Robert
Plamondon puts his broilers out on pasture at two to three weeks old in
March when his section of Oregon has highs in the mid fifties and lows
in the high thirties — a bit chilly weather to leave youngsters
unprotected. So he developed insulated pasture
hovers that keep the
chicks warm without electricity.
The hovers consist of a
simple wooden frame coated in aluminized bubble insulation, then
suspended from the ceiling. The insulation holds in the chicks’
body heat, so they stay warm enough at night just by huddling together
underneath.
I’ve been researching
ways to keep
chicks warm without electricity, and this hover sounds like
it’s right up my alley. I wonder if the addition of a heating mat,
either on the ground or in the hover itself, would be sufficient to
keep chicks warm at an even younger age?
to keep your chicks healthy? Check out our automatic chicken waterer
which keeps water POOP-free.
That looks like a great idea! My chicks are ready to go out to pasture now – the only thing stopping me is that we have an unruly rooster in the pen at the moment. As soon as I get the chance to ‘process’ him, the chicks can go out and we’ll all be a lot happier.
I almost wish I’d read about this before Mark made our current chick box, although the two seem to have spontaneously arrived at similar designs. Maybe we’ll make a hover for our next set of chicks and see which they prefer?
Good luck with that rooster! Don’t forget to post some more pictures — I’ve been enjoying following along on your blog.