When a mama hen can’t be used to raise your chicks, that means you are responsible for providing them with a safe and protected area in which to grow for the first few weeks of their life. A brooder can provide the perfect oasis if it is set up in the correct way. There are a few key items that every brooder should have and that all chicks need in order to grow healthy and strong! You also need to design the brooder in a way that it will be safe and easy for your chicks to navigate. This guide on how to set up a brooder for chicks will help you be prepared for raising a healthy and happy homestead brood!

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The Brooder Basics

Brooders can come in all shapes and sizes. You can either make your own or buy a pre-built brooder. No matter what shape or size a brooder is, there are a few key essentials that every brooder must have:

• adequate space– allow at least 6 square inches of space per chick for the first week, then increase the space as they grow
• heat– provide a reliable and safe heat source for the chicks
• escape proof- make sure there are no holes or escape routes for little chicks to sneak through
• protection- the brooder should provide ample protection from predators (such as cats, dogs, and snakes)
• no drafts– drafts can easily chill a chick and may also indicate an entrance for predators
• good ventilation– this allows good air exchange so that old, stale air can be replaced with fresh, oxygenated air
• moisture protection- be sure that no moisture can condense or form in the brooder which can encourage bacteria to grow
• litter- proper litter is essential for raising healthy chicks
• light- chicks need light in order to be able to see their food and water
• feed and water- as with all animals, chicks require the proper food and a good source of fresh water daily

Now that you know what a good brooder must have, let’s take a look at how you can set up the brooder so that it meets all the needs of your new baby chicks!

Brooder Shape & Layout

How your brooder is shaped can affect the safety of your chicks. Brooders with tight or sharp corners can present a hazard. When chicks are cold or get scared they tend to group together and pile on top of each other. The chick, or chicks, at the bottom risk getting suffocated. Sharp corners provide ample opportunities for a pile up to occur. Octagon shaped or circle brooders eliminate the risk of any corner piling.

That being said, I have used a rectangle brooder ever since I started raising chicks. The only time I had a problem was when I set up my brooder improperly. I placed the Ecoglow right along an edge in the brooder. The chicks piled up underneath the Ecoglow and along the edge of the brooder and one of the chicks ended up getting suffocated.

That leads me to mention how important brooder layout is. Make sure there is plenty of space between the elements in the brooder and the brooder sides. Chicks should be able to walk all the way around any element in the brooder. Eliminate any areas where chicks could get caught or pile on top of each other!

Ensuring that your brooder has plenty of space and is adequately heated can also help prevent chicks from huddling together.

Choosing a Heat Source for the Brooder

A chick that has just hatched is used to the high heat and humidity of the hatching conditions, whether it be from in an incubator or under a mother hen. A brooder should provide supplemental heat so that the chicks don’t get chilled upon being moved from the incubator (or from under a mother hen) to the brooder.

Chicks need a temperature of 95°F for the first week of their life. Baby chicks cannot control their own body temperature for the first few days of their life because of their loose, fluffy down feathers. That’s why monitoring the temperature in the brooder is so important.

The brooder temperature can be decreased by about 5°F every week afterward. However, you should be observing your chicks to see just exactly how much heat they need. The most accurate way to monitor the heat levels in the brooder are to simply observe your chicks. Watch the chicks behavior to see if they are getting over heated or are too cold. Chicks that crowd around a heat source are too cold, chicks that are spread out away from the heat source are too hot. Content chicks are evenly spaced out in a brooder.

Other factors to observe include the noises that the chicks are making and the presence of health issues, like pasty butt. Loud, distressed cheeps can mean the chicks are cold. Increased cases of pasty butt can indicate overheating or chilling.

Chicks no longer need supplemental heat when they have grown in their first set of feathers. There are two methods of providing heat for baby chicks: a heat lamp or an Ecoglow.

Heat Lamps

Heat lamps are more dangerous and also use up more electricity. Chicks can also become easily overheated with the use of heat lamps. Overheating can cause pasty butt. Pasty butt is what happens when poop blocks the vent. This condition could eventually kill the chick. However, heat lamps are a popular choice since they are often cheaper to buy and can easily be found in many farm stores.

If you do use a heat lamp, be sure it is securely fastened about 18 inches above the brooder floor. A heat lamp guard should also be placed over the bulb to prevent a fire hazard (but does not eliminate a fire hazard).

Make sure you use a red bulb and not a white bulb in the lamp. Red light will help prevent cannibalism and pecking and is a softer light. Move the heat lamp closer or further away from the brooder floor to change the temperature of the brooder. Keep a digital thermometer near the floor of the brooder near the heat source to monitor brooder temperature.

Ecoglows (Radiant Heaters)

Ecoglows are more expensive to purchase initially, but they do use less electricity, which can make them a better investment in the long run. They are also not a fire hazard. The Ecoglow is similar to the mother hen in that is sits low to the ground and chicks and can run underneath it whenever they want. It can be raised to accommodate the growing chicks.

An Ecoglow is a type of radiant heater specifically designed for using in the brooder. I use the Brinsea Ecoglow and have found that it works great, however, there are other brands of radiant heaters that are also made for raising chicks. To keep the chicks from pooping on top of the Ecoglow, I cover it with cling wrap. The new version of the Brinsea Ecoglow comes with a plastic cover that can easily be washed or replaced.

You will need to ensure that the brooder is still well lit during the day when using a radiant heater since the heater doesn’t produce any light. An additional light placed near the brooder or keeping the brooder in a naturally well-lit room can usually suffice. Chicks can have a more natural day and night sleep cycle when a radiant heater is used in the brooder. Just make sure you turn off the extra light source at night too after all the chicks have found their way under the heater.

I use the Brinsea Ecoglow 20 Chick Brooder. For a more comprehensive comparison of these two heat sources, check out Ecoglow vs Heat Lamp: a comparison.

Best Litter for the Brooder

Litter is the substrate you place on the floor of the brooder to manage droppings and moisture. Proper litter and litter management is essential to keeping harmful bacteria from multiplying and causing disease in the brooder. The litter that you use in the brooder will change as the chicks grow. Here is a simple schedule to follow when changing brooder litter as your chicks grow:

Day 1-5:

Paper towel makes for a handy litter for the first few days of raising chicks. It cannot be accidentally ingested (like pieces of wood shavings) and it is also easy to remove and replace as it gets dirty. I like to use 2 layers of paper towel to make replacing the top layer simple without getting the brooder floor dirty.

1st Week on Up:

After the first week, it will be a good idea to move to a more absorbent and deeper litter, like wood shavings. The chicks will be growing quickly and making bigger messes than what the paper towel litter can handle. There are several other types of litter that can be used after paper towel, but I prefer large flake pine wood shavings. Do not get fine wood shavings, as these could cause respiratory problems and are more easily ingested. Also avoid cedar shavings which may present health issues.

(Optional) 4th Week on Up:

If you don’t want to use wood shavings for the entire time of raising your chicks, you may consider switching to construction grade sand after the chicks are 4 weeks old. Construction grade sand contains various size particles of sand and allows for good drainage, moisture absorption, and is easy to clean. However, sand should not be used sooner than 4 weeks of age because it does not insulate the brooder very well and can make it hard for chicks to stay warm.

Food & Water in the Brooder

Like all baby animals, chicks need a daily supply of nutritious food and fresh water. Unlike other baby animals though, chicks do not necessarily need food right after they hatch. The yolk sac that they absorbed in their egg can provide them with enough nutrition to last for up to 2 days before they have to eat. This is why baby chicks can be mail shipped without food and water. However, it is best to get the chicks eating and drinking at least within 24 hours after they hatch.

Always make sure the chicks drink before they eat. This can help prevent pasty butt by ensuring their is moisture in the digestive system to break down the food. Giving them some sugar water during the first day can help give their system a good boost. You can also add probiotics to their water for the first week to help them develop a good immune system.

Chicks need to be fed a chick starter feed for the first few weeks of their life. Starter feed contains all the essential nutrients for the chicks to develop healthy bones and grow at an appropriate rate. The protein level in chick starter is especially important, look for protein percentages around 20-24%.

Drinkers

Chick drinkers come in many different varieties. There are metal and plastic drinkers available at many livestock supply stores or in hatchery catalogs. I like using an automatic watering system that uses water nipples. I screwed the water nipples into a PVC tube. Then I just fill the tube with water and the chicks peck at the nipples to get their water. This method eliminates the possibility of small chicks falling into a drinker and drowning or getting chilled. It can also be a whole lot less messy if your nipples are installed correctly and don’t leak.

When placing your chicks into the brooder, dip each of their beaks into the water or onto the water nipple. This will teach them where the water is and ensure that they get a drink before they start eating.

Drinkers should be….

• easy for the chicks to use
• safe for the chicks (make sure they can’t fall into the water source)
• easy to clean
• functional (provide water and keep the water clean)
• simple to use (they should be easy for you to fill and empty too!)
• adjustable (so you can move the drinker up as the chicks grow)

If you are using an open water source, place some large (clean) pebbles or marbles in the water to make sure it is shallow enough that the chicks won’t drown if they accidentally stumble into the water.

Feeders

Feeders also come in a variety of shapes. Some plastic feeders look similar to the drinkers, others are tray like, and still others are tube shaped.

I use a plastic feeder with a screw on base that has holes in it for the chicks to eat the food through. Sprinkle some food on the ground around the feeder to help the chicks know where to eat. As the chicks grow, I raise the feeder up on blocks to prevent a lot of food from being wasted.

Once they are old enough to start flying up on top of the feeder or tip it over, I switch to a tube feeder. My tube feeder is made from PVC pipe that empties into a bucket with part of the side cut out. I avoid tray feeders as they can be hard to keep clean.

Feeders should….

• keep the food clean and free of droppings
• reduce food wastage
• be adjustable (raise the feeder higher as the chicks grow)
• be easy to clean

For the first week, place your feeder and drinker no more then 2 feet away from your heat source. Make sure both the drinker and the feeder have enough space around them to accommodate the number of chicks you are raising. As a standard, a one quart drinker will be sufficient for up to 25 chicks. For feeders, make sure all the chicks can eat from it at the same time and that it will hold enough food to last them at least 24 hours.

Cleaning the Brooder

Cleaning your brooder often is essential for keeping your chicks healthy. When you are using paper towel, it is easy just to replace the dirty pieces of paper towel with clean ones. I make it a point each morning and evening to clean out dirty paper towels and refill the drinker and feeder for my chicks.

Once the litter gets switched over to wood shavings, I use a small garden shovel to stir the shavings in the morning and evening. I remove any wet or really dirty shavings and put a handful of fresh shavings in if needed. Every couple of weeks I will empty out all the old, dirty wood shavings and replace them fresh shavings.

How often you change out the litter will depend on how many chicks are being raised in the brooder and how big the brooder is. If you can smell ammonia in the brooder, then it is past time for a litter change!

If you switch to sand as a litter, you just need a kitty litter scoop and a bucket for cleaning. Every morning, and sometimes in the evening, droppings should be sifted out of the sand. Any wet chunks of sand should be removed immediately. If you maintain and clean the sand regularly, it won’t need to be replaced throughout the rest of your chicks growing period.

It is always a good idea to empty out and sanitize the brooder after each brood of chicks. This can help bacteria from building up in the brooder and making your next batch of chicks sick. I like to use white vinegar as a sanitizing agent and I always make sure the brooder is completely dry before storing it away.

The Best Brooder…

Providing a safe and clean environment for your chicks will help you raise a happy, healthy, and content homestead brood! The essentials of a proper brooder include: a safe supplemental heat source, absorbent litter, nutritious feed, and fresh water. And it all must be easy to keep clean! Make sure all the brooder essentials are met and you should have a successful time raising chicks on your homestead!

I would love to hear what breeds you are raising, or, if you have any questions, please comment below and I will try and answer them as soon as possible!

For tips on raising your baby chicks, check out my post on 5 Fast Facts for Raising Chicks! Or become a Modern Pioneer with us and get free, exclusive tips delivered right to your inbox!

by Alexa