I took some photos along the way and wrote up a guide. You can find it HERE. It'll be a bit of an experiment for us, since it seems to go against the grain for most brooders I've seen, but if it works out, fantastic! I'm also working on a second portion at the bottom of that page about what to do to get ready for chicks in addition to building just the box part. This is not first hand experience yet, but a culmination of what I've found researching the needs of chicks. As I finish setting it up, more photos will be added to the bottom portion. As I see how it works and possibly modify the design or set up, I will also update the guide.
While we wait for the hatchery to get back to us with a ship date, we've decided to make another trip to Tractor Supply on Tuesday and pick up a couple of "test" chicks. Whatever they have on hand, probably about three of them, just to get at least a little experience under our belt before the big box comes next month.
I know I've been saying I want to do more videos, but I keep having camera issues, or internet issues. Remember, we are using cell phone hot spots because our homestead is not "within the service area" for any of the local internet companies - and satellite caps usage too low to be of use to us.
That said, Tony wants to buy a webcam to put in the brooder so we can live-stream the chicks for everyone to see. He'd have to figure out how to make it work, because I'm computer illiterate when it comes to programming. I can blog, I can take photos, but I have no idea how to network. So... there could be chicks here by Tuesday night, and there may be a live-stream in the works soon as well.
Tonight Tony brought home the two red bulbs we hadn't been able to track down yesterday. Tomorrow or the next day I will be adding bedding and getting the brooder box set up so I can test the temperature to make sure it's all set and ready for babies.