Help! stupid birds keep fouling everything!

[colowyo0809]

How do I keep my wonderful, beautiful, stupid birds from scratching bedding chips into their waterer and covering their food trough??!! They like to scratch their bedding until it completely covers their food, and then when I uncover it they go crazy eating it! And twenty minutes after I put clean water in their brooder they've filled it with bedding! How do I stop this? I can't hang anything right now, and I'm afraid that if I try to elvevate either of them to keep the bedding out/off they won't be able to eat or drink! And I've got 25 more chicks (hopefully) arriving on this wednesday!

anyone else with this problem?
Thanks!
Matthew Ryan

 

[aprophet]

I elevate mine with a peice of 3/4 plywood or a 1X4 1X6 i have quail chicks they seem to be able to get to the food and water I just keep them on paper towels the first 1-10 days then switch them to shavings

 

[colowyo0809]

Quote:
I currently have the waterer on a small platform and the chicks are 2-4 weeks old

I think I'll try raising it some more

 

[featherz]

ditch that waterer. Seriously. I put a bottle waterer (the kind with the ball) and recently added a nipple waterer and my chicks use both just fine and NO mess in the water! I was SO relieved after having to clean that stupid bowl thing several times a day!

 

[elmo]

Chickens scratch because it's their natural instinct ...it's the way they find food. If humans keep them indoors, in a shavings filled brooder, rather than outside, on the grass or ground, then we need to figure out a way to allow them to satisfy their instincts without fouling their food or water. Others have made good suggestions about elevating the feeders and waterers.

 

[colowyo0809]

Quote:
And they just go right to it? I don't need to "dip their beaks" or anything a the bottle waterer? and what do I do with the newborns when they come? do I use a waterer for the first couple days or go straight to the bottle waterer? and how many chicks per bottle? Now you've got me very interested and I must know!!

 

[jeb251]

look into nipple waters, I use them in my brooders and they wor great, I got mine from farm tec but there are other options out there

 

[fastpat]

You have to elevate both food and water and they'll still get the chips in a bit. You can reduce that though, it worked for me.

Two bricks high for the water, the food is only one brick high since that less of a problem.

 

[trilyn]

Nipple waterers rock! Check out my byc page for deets. I started just hatched babies onto them by tapping their tiny beaks onto the nipple. Omigosh, the cutest thing ever-they started drinking right away. If you've got older chicks, just tap the nipple until you get a stream of water going and they'll dive for it. If not, then pick one up and tap its beak to the nipple. Be strong and remove all other sources of water from the brooder, but make sure at least one of them is using the nipple. The others will follow suit quickly! I've yet to have one NOT use the nipple. Also, these things are soooo much cleaner than a traditional waterer.

 

[featherz]

Quote:
Yep. I put a ball waterer (the kind with the loose ball not the springy ball) in the brooder when they were about 5 days old. One of them pecked it out of curiousity then they ALL started pecking it and I was able to take the nasty bowl waterer out. Worth investing a buck or two at WalMart to try it out. Now I have a nipple waterer also in the pen and they seem to love that thing too. No more bowl and they are all two weeks old now.