[Kittencotes]

I have a 20 chick Brinsea eco glow which I normally use in an indoor rabbit cage brooder to start my chicks off before switching them to my big 55 chick brooder in their day time brooding shed, as they grow .

The system has worked fine for a number of years as I usually hatch no more than 12 which enables the small Brinsea to accommodate them in the indoor brooder until their wings start to feather up and the large one keeps them warm at night as they gradually move outdoors but still need heat.   

But this year I will be hatching a slightly larger but slower developing breed and currently have 20 chicks developing in the incubator. So I just wondered if any of you have experience of putting the maximum number of chicks under your brooders and if so, how soon they have tended to out grow it?

 

     

[chrismahon]

We use the same system but have never gone above 12. The figure of 20 given by Brinsea is meaningless really, because whilst you may get that number under it for a few days they will need heat for much longer than that. I think you will need to split your hatch and give each the same or start with the larger unit and switch to heat lamps later.

[Kittencotes]

Thanks for the reply,

 yes I think you are right. I have been toying with buying a medium sized comfort brooder off ebay but in order to have capacity for growing chicks, I end up looking at ones that are not that much smaller than the big Brinsea I think I will just stick the existing plates that I have and the heat lamp options as you suggest. This years hatch is an exception and future clutches wont be as large.

[Kittencotes]

Just thought I would update for anyone who was interested, that I ended up with 17 bantam (ised, not true) chicks who do fit nicely under the 20 chick brooder. I thought that I would give them a try as an experiment in order to answer my own question. But I placed the incubator in a warm room rather than the usual utility room so that any chicks pushed to the edge wouldn't get too cold. And so that I could hear them shout in the night if they got too chilly.

So, 3 days after hatch they fit comfortably under it through the day and take up about 2/3 of it at night when they snuggle up tight. The novelty of the warm room will wear thin for me soon as their digestive system gets into full production, but I recon that the brooder will probably accommodate them for their first week , possibly slightly longer dependent of growth rate, feather development and ambient temp.

I could have got 20 under it as it turns out but only just really and not for long, so I still feel that 12 bantams is a good number for this size brooder but half that number if you are brooding LF  or poults.  .