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Low-Cost Tips For Raising Backyard Chickens
"I had an old cooler without a lid which I converted into a mini brood pen for baby chicks," says Bill Ritz, Burkesville, Ky.
To create a lid, he cut a 55-gal. plastic drum in half lengthwise. The drum lays over the cooler on a wooden frame that extends out. Ritz then cut a 4 by 6 in. hole in one end of the coo
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Low-Cost Tips For Raising Backyard Chickens 28-6-7 "I had an old cooler without a lid which I converted into a mini brood pen for baby chicks," says Bill Ritz, Burkesville, Ky.
To create a lid, he cut a 55-gal. plastic drum in half lengthwise. The drum lays over the cooler on a wooden frame that extends out. Ritz then cut a 4 by 6 in. hole in one end of the cooler for a door made out of scrap wood and wire. A rope attached on each side to a wooden base holds the whole thing together.
A lamp on a dimmer switch and a $3 thermometer make it easy to regulate the temperature inside.
"I can raise 30 chicks inside and keep it at 95 degrees F when it's 30 degrees F outside."
For layer hens, Ritz created egg-laying boxes out of 5-gal. buckets set on their sides on short lengths of 2 by 4's. "I just throw in a little straw or wood chips for bedding," he says.
He cuts a hole in the bottom of each bucket just big enough to grab the eggs. A hinged wood door covers the hole.
Ritz also drilled four 1/4-in. holes in the bottom of each egg-laying bucket for ventilation and drainage.
He has about 60 buckets set up for his 300 chickens.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bill Ritz, 1300 Carter Branch Road, Burkesville, Ky. 42717.
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