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Camping tent chick brooder: The best brooder in the entire world

It’s been a few years since I’ve last brooded chicks, and I’ve learned a lot since then. So, when I decided to get chicks again this spring, I wanted to do everything better this time.

And that started with finding a better brooding area. I’ve never been happy with any of the brooders I’ve used in the past. None of them were quite right.

I spent hours scanning blog posts and scrolling through Pinterest to find the type of brooder I really wanted—safe, affordable, and large enough for my chicks to really play and be themselves, and for me to interact with them.

I finally found what I was looking for in the camping tent chick brooder!

Here’s how it happened. I came across a Tweet from a random person showing a tent in a room with a few hens in it. Someone had brought the hens inside to protect them from the brutally cold winter.

I thought, “OMG! That’s my brooder!” That was about 5 months ago.

Today, my chicks are almost 6 weeks old and living very happily in their camping tent brooder.

So, let me share with you:

  • Exactly why the camping tent brooder is the most amazing thing on the planet (and why your chicks will most certainly agree!)

  • The few possible downsides to the brooder (depending on your home situation)

  • My recommendations on finding the right tent for you

Or, just watch the video below to see my camping tent brooder in action!

7 reasons why you want a camping tent chick brooder

Below you’ll learn some of the many benefits of the camping tent chick brooder.

#1 Well-ventilated

The mesh in the walls combined with a large living space means no smells, and any moisture dries quickly.

#2 Draft-free

Drafts in a brooder can kill young chicks, but the tent material on this type of brooder prevents drafts at chick level.

#3 Lets in lots of light

The mesh allows light to enter the brooder, and if you have windows in your brooding room, your chicks will get natural light too!

#4 Escape-proof design

The tent is fully enclosed (no fliers are getting out of this thing), and there are no small spaces where chicks can squeeze through.

#5 Reduced clean-up

In 6 weeks, I only had to replace the bedding in this tent once. The tent is large enough that the chick poop is so spread out it dries quickly in the bedding. The chicks never get poop or bedding stuck on their feet, and their activity mixes their poop into the bedding.

It’s been wonderful how clean this brooder is—I’ve never seen a brooder even remotely like it!

And because the brooder has so much space, the chicks also get much less poop in their feeders and waterers. When I used smaller brooders, I felt like I constantly had to refresh their water because it had poop in it from the chicks perching on top.

But the tent brooder has so much space and allows so many more things for the chicks to do, they spend very little time perched on their feeders and waterers. They do still poop in them from time to time, but it’s nothing like with other brooders.

And that’s a good segue into #6…

#6 Space, space, and more space!

This is the best thing about the camping tent chick brooder BY FAR! And it’s the reason I was most drawn to this brooder in the first place.

My camping tent brooder is 8 ft by 8 ft and 4 ft high (and I wish I would have gone even bigger… Next time!). This is considerably larger than your typical plastic bin, metal tub, or puppy pen brooder.

Below, you’ll find the reasons your chicks need way more space than what these other brooders are offering—space you’ll likely only find affordably in a camping tent.

Chicks need space to:

  • Practice their natural behaviors

  • Play with toys

  • Escape aggression

  • Imprint on you

Space for natural behaviors

Natural behaviors for chicks include: foraging, perching, flying, dust bathing, food running, frolicking, and sparring. I have adorable video clips of my chicks practicing every one of these behaviors in their camping tent brooder. Check out my video above to see them!

Space for toys and play

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For example, chicks reared with toys:

  • Have stronger immune systems4
  • Produce higher-quality eggs as adults5
  • Are less aggressive to flock members6
  • Cope better during stressful events3, 7
  • Have reduced fear and an increased ability to handle new situations calmly,8-9 including well into adulthood after the toys have long been removed!10
  • Acquire better spatial skills that, once again, carry over into adulthood—chickens reared with toys as chicks are better able to forage and find food, to perch, and to navigate space.11-13
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  • Better spatial navigation 11
  • Better escape from attack 15
  • Lower incidence of laying eggs on the floor 16
  • Less aggression towards flock members 17

For more information, see my article, Chick toys! What your chicks need, when, and why.

Space to escape aggression

Here’s the first thing you need to know. If you raise your chicks in a camping tent brooder with toys, you likely will not have aggression at all. Unless you’ve got cockerels—they do change the dynamics.

But otherwise, chicks who are stimulated and entertained, and chicks who can easily get away from each other when they’re feeling aggravated, don't tend to fight.

But if one chick does get annoyed with another in your camping tent brooder, the second chick can easily get away. She can escape onto a perch, hide in a tunnel toy or hideaway, or just get out of sight of the other chick.

For adorable video clips on chicks using perches, tunnel toys, and hideaways, check out my video at the top of this article.

Space for imprinting

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#7 Affordable

Camping tent brooders can be very cheap. Maybe you have an old tent in your garage you could even use!

You can buy a very low-quality tent for your brooder. Your tent will be kept indoors, so it doesn’t matter if it’s leaky or doesn’t stand up to the elements—there are no elements in your house!

I bought my 8’x8’ camping tent brooder from my local Walmart for only $35. You can also order my tent on Amazon, but I’ve noticed the price fluctuates from low to high there. So, if the price seems high, check your local Walmart.

For more info on other tents I recommend—both bigger and smaller—see my very short article, 3 options for camping tent chick brooders.

Cons of a camping tent chick brooder

For the most part, you can’t really go wrong with a camping tent chick brooder, but here are a few potential drawbacks.

#1 You need space.

Okay, Mrs. Obvious here, but if you have a smaller house or your rooms are all filled with your delightful kids, then you may just not have enough space for a camping tent brooder.

Do still consider a smaller tent, though. Even a very small tent is usually better than other types of brooders. Just make sure it has ventilation.

#2 Your chicks aren’t protected from pets and kids.

The soft shell of your tent means dogs, motivated cats, and exuberant children could potentially access and injure your chicks (or worse).

I keep my camping tent brooder in my office and leave my office door closed. My pets are not allowed in there, and I wouldn’t allow young children in without very close supervision.

#3 You get bedding in the room when you exit the tent.

If you’re getting in and out of your camping tent chick brooder to clean/refill waterers and feeders, to exchange toys, or to interact with your chicks, you will drag some bedding out.

Not a big deal, in my opinion—you just will need to do a little extra sweeping. And, to be fair, any time you keep chicks in the house, regardless of brooder type, you’re going to have some extra sweeping and clean up. Bedding creates dust and chicks release a lot of feather dander as they grow.

What kind of tent do you need for your chick brooder?

Your tent needs good ventilation—at least one wall should be well-ventilated. And you’ll want the largest tent you can fit in your room.

My tent is a 4-person Ozark Trail camping tent, although I wish I would have used the 6-person tent instead. You can also get a smaller 2-person tent.

For more on these tents, see my short recommendation article, 3 options for chick camping tent brooders.

And, lastly, I do want to point out that I’ve seen prices on these tents fluctuate from low to high and back to low over just a few-month period, so if prices seem high, check Walmart (they carry some of these tents as well).

There’s no reason to pay a lot of money for your camping tent chick brooder as the tent quality really doesn’t matter.

Pin this article for later!

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Sources

  1. Jones, R., “Role of comparative psychology in the development of effective environmental enrichment strategies to improve poultry welfare.” International Journal of Comparative Psychology, v. 15, 2002, p. 77-106.

  2. Janczak, A. and Riber, A., “Review of rearing-related factors affecting the welfare of laying hens.” Poultry Science, v. 94, 2015, p. 1454-1469.

  3. Zidar, J., Campderrich, I., Jansson, E., Wichman, A., Winberg, S., Keeling, L., and Lovlie, H., “Environmental complexity buffers against stress-induced negative judgement bias in female chickens.” Scientific Reports, v. 8, no. 5404, 2018, p. 1-14.

  4. Campderrich, I., Nazar, F., Wichman, A., Marin, R., Estevez, I., and Keeling, L., “Environmental complexity: A buffer against stress in the domestic chick.” PLoS ONE, v. 14, no. 1, 2019, p. 1-24.

  5. Bari, M., Cohen-Barnhouse, A., and Campbell D., “Early rearing enrichments influenced nest use and egg quality in free-range laying hens.” Animal, v. 14, no. 6, 2020, p. 1249-1257.

  6. Ventura, B., Siewerdt, F., and Estevez, I., “Access to barrier perches improves behavior repertoire in broilers.” PLoS ONE, v. 7, no. 1, 2012, p. 1-7.

  7. Kim, E. and Sufka, K., “The effects of environmental enrichment in the chick anxiety-depression model.” Behavioural Brain Research, v. 221, 2011, p. 276-281.

  8. Jones, R., “Effects of early environmental enrichment upon open-field behavior and timidity in the domestic chick.” Developmental Pyschobiology, v. 15, no. 2, 1982, p. 105-111.

  9. Jones, R. and Waddington, D., “Modification of fear in domestic chicks, Gallus gallus domesticus, via regular handling and early environmental enrichment.” Animal Behaviour, v. 43. 1992, p. 1021-1033.

  10. Reed, H., Wilkins, L., Austin, S., and Gregory, N., “The effect of environmental enrichment during rearing on fear reactions and depopulation trauma in adult caged hens.” Applied Animal Behaviour Science, v. 36, 1993, p. 39-46.

  11. Gunnarsson, S., Yngvesson, J., Keeling, L., and Forkman, B., “Rearing without early access to perches impairs the spatial skills of laying hens.” Applied Animal Behaviour Science, v. 67, 2000, p. 217-228.

  12. Freire, R., Cheng, H., and Nicol, C., “Development of spatial memory in occlusion-experienced domestic chicks.” Animal Behaviour, v. 67, 2004, p. 141-150.

  13. Wichman, A., Heikkila, M., Valros, A., Forkman, B., and Keeling, L., “Perching behaviour in chickens and its relation to spatial ability.” Applied Animal Behaviour Science, v. 105, 2007, p. 165-179.

  14. Newberry, R., “Exploratory behaviour of young domestic fowl.” Applied Animal Behaviour Science, v. 63, 1999, p. 311-321.

  15. Yngvesson, J., “Cannibalism in laying hens: characteristics of individual hens and effects of perches during rearing.” Doctoral thesis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae Veterinaria, 2002, 54 p.

  16. Gunnarsson, S., Keeling, L., and Svedberg, J., “Effect of rearing factors on the prevalence of floor eggs, cloacal cannibalism and feather pecking in commercial flocks of loose housed laying hens.” British Poultry Science, v. 40, 1999, p. 12-18.

  17. Lambton, S., Nicol, C., Friel, M., Main, D., McKinstry, J., Sherwin, C., Walton, J., and Weeks, C., “A bespoke management package can reduce levels of injurious pecking in loose-housed laying hen flocks.” Veterinary Record, v. 172, no. 16, 2013, p. 1-7. 

  18. Rogers, Lesley. “The Development of Brain and Behaviour in the Chicken.” Cambridge: CABI, 1995.

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