Help me re-think my brooder setup.

Hey all!

I’m a chicken mom from the NE USA. I started keeping chickens about 3 years ago at home but had a lot of prior experience with poultry as someone who worked in the farm and feed industry for an extended period of time. When my husband and I bought our first home, it came with an old 10x14 shed with an addition (that was falling apart) that we ripped off to create our dream coop/chicken barn. We were newlyweds who had a lot more time and energy on our hands than we have now.

It was still too cold, so I brooded the chicks indoors in our spare bathroom because aforementioned chicken barn was not ready. It was a messy nightmare, especially by week 3 when they’re not cute and tiny anymore. This year husband and I decided to add a few more birds to the flock because we have the room and unfortunately have lost a few birds. Here’s the catch; we have a nine month old now, and a cat who’s litter box is in our bathroom (we don’t have a basement) so the babies cannot go in the bathroom even if I wanted to repeat that hellish experience of keeping them inside. I said, chicks have to be done out in the barn.

Now, I thought I had this all figured out. Chicken barn is sweet - it has power and many outlets. You walk in through swinging barn doors and coop is entirely enclosed in the addition. Addition is around 6x6 with its own door, you can walk in to where the roosting bars and nesting boxes are and easily clean/collect eggs/visit with the ladies. We just keep our mower out in the outer portion and use it for “dirty” storage like shovels and whatnot. This is where the brooder would go. It’s not drafty but it’s not insulated, it stays about 10-20* warmer inside the coop at all times depending on if the swinging barn doors are open. I know that chicks need an ambient temp of at least 70* outside of the enclosure and 95* in the brooder week 1 with space to get out of it and take it down 5* every week, etc. so I got a safe heater and set it up with a camera on it and a fire alarm to get the ambient temp in the barn up (my worst fear is a coop fire which is why I use a brooder plate over a lamp). I set up my brooder with the plate and everything felt nice and toasty warm. I waited for temps to be around 50-60* daytime consistently and above freezing at night, so 40-50 in the coop plus the additional heat but I guess the math just didn’t math?

In theory everything should have been good, but today was a little cool and when I got these poor babies home and out in their brooder I knew they were cold and husband and I instantly rushed into action. Pleased to report, I am very attentive so all babies are fine and perked back up… they’re just in my house again. 😅 Sooo much better that than dead, but clearly I didn’t think this through well enough. At the end of the day, if they have to stay inside a few weeks, i will make it work, but does anyone have any ideas of how i could make the barn more suitable or what i could use other than a tent or something to make a brooder that would accommodate them outside? Anyone else in the NE USA that does their chicks in a barn? Do I just have to insulate?

I take full responsibility for fumbling the timing and if need be they’ll just stay inside until the temps rise enough for me to get the brooder perfect or they’re ready to go out, whatever comes first, but would love some ideas. Pics of my ladies for tax, obvs.