DIY Duckling, Gosling, or Chick Brooder

*This post is part three in a multi-post series on raising ducks and geese. If you missed part one, click here. If you missed part two, click here.

When raising ducklings, goslings, or chickens, one of the first things you need to decide is how to brood them. They will need a place where they are safe and can be kept warm for anywhere from three to eight or more weeks of life.

There are several routes you can choose when creating a brooder.

Many people use a large tub or cardboard box as a brooder. This works well if you are brooding two or three ducks or geese, and possibly up to four or five chickens. They grow fast though, and many birds will out grow even the largest plastic tub before they are reading to go into their permanent home. Plus, if you’re anything like me, you want your new fluffy babies to have as much space to run around in as possible.

Other people who are raising a larger number of birds (think 20 or more) build special wood brooding houses or tractors. While this is certainly a nice option for brooding even a smaller flock, it can be time and labor intensive. Plus, if you don’t already have the supplies at home, costly.

What’s a frugal, strapped for time homesteader to do?

Make your own large brooder!

With minimal time and money you can make a large brooder for your new flock. You may even have all the supplies you need at home!

This easy and cheap brooder was created with moving boxes and duct tape. Even if you have none of the supplies at home, the cost will be minimal. I’ve included a cost analysis to purchase the supplies at Home Depot in the supply list below.

For the chicken brooder we stopped there, but since waterfowl love water so much, we added 6 mil plastic to the bottom before adding the shavings. If you have to purchase this, it will increase the cost of your brooder quite a bit. (We have a 100 ft roll from Home Depot that has multiple applications around the homestead, and while expensive is the most frugal way to purchase it.) If we were going to brood the ducks in the garage instead of the living room, we probably would have skipped the plastic liner.

If you are brooding chickens, I HIGHLY recommend using chicken wire to create a cover for the top. Around four or five weeks old baby chickens will be able to fly up out of the brooder, which you don’t want. If you use three foot wire, you may need two pieces to cover the entire top. We did.

Supplies

• 3 or 4 large cardboard boxes  $5.34 – $7.12
• Duct tape  $4.96
• 6 mil plastic (if using. Only recommended for brooding waterfowl in your house) $24.96 for a 10ft x 25ft roll
• Chicken wire (to cover top if you are brooding chickens) $19.93 for a 1in x 3ft x 25ft roll. (You can usually find people getting rid of this on Craigslist or your local buy/trade Facebook group.)
• Box cutters or scissors for cutting everything. Chicken wire will cut with scissors if you don’t have wire cutters.

Total: $56.97 if you bought everything (you may also be able to find cheaper prices in your area)

          $12.08 if you only buy cardboard and duct tape (MUCH cheaper than the largest plastic tote you could purchase.)

Step 1 (Unfortunately I could find no pictures of the building process.)

Cut the cardboard boxes along one seam so that they lay flat in one long piece. For the chicken brooder, we left the top and bottom flaps on the boxes to make it as tall as possible. For the duck brooder, we cut the top flaps off as ducks and geese can’t fly out. Save enough cardboard to cover the bottom of your brooder. This will contain the bedding and make clean up easier.

Step 2

Using duct tape, connect the boxes to each other. You can do a large rectangle, but I recommend a hexagon-type shape. Young chicks can pile on top of each other to keep warm and in 90 degree corners can suffocate the chick on the bottom. Then, tape the cardboard you saved to the bottom of your brooder. You could also sit your brooder on top of a tarp instead.

Step 3 (Optional)

Line the brooder with the 6 mil plastic. Use duct tape to hold it to the sides.

Step 4 (Optional)

If brooding baby chickens, cut the chicken wire to fit over the top of your brooder. You may need to cut two pieces depending on how big you decided to make the brooder. You will want to make sure there is at least 5-6 inches extra chicken wire hanging down on both sides to keep it from popping off.

Congratulations! You’ve built a brooder!

Check back tomorrow for how to set up your newly built brooder.

If you missed part 1 – Our Decision to Get Ducks (and Geese)

If you missed part 2 – DIY Duck Brooder Water Solution