Chick Dust

Hi All,

I am brooding my first flock of chicks ever. I love them to death and am having a great time
raising them.

However I have recently heard from another chicken owner that it is bad to brood in the house because
of the dust that the chicks produce.

I do not have a garage and our shed is an unsafe place to put them because it gets too hot in the summer.
So we put them in our spare bedroom in our house. They are 3 weeks old and are doing fine and are healthy.

My questions are... How bad is the dust that they produce for your health?
Is having them in the house a unsafe thing to do?

I did not know this going into raising chickens, I am learning as I go. Any info would be great.

Thanks BYCers.

Here is a picture of my babies

first of all welcome you're going to love this site. you can control the dust and the smell by changing the pine shavings every 4 or so days. we have our girls in our side room where the computer is and you can believe if the dust was that bad DH wouldn't allow the brooder anywhere near his first baby! so just enjoy the chicks while they're little they grow up really quick!

Ok, thank you that makes me feel a little better. I was beginning to panic thinking
that I am doing something really unsafe by keeping them in the house.

It is nice to know that someone else does the same thing.

i kept mine in the house the last few days but they were in alfalfa for bedding so they kept kicking it all over cause they'd dig in it for food. i was changing it daily and i didnt get any smell but i might also have been being CRAZY! so i am not sure!

My chicks are in pine bedding. They do like to dust bathe in the shaving.

I still don't know if the dust they produce is unhealthy or not. Does anyone
have any info on that?

I just finished brooding my girls in the house. Some people advocate letting them poo in the pine shavings and just change the whole lot every 'so many' days. Personally, I would gather up the poo each morning and each evening and just sprinkle a little bit of new shavings (to a 1" existing bed). I found the dust to be minimal and by keeping the brooder fairly clean you greatly reduce any health hazard.

I also cleaned their water and feeder several times a day because they would poo in them or kick shavings into the waterer. Again, I did not mind. A small price to be sure my girls were not eating or drinking anything contaminated.

I personally liked having them in the house. It enabled us to really bond with our girls as well as monitor them closely which is so important - especially early on. I would not change a thing.

You will likely hear from people who feel equally as strong about NOT brooding indoors but if it is a fairly low number of chicks (it looks like you have six?) then I think it is totally fine. We brooded six.

Hi All,

Still waiting for a little help.

Is the dust that the chicks in the brooder produce unhealthy to be around?

I have them in our house in our spare bedroom, we have no garage and our
shed is too hot to keep them in. Any help or suggestions if it is unhealthy and what to do
would be great.

Thanks

Ok, thanks epeloquin,

I do keep the brooder very clean and the food and water always fresh.

I have 16 chicks right now, they brooder is fairly large so the have plenty of room.

Thanks for the advice.