Raising Chicks Without Electricity

Raising chicks without heat lamps...this has been a stumper for me for years, until I noticed something interesting, several things really!
First, if you have ever ordered chicks from a commercial hatchery...they have a "shipping minimum"...The mail order babies have something like a 72 hour window for travel.  This is 72 hours with out electric heat. Hmmm? Thinking about this made me realize that 10 or so baby chicks piled together can maintain body heat.
Second, We are always told that chicks need a light/heat source and if they are piled up , they are too cold or if they are scattered to the wind...too warm. Thinking about this, I realized that in nature baby birds, chicks included "pile together for warmth" and socialization.
Third, I imagine constant light 24 hours, to be hard on them.
So, I started experimenting on non-electric chicks!
When hens in my gen-pop get broody and start collecting eggs...getting other hens to lay in their nest. As these eggs hatch, I snag the babies. The first few I "sleep" with. I have a very fuzzy winter hat, that I turn wrong side out...fuzz inside. Add chicks. Just one baby can keep toasty warm during the day, coming out for food and water. If I go some where I just drop the chick into a shirt pocket and wear a sweater over the top, they mostly sleep. I have attended several meetings with "pocket poultry". As I add more chicks the hat becomes a "nest". At night I sleep with the hat/chick(s)...but I am a light sleeper...may not work for "log" sleepers?? I keep a hand in the hat with the chicks to make sure they stay put. When I get enough chicks to meet the hatchery shipping minimum, I have a big wooden box , made from an old wood file cabinet drawer with air holes down low and a hinged lid with a little chick door on "ground level". Fill it with straw and at night I lock them in. They pile up and stay plenty warm. When I lock them in at night, I listen to make certain they go quiet, This takes just a few seconds for them to settle into their pile...in the off chance they are not warm enough...cold chicks peep very loudly. I let them out into a little brooder indoor pen during the day with the hat nest set up like a nest that they get in to nap in a plucky poultry pile.
*Note...when babies poop in the hat, it shakes out! I start my chicks really young on grass and alfalfa leaves...cut into chick bite sizes. Chicks conditioned to eat such greens can be fed alfalfa hay as adults to supplement grains. Makes good grazers!

Jackie, love the idea of pocket poultry!! Adorable.

Keeping chicks warm is tricky. Raising them inside is not a good option for us. Too stinky. We are setting up an outdoor area. We won't be using electricity either. I've seen little chick huts built of straw. Supposed to be huddling with their mama hen.
Sounds like you have a great an sweet work flow.

This is a big question for me at the moment too.  

I am trying to devise a plan to be able to brood batches of 100+ chicks, without electricity.

I'm thinking of making some sort of modified hood for the Little Buddy propane heater.
https://www.mrheater.com/little-buddy-heater.html

That's where the trickiness begins.  The Little Buddy puts out more than enough BTUs, at an economical enough rate of fuel consumption.  It's just a matter of containing the heat without blowing up the heater 😜

Anybody tinker with something like this before?  

Sena, Another idea that I am working on goes a step further. The wood box ...mentioned earlier...Attach a hanging down "bulge" of warm fabric...no loose ends..to the inside of the hinged lid.  When you close the lid, the bulge of warm fabric hangs down about 1 maybe 2 inches above the straw level. This fabric bulge could even be quilted to add a little weight. As the chicks go in to nest and pile together for warmth, the bulge "sits on them" gently keeping them snug...something like a fake mama. Important to be sure all edges of bulge are secure so babies do not get trapped inside. Because the bulge is sitting on the chicks , they can not poop it up. And, because it is secured to the inside of the hinged lid, the lid can be opened to clean out the nest as needed or to check on the babies. Please note : it is important to not use plywood for the box...plywood out gasses Formaldehyde. The air holes are very important...I have holes about 3 to 4 inches apart at a level near top of the straw...1/2 inch holes are good.

Adam, See the post to Sena...but if I were going to raise a large number of chicks...I would build a larger wood frame...no plywood, toxic out gassing of Formaldehyde...and make a double door on top. Hinged in the middle to a stabelizing cross board, so it can be easily accessed and straw replaced. Then attach multiple bulges of fabric like a series of swags down to near straw level. NO LOOSE ENDS !I think to make easy access for babies, this "chick-inn" could be on little legs off the floor, so babies can come and go all the way around.
Does this make sense??

Yes Jackie, I understand the setup you're describing.  It sounds like a great system for summer months, but I would be concerned about it in the shoulder seasons.  Especially when raising a large batch of birds, the 'cost' of error/failure is compounded so much.  

As an 'insurance policy' I'd like to be able to somehow incorporate backup BTUs from a propane canister into my brooder design.  I've used the simple lightbulb box brooders, and variations on the system you describe with wool fleeces as a ceiling, but I'm thinking my present needs require something a little different.  

Cold and damp is the weather concern, so an external heat source would do a lot of good in mitigating the chilling effects of cold damp mountain air.  

sounds like a wool hen is being suggested. We used hot water bottles, along with a seedling heat mat. I think the heat mat helped the most. The hot water bottle was a 1L mason jar with a wool sock placed on it.
Wool Hen

Adam, Shoulder season might for sure be an issue. If your brooder is a small room, running the heater to warm the room might be an option? I live in the mountains too. Something I have done in the past was to set my chicks up in a little green house...Even in cold seasons here, the greenhouse is quite warm during the day...I then would lock the little buggers up in the "nest box" at night.