Photos of your brooder(s)

[Renae]

I seen atvchick's thread in this forum, and I am going to keep that one in mind, but does anyone else have a *easy* home made brooder that you could post photos of?

tia.

 

[Renae]

Would this be okay to use in the brooder?

Digital Thermometer with Hygrometer for Temperature and Humidity Measurement

 

[atvchick95]

Would this be okay to use in the brooder?

Digital Thermometer with Hygrometer for Temperature and Humidity Measurement

Looks okay to me, is that an indoor /outdoor one? I used have one like that at first til the budgie chewed the wire off now it only works for indoor - but the way I did mine was I put the wire in the brooder, used the "outdoor" temp as the temp in the brooder (if the one you get has a wire that is) then the "inside" temp was my house temp.

the one i use now still has a wire (no i haven't learned my lesson yet lol) but Only gives the temp for inside and the humidity. So all the readings on it is for inside the brooder.

 

[Renae]

Looks okay to me, is that an indoor /outdoor one? I used have one like that at first til the budgie chewed the wire off now it only works for indoor - but the way I did mine was I put the wire in the brooder, used the "outdoor" temp as the temp in the brooder (if the one you get has a wire that is) then the "inside" temp was my house temp.

the one i use now still has a wire (no i haven't learned my lesson yet lol) but Only gives the temp for inside and the humidity. So all the readings on it is for inside the brooder.

Both indoors and outdoors:

Place on a table or hang on the wall, this unit works indoors and out, has a large clear screen and accurately reads both the humidity and the temperature in either Celsius or Fahrenheit. It also has a handy 12 or 24 clock function with an alarm.

I will have to remember that because yep, this one has a wire, lol.

 

[atvchick95]

ooh that one even has an alarm That would come in handy if its loud enough to actually hear

and yep just remember when you want to know your brooder temp your going to be reading the temp for "outside"

it took me a little bit to realize that when I had my 1st one - but back then I was running on little to no sleep so my brain was not functioning right at all lol

 

[Jan]

Yes, that thermometer is fine to use. I've never wanted to do a home made brooder - although I used a heating pad set up for many years but then I had ended up just buyer several of the AviQuarium Brooder Tops by Avitec.com and bought the aquarium to use with the top.

 

[Peanut]

We just bought the Aviquarium and love it except we are not using it for birds since I dont raise them. We were having trouble holding the temp in our homemade incubators for our pups that we raise so we bought one of those and it is working perfectly. Heres a pic of our 2 english bulldog pups that were born yesterday. I love this brooder hood! Its nice to have around in case one of the birds does get sick too.

 

[Renae]

Kelli.

I would get that one if they had them over here, but they don’t so it isn’t an option for me. I have to make do with a home made brooder, I don’t have $700-$1000 to go and spend on a brooder, and I know a lot of breeders who have been using home made brooders for 20+ years of breeding and it has never failed on them and never given them any problems. I don’t see it working any differently, a brooder is a brooder.

I bought a heating pad and the digital thermometer with hygrometer for temperature and humidity measurement last night, just have to wait for them to get here. I gotta go buy a tank & hand-feeding formula, I think that is it. I have a bit before the babies come anyway.

 

[atvchick95]

I thought those hoods were expensive too and it looks like it has heat going the entire length of the hood

the point of the Heating pad is to put it under only Part of the tank, so if the babies get too hot they can move away from the heat , when they need the heat again they can move back over to the heat

having heat the entire length of the brooder I would think would severely defeat this purpose?

I've only been breeding going on 4 years but since I switched to the fish tank Brooder I like it a lot better- my Heat stays where it should , it's a breeze to clean,

I first started with 2 plastic totes, the bottom one had water and a fish tank heater, the top was towels, paper towels and the babies.. lid only over part of it all of it covered with a towel or light blanket and a Lamp (the small desk ones that you can bend to adjust) on the "open" end

My heat would go up and down all day long and go down too low at night . it took me for ever to get the initial heat to the correct temp. if i recall it took about 2 weeks and I didn't have time for that I already had the 2 week old baby!

now with my tank brooder, I just turn the heating pad on high the day before I pull the babies and by the next day its at the right temp - I then turn it to medium and it'll stay the right temp until they grow bigger and i can turn it on low or off when the heat isn't needed any more

 

[Renae]

I am pretty sure you can control the heating with that one. I do like the idea of the heating pad though, because you can put it at one end and babies can go to the other end if need be.

What sort of heating pad is yours? I have done so much googling about heating pads, and on an IRN forum, people have said to get a heating pad that doesn’t have an automatic shut-off, and that you can use the heating pads designed for reptiles?!

I got an idea from someone that breeds birds, they use a heat pad which is called “SnuggleSafe Microwave Heat Pad” (done tons of research on them, they are completely safe) .. the breeder has been using this and it does the job perfectly. It lasts up to 12 hrs when heated up, and it doesn’t cool down, instead it self generates extra heat giving an extended warmth. So $120.00 later, I got one and am going to try it out!

 

[AZReno]

I used a heating pad for a bit and hated it. It was always too hot or too cool, I could never get it to give me a consistant temp. Last year I made a brooder (not my first since the heating pad but my favorite!!) that I love. I used a ceramic reptile heater and a reptile thermostat along with a rheostat to keep the temp consistant. The heater is off to one side and the other side has a ventilation shaft down low for fresh air, the other ventilation is up high near the heat to keep a flow going thru. I raised quite a few clutches in it last year along with several singles and it was wonderful and never failed me on any way. For the first time I was comfortable not having to keep a constant eye on my brooder and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg ) Something I need right now lol What i really love about it is it's dark and quiet which is awesome for my babies )

More pics here
Home Made Lovebird Brooder Boozer's World

 

[Renae]

I used a heating pad for a bit and hated it. It was always too hot or too cool, I could never get it to give me a consistant temp. Last year I made a brooder (not my first since the heating pad but my favorite!!) that I love. I used a ceramic reptile heater and a reptile thermostat along with a rheostat to keep the temp consistant. The heater is off to one side and the other side has a ventilation shaft down low for fresh air, the other ventilation is up high near the heat to keep a flow going thru. I raised quite a few clutches in it last year along with several singles and it was wonderful and never failed me on any way. For the first time I was comfortable not having to keep a constant eye on my brooder and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg ) Something I need right now lol What i really love about it is it's dark and quiet which is awesome for my babies )

More pics here
Home Made Lovebird•Brooder Boozer's World

That is a great brooder, I love it! I really wish I had the money to go out and buy a proper one. Thanks for sharing.

 

[AZReno]

Thanks, but it really was not expensive to make!