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Home » Animal and Land » Chickens » Easy DIY Chick Brooder

Easy DIY Chick Brooder

03/15/22 | Animal and Land, Chickens

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Easy DIY Chick brooder. Fast and easy to make, super simple to clean, and the perfect home for your little chicks!Easy DIY Chick brooder. Fast and easy to make, super simple to clean, and the perfect home for your little chicks!
This post was originally published on May 24, 2016.

Easy DIY Chick brooder made out of a plastic tote. Fast and easy to make, super simple to clean, and the perfect home for your little chicks!

When it comes to animal housing I have three main rules: Safe, sturdy, and easy to clean. Which is why my DIY chick brooder is pretty much the easiest thing you’ll ever make for your farm!

Easy DIY chick brooder

And, of course, it’s easy to clean. Because let’s get real here: Ain’t nobody got time to clean something that takes ten years to get apart, or is too heavy, or is awkward…you get the point. You’re much more likely to clean something if it’s easy, right?!

The reason my brooder is so easy is that it’s just a large plastic tote. Mine is about 18 inches wide, 36 long and 18 deep. But the size all depends on how many chicks you want to have. I have 5 in mine right now, I could probably raise 8 in this chick brooder.

How to Clean a Chick Brooder Box

  1. Remove heat source.
  2. Remove chicks and place them in a safe, contained area.
  3. Remove feeder and waterer.
  4. Remove dirty bedding.
  5. Spray out with a mild soap and water.
  6. Dry thoroughly.
  7. Replace bedding, food, and water.
  8. Add chicks back into the brooder.
  9. Replace heat source.
Laced wyandotte chicks

What is Needed in a Chicken Brooder

  • Food
  • Water
  • Heat source (heat lamp or heat plate)
  • A bit of room to move around.
  • My favorite chicken keeping supplies (affiliate link)
lid of brooder

How to Make This Chicken Brooder Box

  1. Cut the interior of the lid out.
  2. Drill holes around the edges.
  3. Secure wire to the top with zip ties.
  4. Cut a slit in the handle to hold the heat lamp secure, if using.
  5. Add 1-2 inches of bedding in the bottom.
  6. Add in your waterer and food.
  7. Add in your chicks!

Chicks and Cedar Shavings

I bed the brooder with straw or pine shavings. With chicks, stay away from cedar shavings for bedding. The strong aromatic oils can irritate their respiratory tracts and cause permanent damage.

Chicks in brooder

Chick Waterer for a Chick Brooder

The waterer I use is a nipple drinker made for chicks. The only thing that makes it different from a nipple drinker made for hens is that it’s small.

You can also just order nipples with screw tops and attach them to water bottles. How is that for easy! If you use one, you will have to teach your chicks to drink out of it.

Teach Chicks to Drink Out of a Nipple Waterer

  1. Gently hold a chick up to the waterer.
  2. Tap its beack gently against the waterer until one drop of water comes out.
  3. Wait for the chick to drink.
  4. Repeat with 2-3 other chicks.
  5. Observe to make sure at least 3 chicks are drinking out of the waterer.
  6. The rest will follow and copy their flock mates.
chick nipple drinker
Waterer attachment

How to Mount a Waterer in a Chicken Brooder

  1. Drill holes in the tote slightly narrower than the waterer (keeps is secure).
  2. Loop a zip tie through them.
  3. Hooked the wire holder through the zip ties.
  4. The waterer will slide in through the top.
Chicks at waterer

This is waterer is working SO much better than just using a traditional on-the-ground waterer. I always had issues with spilling and soiling the water literally seconds after changing it. I just use a basic feeder, nothing special. It does get pooped in, but such is life with chicks.

Since writing this post originally, I have purchased and use a heat plate. I like the heat plate for safety, but it can hide sick chicks or they can be reluctant to leave it. Be sure to check under it regularly and make sure everyone is moving about, eating, and drinking.

Chick feeder

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Chick brooder made out of a Rubber Maid tub. Fast and easy to make, super simple to clean, and the perfect home for your little chicks
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DIY Chick Brooder

Easy DIY Chick brooder made out of a Rubber Maid tub. Fast and easy to make, super simple to clean, and the perfect home for your little chicks!
Prevent your screen from going dark
Keyword brooder box for chicks, chick brooder, chicken brooder
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 1 brooder
Author Alli
Get ad-free recipes in PrepearLearn more about Prepear here!
Cost 15

Equipment

  • Drill
  • 20 zip ties
  • box cutter
  • chicken wire

Ingredients

  • 1 plastic tote
  • 1 feeder
  • 1 waterer
  • 1 heat source heat lamp or heat plate
  • shavings or straw not cedar

Instructions

  • Cut the interior of the lid out.
  • Drill holes around the edges.
  • Secure wire to the top with zip ties.
  • Cut a slit in the handle to hold the heat lamp secure, if using.
  • Add 1-2 inches of bedding in the bottom.
  • Add in your waterer and food.
  • Add in your chicks!

Video

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Comments | 1 comment

« Raising Chickens for Eggs
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Trackbacks

  1. What do you feed baby chickens? • Longbourn Farm says:
    January 5, 2023 at 11:20 PM

    […] brought home your own day-old chicks from the local feed store, you have them set up in a proper brooder with a heat source (or with a broody hen) and now you need to know what to feed them. You’re in the right place! […]

    Reply

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Hi, Friend!


Alli Kelley is an Agriculture focused entrepreneur. She runs a successful food blog, a consulting and coaching business, and all the social media connected with an online presence.

She also owns and operates a small, diversified farmstead where she enjoys home improvement projects, experimenting in the garden, creating profitable mini businesses on the farm, and of course, riding her big grey horse, Zane.
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