Sunday, June 3, 2007

The Whizbang Garden Cart Poultry Brooder

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We recently bought a dozen day-old turkey chicks. I set up a simple temporary brooder for them inside my workshop using one of my Whizbang Garden Carts. The picture above pretty much tells the story (note the curious chicken that has come into the shop).

I layered some plastic in the bottom of the cart, dumped in some wood shavings, rigged up a heat lamp, added some food and water, and the chicks were safe and comfortable. Such a brooder is only good for a week or so before the birds start jumping out. But it was an easy way to get them off to a good start.

This next picture shows the plywood board I made to block off the open end of the cart. The plywood is notched to fit around the handles. A piece of pine board screwed to each end serves as a place to put a spring clamp and hold the board in place. Then a couple of spring clamps at the bottom, over the handle, hold the bottom in place. Since the cart is in my shop, there was no need to put a protective wire top over the cart, but that could have been done easily enough.

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So, as you can see, the Whizbang Garden Cart isn’t just a hauler. You can even use it to get your poultry flock off to a good start.

To learn more about the homemade Whizbang Garden Cart and find out how you can get plans to build your own cart CLICK HERE

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