Chicks eating pine shavings in brooder---ok?

gritsar said:

I'm sorry, but I disagree.  My chicks are on shavings from day one without any trouble.  Chicks will explore things with their mouths, same as human babies do. 


If they definitely know where their food is, I wouldn't worry about it.  If you're going to worry anyhow, offer them some chick grit to digest any that they manage to swallow.

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I agree! My day old babies are always cuddled with pine shavings! They love to kick them around and lay in them! Absolutely fine!

Bonniestar said:

I just put PINE shavings into the brooder with 3 week old chicks and they are having a ball kicking it everywhere. From what I've read on this post I don't need to worry about them eating it but they are kicking it into the water bowl. Will that be ok if they're drinking water that has pine shavings in it? I will clean it as much as possible but tomorrow I'll be gone for several hours

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If they are three weeks old sounds like it's time for their waterer to be raised up a bit. Raising the waterers and feeders as they grow helps keep both the waterer and feeder cleaner, but to answer your question it's not going to hurt them to drink water with shavings in it so long as there is enough water that they don't run out.

I have a variety of ages in my juvenile coop right now, with the youngest ones (standards) being five weeks old. My juvenile coop is divided into sections, with the youngest starting out in the smaller brooder section. Last week, in preparation for even more chicks due at the end of this week, the youngest were introduced to the older (bantam) ones who are now 20-ish weeks old. Some chasing, some pecking but everyone is fine. They are all drinking out of a standard 7 gallon waterer and yes, still kicking shavings in it even though it's up on a paver. I plan to raise it even more this coming week by adding another paver.

I learned long ago not to stress over chicks. They all start out on shavings, they all get baby feeders and waterers for a few weeks, then on to the big girl (and boy) stuff. I do not sanitize everything daily because I want them to be introduced to germs to help build strong immune systems. I don't let them live in filth, but they do need that exposure to germs. At integration time I watch for excessive chasing and pecking from the older chicks and would intervene if it got out of hand (hasn't happened yet). I just enjoy my chicks and worry about problems as they come up, not lay awake at night thinking of all the things that could go wrong. I have had great success with the enjoy more, worry less approach.

gritsar said:

If they are three weeks old sounds like it's time for their waterer to be raised up a bit. Raising the waterers and feeders as they grow helps keep both the waterer and feeder cleaner, but to answer your question it's not going to hurt them to drink water with shavings in it so long as there is enough water that they don't run out.

I have a variety of ages in my juvenile coop right now, with the youngest ones (standards) being five weeks old. My juvenile coop is divided into sections, with the youngest starting out in the smaller brooder section. Last week, in preparation for even more chicks due at the end of this week, the youngest were introduced to the older (bantam) ones who are now 20-ish weeks old. Some chasing, some pecking but everyone is fine. They are all drinking out of a standard 7 gallon waterer and yes, still kicking shavings in it even though it's up on a paver. I plan to raise it even more this coming week by adding another paver.

I learned long ago not to stress over chicks. They all start out on shavings, they all get baby feeders and waterers for a few weeks, then on to the big girl (and boy) stuff. I do not sanitize everything daily because I want them to be introduced to germs to help build strong immune systems. I don't let them live in filth, but they do need that exposure to germs. At integration time I watch for excessive chasing and pecking from the older chicks and would intervene if it got out of hand (hasn't happened yet). I just enjoy my chicks and worry about problems as they come up, not lay awake at night thinking of all the things that could go wrong. I have had great success with the enjoy more, worry less approach.

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Thank You

Thank you for this. I have 6 chicks 3, 2 week olds and 3, 4 week olds. I had them on paper towels and tonight I added Soft pine shavings. They went crazy for them and maybe even ate some. After 5 minutes of excitement they were happy to settle down and go to sleep. I tend to over worry but after reading these posts I will try to take a deep breath enjoy them and not be so stressed. They do have grit and I did elevate the water and feeder but they were kicking the shavings like crazy so I am sure there will be plenty to clean in the am.

It's kind of like having a baby ~ the first time is a learning experience and it's easy to be over protective and there's nothing wrong with that. I took a roll from a paper towel and wrapped a cloth towel around it and they loved it. They would perch on it and when it got dirty I would replace it with another.
I worried about the shaving in the water and I still don't like it so I just but the water bottle on bricks. Have fun ~ what kind did you get?

Thank you Bonniestar. I got one silver and one golden laced wyandottes, one speckled Sussex, one EE, one barred Plymouth Rock and one that I think is an Amber White. I have a small paper towel tube size branch from my apple tree that I put in and they love perching on that too!. Will try to get new picks of them and post later

I too use pine shavings from day one and I saw my Brahmas this year eat a bunch more than my other chicks ever have. Especially the rooster and he is ridiculously big and healthy at 10 weeks so I am going to say that most will not eat too many of them but even if they ingest a seemingly large amount it is probably not a tremendous worry but I still worried haha. I actually took a couple big pieces from him as it was obvious he was going to try to swallow them.....sigh. I moved them to the big coop last night and switched to straw bedding....yep they all ate that too.

They were all looking good this morning but they have been eating them and playing chase with whomever would get a large one. I did get them away from them and I got the dirtiest of looks and chirps. Will keep you all posted!