The Chickens are coming, The chickens are coming!

Long before I made the move to the Homestead, I knew that I wanted chickens! All kinds and lots of them!
I read a post over at skymindedandevergrowing.blogspot.com about the niffy Brooder that Tool Lady had built for their new chicks. And I knew that I had to build one.
With a few tweaks this is what I came up with!

Here it is in all it's newness! The thing I did here that was different then what "Tool Lady did, was I put legs on it to raise it up enough to slide the tray underneath. And all the dimensions are fit to the tray. As you can see, I even have the heat lamp in place!

The tray came from one of the Rabbit cages I got. Didn't need for the Rabbits. It is 2' square and about 3" deep.

The floor is 1/4" Hardware Cloth stapled to a wooden frame that drops right in. And to remove it, I bent a couple nails into hooks and it lifts right out!

While the little ones are....Well LITTLE, I will cover the floor with newsprint to keep their little feet from getting caught in the wire flooring.

And cover that with a layer of wood chips. I will just remove the newsprint and let the chips and poop fall into the tray. Slide it out, dump it in the garden, reinstall the tray and reload the floor. Later when they are bigger, I will leave out the full sheet of newsprint and only place it in a corner to give the little tike's a comfortable place to sleep.

So Bee Girl, If you or Tool Lady are reading this, What do ya think? See I do learn somethings from reading your Blog! I used one of my favorite tools building this! A "Pocket Hole Jig". The floor frame and walls are held together with Pocket Screws.

All I have to do now is get a feeder and water bottle......And of course the CHICKS! And I will be getting them first thing in the morning!
Next building project....Chicken Coop for grownups!
Tonight I will go to sleep counting EGGS!
Tom