There's my brooder (coop like housing for baby chickens), brand spanking new from Wal-Mart...on sale after Christmas for $15! A 45-gallon plastic tote (on wheels)! For three chickens...a perfect fit with plenty of extra room to grow in! They only "need" about 6 square inches for the first week or so...each.
Can't just seal them in...so I made a top for it using Hardware cloth (1/2" galvanized steel mesh) and some pine 1"x2" lumber. I cut all of these pieces using my dremel tool while sitting on my couch in the living room!
Lacing the mesh on was the hardest part! I ended up drilling holes through the wood and using the steel "string" that came wrapped around the mesh to attach it to the new lid. This thing holds our 20 pound cat with no issues! Panel nails hold all the wood together.
Then came the babies!
Clyde (smaller & darker, on the left) and Henrietta (larger, lighter, & on the right), my Silver Laced Wyandottes (SLW)! Freshly home from the ordeal of being shipped through the US Postal Service! (And being forgotten about by the person at the PO responsible for calling for them to be picked up by the feed store.) These gals have attitude already at 2-3 days old!
And our Plymouth Barred Rock (BR), who as of right now doesn't have a name...but I'm leaning toward Gertrude. It's growing on me...but I haven't got a straight answer out of my boyfriend on this one yet. He didn't get a choice with the other two...I named them using nicknames my Dad gave my sister and I as children! The chicks should all be girls, that's what I ordered anyway!
Chicks do not still still for the camera at all! But, I'm glad to see they are be-bopping around the brooder and not acting too hot or too cold! It is really hard to tell though with only three of them...they tend to move as a pack, lol. No deciding the temp is off by where these gals are! Since they aren't panting and are eating and drinking...I'm guessing they're okay with the temps though! Tomorrow starts day 2 of my chicken adventure!
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