A few weeks ago when I was getting ready for the new chicks I made them a nice little hover brooder. I got the basic idea from Bruce King’s hover brooder, but mine’s only 3’x3′ because I was a bit short of a full sheet.
The hover brooder was working great until I went out to check on the chicks this evening. The brooder was dark, and both bulbs were on the ground outside. All the chicks were huddled together underneath.
It looks like the little buggers got feisty and decided it would be great fun to jump on top of the heat lamps. Natrually, the heat lamps are not designed to support roosting chicks, so they broke off at the base.
Fortunately, these bases were much easier to remove from their sockets than some I’ve dealt with lately.
To prevent any further chicken-stupidity I added one little modification to the brooder. Two bits of hardware cloth now wrap around the bulb and socket to prevent any chicks from getting on top of the bulb.
