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The Bodilly Mill The Brooders Your Keets need to have somewhere to grow up and harden off before going out into the great outdoors. This is called a Brooder. Keets are about 5cm round when fluffed up and first hatched, but underneath that down they make a super model look fat. This is any young birds downfall in the first few days as they are so susceptible to heat loss of any kind. At this early age especially if they get damp and loose the little body heat they have. Sadly expect to loose it but don't stop trying. I have a Duckling called Georgina who got very wet and cold. I spent a worried evening with the hair drier and a warm dry towel in front of the telly bringing her through it. She made it and sometimes comes back into the house to catch up on the soaps.
Finding
a dead Keet who went for a swim in the water bowl was one of those things I
learned the hard way and in industrial hatcheries is common. I once I
realised that an open water bowl is not a good idea I bought a small water feeder that they cannot get into. Plus sitting with a piece of wet fluff and a hair dryer if
you are lucky to catch it happening, teaches you the delicate precarious ways
of nature (see above). I have two brooders. A small Nursery young Keet brooder for the first week (I keep it in the house for close scrutiny) basically a wooden box and a much larger Brooder for in the shed* The small one is a wooden box about 24 inches by 18 inches wide by about 18 inches high with removable Chicken mesh top and internal bottom sitting on a simple batten frame. The bottom Chicken wire is raised by 1 inch off the floor and the frame that holds it sits neatly on a double page tabloid newspaper so the Keets droppings drop through the mesh onto the paper and can be easily cleaned up twice daily, else it will smell a bit.
I have a simple heat lamp holder with an aluminium
shroud that I fit a normal 60W screw type bulb into and raise or lower into
the brooder to adjust the temperature under the lamp. Ideally the temperature
should be also about 37.5 degrees. A good way to tell if the temperature is
right with all birds is.
If they are clustered together for
warmth - they are too cold -
Lower the lamp down into the brooder a bit. If they are hogging the walls of
the brooder to get away from the lamp – they are too hot –
raise the lamp a bit. If they run round the brooder like
children in a playground – you got it right.
I keep them in this nursery brooder for at least a week until they are all strong and chirpy or until the family start moaning about being kept awake by the noisy birds. I then transfer them to the big brooder.
The big brooder The big brooder I have is the size
of a standard shipping Pallet (easily obtained changed and replaced if needs
be). I screwed some 18 inch high sides made out of plywood onto its sides and
covered the pallet base with chicken wire to make an open box that allowed
droppings to drop through (the pallet slats). I then made a simple batten
framed open lid covering with chicken for the top. The same rules apply for heat though, but as the
Keets get bigger about 3-4 weeks old you can/should turn the light out during the
day as a means of helping the Keets to harden off, before putting them in the
outside world. You can also lay a
piece of plywood over part of the brooder to alter the temperature on really
cold nights but remember a bit of air flow for ventilation is nice and needed! At six weeks I transfer them to the outside pen |
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