Brooder Room

Our Brooder Room is extremely busy and full throughout the spring and summer months.

As well as being used for very sick animals, it is the main area within the Hospital where baby birds and mammals are cared for, everything from nests full of tiny baby blue tits, blackbirds and robins to fox and badger cubs, baby hedgehogs and many other species.

Feeding in this room starts at around 6am or even earlier every morning and continues throughout the day up until at least 10pm. We often need 3 or 4 people working constantly in this room to keep up with all the feeds.

 

We rear between 30-40 fox cubs every year at Vale. It is very important that hand-reared animals do not become imprinted on humans as they cannot be released if this happens. They need company of their own kind and minimum human contact to avoid imprinting. Cubs are reared away from the main hospital building by specially trained staff in our Rearing Unit. We do not use our walkie talkies in here and talking is not allowed unless absolutely necessary. For a majority of the day there are no staff in the Rearing Unit and cubs are only handled at feeding times. 

The heated, intensive care brooders that we use in here cost between £600 and £1000 each. We always need more. If you would like to know how your donation can help us, click here to see our Getting Involved page.

The room is kept very warm at all times but it also contains several heated, thermostatically controlled brooders and incubators to provide the extra warmth often needed for very young or sick animals. Overhead, infra-red heat lights are also available for keeping birds such as ducklings, pheasants and partridges warm.

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