Building a Better Brooder

Do we need more chickens?  No.  Can we resist baby chicks?  No.  We need a restraining order against ourselves.

Brett placed his order for our monthly hay and feed delivery yesterday and then he called me at work.
"The lady at the feed store says they have baby chicks."

Me:  We don't need more chickens.

Brett:  She said they are a rare/endangered breed.

Yeah, Brett knows how to break down my defenses really fast.  I called the feed store, researched the breed (Marans) and called Brett back.  He said he would go down this morning and pick them up.

Marans are a French breed that lay large dark chocolate colored eggs.

Marans eggs in the middle.

They are friendly, cold tolerant, and pretty.  We agreed to buy five: four of the Cuckoo Marans (look like a barred rock) and one Copper Maran (last one she had).

Picture of a Cuckoo Marans

 Then I laid awake in bed all night trying to figure out what to use as a brooder.  I don't have any cardboard boxes laying around that are the right size or any empty tupperware boxes.  In past years, we have used a dog crate and put chicken wire around the outside so they chicks can't squeeze out.  That is a real pain and the last time I did it, without any help from the kids who have flown the nest, I swore I would never ever do it that way again.  It took hours to tie on the chicken wire and hours to take it back off.  The crate wouldn't fit through the door to the chicken pen unless it was collapsed so I couldn't just leave it as is.  Brett said he would build a brooder but that didn't stop me from worrying about what to put the chicks in while he was busy building.

This morning, Brett went down the mountain to Home Depot and bought his brooder building supplies.  Then he went to the feed store and bought the chicks.  While he was gone, I made up a temporary place for them using the container we use to ice drinks when we BBQ in the summer.

Necessity is the mother of invention, right?  It's a pretty sad brooder, I know.

 Brett arrived home with the chicks and we put them in my brooder while he went down to the barn to start building his.  They seemed happy enough, although one did hop up on the edge and start singing like a canary.  Maybe I'll name that one Edith after the French singer Edith Piaf.

As always, Brett built a beautiful brooder.

Thinking about his next move.  He doesn't draw plans; he just does it.

We carried it up to the house from the barn.  The thing weighs a ton.  I think its indestructible.

The chicks seemed happy with their new digs. 

 It's quiet in the mud room now.  The chicks all did that face-plant spread-eagle thing in the straw.  Sound asleep.