Quail brooder: dimensions and drawings, how to do it yourself according to the scheme

Using a brooder for quail makes it possible to achieve the most comfortable conditions for their normal development. On sale there are many options for ready-made devices. If desired, and in order to save the budget, a poultry brooder can be made by hand. The process is not complicated, the main thing is to prepare the material, the tool and follow a certain algorithm of actions.

What is it for

A quail brooder is a wooden structure in the form of a rack, a box. Both polycarbonate and fiberboard sheets can be used as a material.Inside this miniature poultry house there is equipment to maintain an optimal microclimate for the bird. Both heating and lighting are provided here to exclude the possibility of hypothermia of newborns and quail.

Important! In order for the chicks to quickly adapt to the external environment and not get sick, darkness or very bright light, dirt inside the brooder should not be allowed.

In addition to providing the chicks with the conditions necessary to develop strong immunity, the brooder performs another important task. It helps to increase the productivity of laying hens.

Pros of a homemade brooder

You can buy a ready-made brooder either in the market or in a pet store. Devices for keeping quails of their own manufacture fully meet the requirements of a high-quality poultry house, if the assembly technology has been followed and materials that are safe for chicks have been chosen. Among the positive aspects of using a homemade brooder, it is worth noting:

Budget. Assembling a rack for keeping poultry at home is not difficult and inexpensive in terms of finances. On the farm, almost everyone has the necessary materials: boards, fasteners.
Possibility to optimize the poultry house for specific conditions. Depending on the number of heads, the owner himself decides what size device is required. It is also easier to equip a brooder with drinkers and feeders on your own, based on convenience for quails and the owner. Lighting and heating issues are also decided at your own discretion.
An opportunity to reduce stress for quails by equipping the house with drinkers and drip feeders.
Easy to make at home.
No need for specific assembly skills.

Keeping quails in do-it-yourself bunkers is just as promising as in factory-made poultry houses. They fully provide comfortable conditions for chicks to stay in them.

Basic Requirements

For the normal growth and development of young animals, you need to use brooders that are able to maintain an optimal microclimate for them inside. Quality devices meet the following requirements:

Stability and reliability. The poultry house should not tip over during operation, so as not to injure the young.
Sufficient lighting. In case of a lack of light, the young growth will not be able to develop normally, it will start to hurt. In the first weeks of life, chicks are especially sensitive to the duration and intensity of the light flux. For speedy growth, rapid adaptation to the external environment, quails need red light.
Heating. Thanks to efficient heating, an optimal microclimate is maintained in the poultry house. Infrared heating devices are best suited for these purposes. Their main advantage is the absence of burns in the younger generation.
Proper ventilation. In order for fresh air to enter the brooder, moisture to evaporate well, and the smell to go away, effective ventilation should be provided in it. The presence of drafts adversely affects the he alth of young animals.

Using devices that fully meet the requirements, you can count on the promise of the younger generation.

Applied materials

Given that the brooder will be used for a long time, when assembling it, special attention should be paid to the choice of materials. The design should be strong and durable, for:

Case It is not rational to use sheets of cardboard. This type of material does not allow wet cleaning in the house, processing with disinfectants. In addition, the cardboard is not fireproof, does not have the proper physical strength. Wood is perfect for assembling the case, the thickness of the boards is 2.5 cm.If plywood is used for a brooder, then its thickness should be 7-10 mm. All components of the structure must be treated with protective preparations for wood. If it is planned to use fiberboard, then the frame, the base are assembled first, and then the slabs are finished.
Fine-mesh galvanized mesh is suitable for the bottom. After two weeks, the chicks can be transferred to a common enclosure, where the mesh size is 10 × 10 mm. For a removable bottom, it is better to use a mesh with a mesh size of 5 × 5 mm when keeping newborn quails.
Heating. To heat young animals in a brooder, it is worth installing infrared-type devices. Mirror lights are often used. For the convenience of adjusting the temperature regime, an electronic thermostat is used.
Pallet should choose plastic, galvanized. These materials are easy to clean, easy to use, reliable. Sheets of plywood can be used here, but it will be extremely difficult to remove litter from them. The main problem is the persistence of an unpleasant odor that cannot be removed.

How to make a brooder with your own hands

The optimal dimensions of the device for keeping chicks are 70x50x70 cm, the internal height is 40 cm. Its manufacturing process consists of the following steps:

Preparing the plan and cutting out the details for the brooder. It is necessary to make two wooden sides (48x50x1 cm), a rear partition, a roof and a bottom (70x50x1 cm), doors (40 × 44.5 × 0.5 cm). Process blanks with sandpaper.

According to the scheme, make an opening in the roof for a lighting fixture. It should not be in the center, otherwise there will be burns, it is better to plan it closer to one edge.

Join the roof, bottom, sides and rear wall using corners, fasteners.

Assemble the doors by cutting 2 blanks from the grid according to the dimensions of the door frames. It is better to connect with self-tapping screws.

Make the floor using 2 slats 66x48x2 cm and 68x46x2 cm each. The connection principle here is the same as in the previous case.

Install doors with hinges.

Fix the front wall and mesh floor. The pallet is assembled by analogy with a mesh floor. A sheet of metal is used for it. From the outside, fasten a plywood bar, a handle.

Equip the brooder with lighting fixtures and heating devices. The infrared type bulb is mounted in the hole in the roof.

Ready to clear the house of debris, check the light and heating.

For more details on how to make a poultry house, see here:

After preparing a drawing, the necessary materials and tools, anyone can assemble a poultry house. Sizes are determined according to the number of heads planned for home keeping.

Installation of the heating and lighting system

Efficient heating and lighting system in the brooder is the key to the he alth of quails. Everything must be done correctly and with precautions.

Infrared Lamp

To adjust the light and heat, it is convenient to use infrared-type lamps with a thermostat in the brooder.Often breeders install devices with a power of 500 watts. In the first days, the chicks require a temperature of 36 ° C. If 250-300 W lamps are used, then 7 kW of electricity is consumed per day. For heating 9 poultry houses "leaves" up to 63 kW per day, per month - 2000 kW. A profitable heating solution is the arrangement of a warm floor.

Film elements of underfloor heating

This type of heating is effective if there are more than 500 quails on the farm. When using a warm floor, electricity consumption is reduced by 3 times. Film elements are mounted on the rear wall of the poultry house. For connection, a manual thermostat is used here, forming an electrical circuit.

Creating a microclimate

To provide the younger generation with normal conditions for staying in a brooder, you should know the main points of their content. Follow the temperature chart for the first days of their lives:

Any drafts should be minimized near the poultry house, and ventilation should preferably be done through mesh doors.Humidity At first, it should be 60-70%, then its level is lowered to 50-60%. Use automatic/bunker type attachments. To the second option, you can personally bring the auger from the corrugated tube to simplify filling the tank with feed mixture. If a metal mesh is fixed on top, then the quail will eat the feed mixture through it without scattering it. It is not recommended to install shallow containers, otherwise the liquid will often become contaminated.In addition, the water will splash a lot. So, it is better to use nipple / vacuum type drinkers.

Parameter	Implementation
Temperature	In the first days after the birth of newborns from the incubator, the temperature should be at 36 °C.Then it is reduced to 30 °C.
Lighting	In the beginning, the light is not turned off day or night. From the 8th day, reduce by 3 hours per week. Recommended - up to 12 hours for meat breeds and up to 8 hours for egg breeds. The brightness on the first day is 20-25 lux, and from 2 to 21 days it is 5-8 lux.
Ventilation

The quail brooder is made from environmentally friendly materials and in compliance with assembly requirements. It is not difficult to make it yourself, all the materials and tools are on the farm.