!!!

So the water cups passed the test! they did not leak at all!

YEEEHAAA! okay... now feeders!!!

Very nice setup Al