Easy Brooder Setup For Chicks

I use a Rubbermaid. This is a 40-gallon. It's by the light. There's a natural light right there. This is pine shavings, okay? You don't want to use like hay or, or straw because the manure doesn't fall all the way down and can get on them. They value heat more than anything else. They'll, they'll make sure they get warm before anything else. This shaving is in 8 inches. I like to do at least 8 inches, that way I don't have to change it out. I love to use these quart jar fittings for the waterer and the feeder. I do what you call magic water— what I like to call magic water— in this quart water for the first few rounds. And that is 2 pressed garlic cloves, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, and a half a cup of honey. And that's in a half a gallon. And so then I took it from the half a gallon jar and poured it into this quart jar, and that way I'll have 2 cycles of it. I have fermented this feed. And this is what that looks like, guys. I just put the dry feed in there. You need to get a starter feed and then pour water over it about 4 inches. What you want to happen is that there no air get to that feed, and that's what allows it to ferment. It helps boost their immune system, just gets them off to a really good start. Grit is little tiny rocks. I like to go down to the creek and get creek sand and small rocks. This helps them digest it. We've just put it in this little tiny bowl. Putting the feeder and the water on this— let's call it a dirt trap. Was a game changer because look, they otherwise— they, they're out here on the, on the 1/2-inch wire mesh getting their water and food, and they're not tracking this shaving into the water and food. If you just put this— the water and the feeder out on this shaving— they're going to track that stuff into it. This is in the open, and that's cool. It won't be long before they are jumping up here, and that's fine if they want to get up here and look out and have some dinner with us. That's nice. You like that? You like eating dinner with us? Sure they do. But the problem is they, they end up perching like this. Yeah, holy chicken squat, on your kitchen floor. I created this. It's half-inch wire mesh on a frame, and then that way the dinos jump— don't jump out, and the chiddlers don't grab in.