A new brooder

So Wifey really wants to get the chicks out of the house immediately.  She's concerned about potential of fire from the heat lamp and remembers the respiratory issues we had with our first batch of chicks a few years ago.  She wants to move them outside to the garage.

To that end, she bought a used dog crate for $30.  She's working to enclose the sides in 1/2" mesh grid to keep predators out.  She's working on an interesting heated igloo-type thing to keep them warm by using a heat pad.

Also, she'd read that with the standard way people have their brooders on the ground, chicks interpret the owners reaching in to hold them similarly to how they see predators grabbing for them (especially birds of prey).  With that in mind, she asked me to build her a "janky stand."  She said she didn't care if I used scrap asked that I get it done quickly since and didn't care what it looked like since it should only be used for a few weeks.

In checking out what scrap we have, I found some really nasty-looking pressure-treated lumber.  I don't know where it came from; doesn't look like anything we've had around here.  Regardless, I slapped something together that's also pretty sturdy.