Chick Brooder - 3 Layer H: 9.5"

I'm someone with limited free time or time in general, so I'm always looking for the "better way" to do things. The CIMUKA Brooder fits the bill. It is easily rinsed off, trays are easy to access and wash.

HEATER/LIGHT MODULE:
The integrated heater/light is a cool design feature. However, I feel CIMUKA fell short a bit with not having a switch for the light which should have been very easy to add. To have to loosen the bulb each time you want to turn on or turn off just seems like something CIMUKA could have provided by now.

So, here I am in need of the 15" which is 6"+ taller then the smaller 9.5". I bought the 3 tier 9.5" after watching a few youtube videos and one guy said you could use the 9.5. for chicks, which is true but for a very very short time. like 2 weeks.

WATER SYSTEM:
The water system is a nice design, but could be improved by adding shutoff plastic valves or even the crimp/pinch versions to reduce costs. This would aid in cleaning/flushing system by level and provides an additional level if leaks occur. The water system, may create an issue to clean since the hoses run across the inside of the brooder vs the waterbowls being right next to the entry point on the right. Seems like wasted plastic tubing which the chicks can and will dirty up and require more work to clean and maintain. Also the inside may get algae due to proximity to the heater. I think CIMUKA can move things around a bit to make it more efficient, less horizontal tubing, maybe the heater on the other side to keep away from the heat element.

Overall, pretty happy with the unit, but Dang, they are not cheap and I never see them on sale. I'm literally waiting to the last minute before I actually need it and will have to assemble immediately for use, but the $1300 hit to my finances is really hard to justify right now, especially for recycled/molded plastic!

Oh, one more thing the grills that go over the feeder are nice, but the fact that they are in pieces allows then to come apart very easily, which is just a PITA to deal with. A lot of time wasted just accessing the feed tray or you are like me and delicately open the grill so that I don't have to mess with it as often since it doesn't fit very tightly to the brooder or its own pieces.

Been raising birds over 33 years. In the last 6 Years I really stared Focusing on Rare Chicken breeds. I had many different kinds of brooder set ups. None of them as good as this one. Wood(to heavy hard to clean) metal rusts heavy hard to clean and Sanitize.) These are light weight easily taken apart to move or clean individual pieces. Holds temp better then I thought it would.. Highly recommend....Ps make sure you order the Right size for you chicks.

These brooders are well laid out. Heaters function well. The mats are interchangeable (so I pull out one a week when it comes time to wean birds off heat). I find that you need to wait till at least day 5 to move baby quail into these brooders. Otherwise the chicks get stuck in the feeder tray and get too cold (and die) - they are not too smart. After day 5 or so, they are big enough to figure it out! These brooders save me a lot of time cleaning, because all you have to do is pull out black mats, spray them off, and put back in. No more messy pine shavings!

We added more brooders to the farm this week. These are so simple to maintain. We used to have heat lamps which were a pain and a fire hazard. Now we don’t have to worry.

These have been the best cages for us hands down. I am super impressed with the system as a whole. So any criticism I have is minor. Assembly was a breeze. We bought three systems: brooder, grow out and breeding. Each system was a three stack. We found assemble a whole unit in just under two hours. The assembly videos on the companies website are great. I will be buying more from this company.
We live completely off grid and depend on solar/battery storage for any electrical. Even with running two incubators and these heaters, my system is not stressed! Fabulous efficiency.
- [ ] I really dislike the water system on the brooder and grow out. It is super hard to access on the lower cages for adjustment. Since it is in the back, it is hard to monitor if the birds are using it successfully. We moved it onto the side wall and it has worked fantastic. Easy viewing, adjusting and troubleshooting.
- [ ] I wish there were clear doors or grate you could snap on and off as needed for the holes where the feeders are accessed. Since you do not use these trays for the first two weeks or so, it would be nice to close them off. I have had new chicks jump out into the tray and not be able to make it back inside. We hot glued plastic cards onto the front to stop access to the feed tray. This also saves on the heat escaping. We left the sides of the cards unglued for ventilation, gluing only the corners.
- [ ] I like the mats kept in the brooder until roughly two weeks, but I leave one mat in for them to "take refuge on" for a week after I pull the first two. When the chicks are new, I top it with shelf liner for even better traction. I get no splay legs using this method.
- [ ] Two feed trays and two waterers are not near enough for each compartment. Boasting at 35-55 quail capacity during the first 2 weeks/per layer, I was filling food and water 3-4 times per day. I will be buying more.
- [ ] I really wish you could find a way to keep them stackable, but each section easily removable so you could power wash between brooding batches without dismantling the water system and prying them apart.

The brooders have everything u need for the baby quail from feeders to waterers and no need to spend extra money the only thing is that they sit to low on the ground if they could have a leg system would be even better but i was able to fixed that issue whit some 2x4 pieces of wood and build a stand for the brooders so now they are high enough and work great I really do recommend them money well worth spent.

I like the concept of this brooder, but the way it was packaged caused issues. Some of the panels arrived bowed, which made assembly frustrating and time-consuming. For the price, I expected better packaging and easier setup. Once together it works, but getting there was harder than it should be.

I had this brooder for two years before my operation outgrew it. I drug it through thousands of quail and chicks. Didn’t matter how dirty it got I was able to hose it down and start all over. Then when I was ready to sell it, I posted it for almost as much as I paid and sold quickly. I even posted the links for some easy replacement parts and the new owner had them ordered even before pickup.

This is a life saver and great for hatched babies! Now I don’t have all these brooder boxes sitting around taking up space. Definitely will be buying more!

Bottom cage is too low

This nicer than I expected, easy to keep clean, I love the little water cups and the little feed trays, so easy to clean! I bought extra parts to get the brooder high off of the floor, more like a 4-Lawyer without the bottom lawyer (perfect height)

I bought the three tier brooder and for the most part I like the product. I found it to be a little pricey, but it is MUCH better than putting chicks in a tote with heat lamps.

It is easy to clean (just take the heaters out, move it outside and hose it down).

It's height eliminates a lot of stooping and bending.

The heating elements make temperature control simple and much safer than heat lamps.

The trays and mats make for easy daily cleaning.

On the negative side, the feeding and watering systems are pretty much useless.

I also have had issues with one of the door latches not working well or staying together.

I've used mine for more than a year now and expect that the brooder will last for years to come.

Difficult to assemble and falls apart very easily. After having this problem, looked more closely at online reviews and found where these have collapsed on others as well. The concept is wonderful, but it is a terrible, cheap product with a very high price tag.

I have a love-hate relationship with this cage.
What I love about it:
1. It is the best brooder that I’ve ever had. There are no sharp edges. Easy to assemble. Easy to clean and sanitize. Does not rust!
2. The chicks are easy to see, easy to feed, easy to deal with.
What I hate about it:
1. The plastic doors keep breaking at the hinges.
2. I struggle with the watering system, it is hard to adjust and it leaks.
3. I do not like that you cannot close off the spaces that the feed trade goes in front of. I ended up modifying pieces of plastic to slide in there.

What a great investment! definitely takes time to build, but well worth it. Ordered it and received it in less then 24hrs. Our little chicks are loving life! Cleaning is a breeze, takens alot less time to clean the mess. Looking forward to growing my dream family owned farm and hatchery. We will definitely be making more purchases from this company!

So far very happy with this set up. It shipped very fast and has everything you need to get started.Have over 90 quail chicks in it now & have only lost 1. It came boxed well & in good condition again with everything needed except good instructions. That's where you must watch the videos that they will send you. If you follow them it goes together in no time and their customer support is very good if you need help.Again "watch the videos" for assembly. Some folks have said that pieces are a little warped, and they are, but warming them up in the in the sun for a bit helps greatly. I am going to give it 5 stars but a few minor problems 1) in the box instructions bad, 2)wish the doors were a little bit taller to make access easier 3) ventilation could be a problem in hot areas but have been told can replace some pannels if you feel they are needed. Overall very happy with the unit & the customer support is great. Would recommend it to anyone for a go to complete brooder. Hope this helps answer any questions on it. Thks HT

All in all a great step up from hanging heat lamps over stock tanks filled with wood shavings. The external feeder and dropping tray is much easier to manage. The enclosed feeder on the 9" was also great for our pheasant chicks. We also have the 15" brooder and for the first few weeks it was difficult to set the feeder opening to a size they could eat through but also not fit through. Only thing that needs improvement is the automatic waterers. We had 2 3 tier brooders setups (so 6 wateres) at least 2 would consistently get stuck and let all the water run out, and the top layers on each unit would have trouble filling or just stop filling for some reason. Maybe they need to be 'broken in' but I would advise setting up before you get your chick and testing the water system for a few days. Aside from the trouble of trying to clean a dropping tray full of water, still an improvement over the typical diy setup.

I recently bought the three tier 9.5" brooder. Unfortunately the shipping carton had sustained some damage and several parts were broken. I got in touch with Hatching Time and supplied pictures and three days later the parts arrived on my doorstep, free of charge.
The brooder is all the advertising claims...durable, easy to assemble, easy to clean, and a humane way to raise your birds. Such a pleasure to deal with an American company that makes a quality product, at a reasonable price, backed up by impressive customer service. Hatching Time, you rock!

I really love this brooder! I use it for Call Ducks and it works great! Keeps them warm and healthy! They are very easy to clean and that's the best part! I had a couple parts come damaged from shipping and they shipped me replacements right away! Consumer service is away very helpful and they get back to you quickly. I well be buying more of these.

I put my baby chicks in here yesterday and they are already running around smiling. The design is easy to clean which is what i was looking for in a brooder

I ordered this brooder about a week ago and it is already set up and ready to go. My baby chicks are holding up well in the product.