Brooder Project for Baby Chicks! Totally re-purposed!

Raising baby chicks is so much fun!  They also tend to grow fast, get messy and stinky quick!  Space is optimal, as is security.

Ive been wanting to build a practical and sturdy chick brooder for quite some time and was able to use a very old wood kitchen cabinet leftover from a barn remodel!  (my moms- not mine!)

This thing had been sitting in an open but covered shed for about 10 years, it had a previous life as a kitchen cabinet!  Its possible it was built in the 60s...  or 80s?  Hard to tell...  the original dwelling is well over 100 years old...  so, who knows!  Super sturdy, solid wood, perfect!

Think it would make a great brooder?  I was confident!






This cabinet was quite dirty, I hosed it out, then scrubbed, hosed and bleached....  until it was clean!

Then I painted it a beautiful grey (leftover paint) and my kiddos helped install the flooring (leftover from a bus project, if you know me you know my old pink bus ;) )



I free-hand sawed out square-ish holes in the doors so i could install hardware cloth (that square chicken wire- its the strongest and with the smallest holes)  Thankfully it was leftover material too, ahh, farm life!




I actually needed help (for the first time on this project) installing those darn doors back on....  hidden hinges made it a 2 person job!

The photo below shows an additional piece of hardware cloth which I installed half-way down, this allows us to open the door without chicks accidentally running out!  This was a last minute discovery and concern, emergencies avoided, phew!

 

AND here it is all done!  I installed a short 2x4 on the back wall so i can hang my heat lamp...  this allows me to hang it at different heights as the babies grow!



A perch was added using a branch...  of course the bottom was filled with wood chips...  easy to clean!  I drilled a hole out the side and covered it with wire which allows the heat lamp cord to be plugged in.



They totally love it!  SO much room now, and the best part?  I can safely keep this on my back porch, no chicken smell in the house, no dust, no mess :)  Happy chickies, happy mommy!

This totally free project took a LOT of hours...  and only a few injuries, but so very worth it!  I can't wait to raise many clutches of chicks here.