This is a brooder I made from an old dishwasher. It is used for quail and chicken chicks, or any poultry really, after incubation.
When our dishwasher went kaputs, I wondered if I could make use of the unit in some way as mechanically it worked fine but just the electronics was stuffed.
I pretty much just cut a viewing window in the front door and used the existing dish tray as the brooder floor by covering it with galvanised mesh. The tray is able to be pulled/rolled out for handling chicks or cleaning and overall it works well.
The heat source is via light bulbs purchased as self contained units. One bulb is really all that's needed but I have two (one for backup) and I have just mounted them on the inside through existing plumbing hols etc.
Due to the inherent insulation in the dishwasher, this could be turned into a reliable incubator without too much effort. Also, I found it to be handy supplement to my main brooder as a way to isolate chicks which needed more care kind of like an ICU.
Here is a video I made - apologies for the poor quality as it was shot with my phone
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Pros
Good DIY project and a cheap way to make a brooder out of recycled materials.
Cons
Not everyone has an old dishwasher lying around
It's rather heavy so portability isn't the best. -
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William Welch, Teresa Ames, Angel DeWolfe and 2 others like this.
