Ohio Brooder with Temperature controls

· by · in Chickens. ·

This is more than just an ohio brooder in this post, but also a brooder housing that breaks down for storage. It just all was not going to fit into the title. I became interested in Ohio brooders as it seemed like a good way of containing the heat from a standard open top brooder that turned my garage into baby chicken heat sauna in the summer. My wife even said, “Of all the stuff you have made, this has to be one of the best ideas.” The garage doesn’t overheat, we aren’t wasting electricity and I can open the garage doors to let air in without fear of cats or animal getting at them or them getting cold.

Since I had already had experience with using a Temperature controller from building our DIY Deer Cooler, which controlled an air conditioner. When wiring it I noticed it had a heat relay also and figured it would come in handy someday and now it has.

Five chicks pipping and one infertile egg in the center

After buying chickens twice and turning the garage into a chicken sauna, we used our breeders coop and separated out Dark Brahma rooster with the only good hen of the three hens we have. We collected her egg every day, she laid close to every day. We ran one egg alone to see if she was fertilized and it developed. Then seven, but my daughter tried them under hens in a normal coop. Other hens would try and lay on the nest to lay their egg when they got up and the broody hen would come back and sit on other eggs. It wasn’t working and we needed separate hatching pens if doing it under broody hens. I dropped one egg and cracked it of the seven and it was fertile and above you can see 5 of the remaining six pipping just before hatching.

So this is the beginning of the Ohio Brooder and this traps the heat inside with three closed sides and a top. The front side is open 2 inches at the bottom. The normal design calls for 2 smaller heat lamps on each side without any controls. The birds come into it to be warm and out to feed and drink. They call for a 4′ x 4′ size but I am a small operator and 40″ x 2′ was all I needed and more.

But from the starter picture above the back wall has a octagon box the the light and power cord. Then also two Octagon boxes on each side to hold the heater lamps.

This is it fully wired so you can se the finished look. I did add two more furring strips on the far side later to support the top and prevent heat slipping through. The lights are wired with 2/14 Romex wire I had left over back to the Black project box. The power cord comes into the light box and is wired to its light base and then the power is run into the Project Box. The temperature controller turns the black heat lamps on as it needs too. You can’t see it here but the temperature sensor is hanging off the middle 2×3.

Parts

Below is the template and measurements for all the pieces for the Ohio Brooder and the break down brooder, except the top.

Above is the wiring. I drilled 1/2″ holes for each three wires. One from each lamp and one from the light, which is my power source. All three grounds and neutrals (whites) twisted and capped. I am going to assume you know electrical and how the wires needs to be twisted and cut before adding the stranded leads. They may call them wire nuts, but they are really just wire cap insulators. The wire twist must make the connections.

The two blacks to the reptile heaters are wired together and to the Blue and to one side of the heat contacts. The one black from the light (Feed) have two wire drops and one to the input power and one to the other side of the heat contact. One white drop to the other side of the input power. The temp sensor was installed on the center beam (not shown here) and run in, coiled up and wired in also.

I did not state I had previously marked a template for the Inkbird to slide into the Project box and cut and filed out a hole for it to sit tightly into. The wire drops were out this hole in the previous picture and now the Inkbird is installed, pushed in and locked with the Orange locking tabs.The wires get folded neatly in as the bare copper wires are and the lid gets screwed on.

The entire brooder was assembled and the 2×4 for the center divider and center hinge mount was added. This stiffens the sides so they do not bow also. Maybe the bottom will need one later, but we will see. I insulated the lid with shavings and heated it up and it is ready for chicks. I showed my wife and daughter and the first comment was “How do we see the chickies then?” Damn, not even finished and the first revision has been ordered.

Then it was off to get some 8×10 plexiglass sheets to make two windows in the roof. The girls wanted the entire thing a window and I said NO. It is expensive and if you apply any pressure to it the plexiglass will likely break where screwed in. So they walk around and peek from various angles and are satisfied. It is not cold in my garage as the back wall is 4′ in the ground and it is insulated. It can be 22°F in the morning outside and its 38° – 40° inside. The heater would run more and worst case they can’t see the chicks early on without moving chips.

Then I started building the doors for the top. I made them 50″ long and two wide enough to go from the center to cover the end. I tried to use biscuits to join the four corners, but tis is the cheap pine 1×4 with round edges and not the fine square build a table stuff. It wanted to flip and roll when clamped. So I threw a board to overlap the joints and glued all three together.

All hinges are installed on the bottom ans I used three per frame joint as the Amazon ones I ordered were a bit smaller than I thought. This is the closed and protected and can’t fly out as I get older.

Here is the up, lets check the food and water and chicks.

Here is my daughters chicks. The fourth over from the right was the first lonely chick in this and then my daughter bought the Isa Brown on the right and the Black Australorp pullet to keep it company. Then the other five are the second batch of hatchlings. One little one is inside and thats ow they adjust their temperature. The oldest ones stay out mostly and inside once in a while if they need warmth.

This is the center board to stiffen the sides and hold the hinges for the lid doors

Here is how each corner of the brooder looks. Each one is numbers so I know how the screw holes line up for reassembly. The 2×2’s will stay on the short ends and the long 8′ pieces will lay flat on the garage trusses in the attic and everything else on top of it.

Here is the Inkbird as you would use it. The S button is held for 3 Seconds and you set the temp differential to 1 degree, units to F for us Americans and the temp to 95°. Each week you can lower it 5° by adjusting it. We have not as we are hatching in line batches and have 11 more under a broody hen in our breeders coop that should hatch out this coming weekend as we pull the breeding pair back into general population. The older ones sit outside the ohio brooder if they get too hot.

It is set for 95° and when it gets to 94.0 the heat relay clicks and starts heating the bulbs and it can run up to 96.4 after cutting off at 95.

Here is the video to maybe let you see it differently.

Enjoy!

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.