We have hardly gotten (relatively) settled and we have started getting the barn populated. Nathan outfitted one of the stalls in the barn as a brooder. He put in a short plywood wall (removable for ease of cleaning), attached hinged frames with hardware cloth for lids, and hooked up two new electrical outlets to the wall. Instead of using the traditional heat lamp, we decided to go with a large heating “plate” for the birds to nestle under to keep warm. It works well so far, and a good thing too – it’s getting cold at night these days!
Add some pine shavings, feeders and waterers, and we were ready for our new chicks! Here we have 75 new baby chicks; 50 Cornish Cross and 25 Rhode Island cockerels for meat. What excitement there was to go to the post office and pick them up! You can just see it on the kids’ faces. C and Princess #2 especially love holding the “baby chickies.”
The Brooder Box, sans chicks
sundancefarmin.com 