Alternative Brooder Bedding Ideas?

[thepremo1]

Quote:
32 weeks!!!
those aint peepers anymore those are chickens fullgrown chickens

I think she meant she has 32 one-week-old chicks.

ahh that makes alot more sence

 

[nanawendy]

Great to know about alternatives to pine shavings. I might try the pellets. The dust is so hard to stay on top of! THANKS

 

[brendapa]

I'm using playground sand for the 1st time and loving it!

No dust, no splayed leg and so far no pasty butts.

I use a screen rolled into a funnel to skim the dropping off the top and fluff it up.
For the feeding area I used that washable shelf liner.

 

[The Sheriff]

My brooder is in my office. Tried shavings, too much vacuuming. Tried sand, too much dust. Tried corn cob, too much stink! Tried pellets, too heavy when wet and difficult for tiny feet. Tried rice hulls, LOVE IT! Bear in mind I use puppy pads for the first week then switch to bedding. They try to eat the rice hulls but spit them out. They love to dig in it and even dust in it. It still gets in the water but doesn't soak up water as bad as the shavings. I bought a huge bag of it and I am going to try it again with this next group due to hatch today.

 

[looptloop]

I agree about the pine pellets, man once those have broken down into sawdust, it weighed a TON. I just put pine shavings in last night and they have made a huge mess with it, covered their food and it's in their water.

I like the sound of rice hulls, where do you get those?

 

[The Sheriff]

Quote:
I bought the rice hulls at the feed store. I did a lot research to make sure they were ok to use. I couldn't really find anything bad so I decided to give it a try. I think the bag was around $16.00. One thing I like is it is easy to vacuum up if they kick it out of the brooder. The shavings clog my vacuum cleaner. Anyway, I haven't found any negatives with using it for chicks and people at the feed store are using it too. It is intended for horse stalls. I also like adding it to my compost pile. It is much better for that than the shavings. The floor of my brooder is slick so I keep a disposable puppy pad down for traction. Without it, they slide around when digging in it. I watched them carefully to make sure they weren't actually swallowing it and all I ever saw was them picking it up and dropping it.

 

[KDbeads]

I've always used sand until this batch, I was out when I brought these home last week. I already use pine pellets for the litter box so I'm trying them.....

After a week I can say I like the sand better. Having hubby bring home some waste sand this week to change out what's in there now.

 

[MoSo]

Quote:
I bought the rice hulls at the feed store. I did a lot research to make sure they were ok to use. I couldn't really find anything bad so I decided to give it a try. I think the bag was around $16.00. One thing I like is it is easy to vacuum up if they kick it out of the brooder. The shavings clog my vacuum cleaner. Anyway, I haven't found any negatives with using it for chicks and people at the feed store are using it too. It is intended for horse stalls. I also like adding it to my compost pile. It is much better for that than the shavings. The floor of my brooder is slick so I keep a disposable puppy pad down for traction. Without it, they slide around when digging in it. I watched them carefully to make sure they weren't actually swallowing it and all I ever saw was them picking it up and dropping it.

This is what my local farm store uses as well - a huge bag of it (larger than a 50 lb bag of dog food, but nowhere NEAR as heavy) was $8.50. My biggest concern was about pesticide residues, but the web is pretty sparse with info.

As far as sand goes, has anyone tried washing it until it rinses clear? That should get rid of silt and clay particles.

 

[KDbeads]

Quote:
I don't wash sand, I get sand directly from a sand mine, preprocessed if it's a loose excavation site or waste/overrun/non-conforming particle size (my last batch was 40/70, this next one will porbably be 20/40). If you buy play sand it has been blasted, excavated, crushed, washed, screened, dried, shipped via haul truck or massive bags on rail before being packaged into consumer sized packaging if not done so straight out of the dryer. Seriously, you don't need to clean it. They already did that at the wash plant and most of the time it''s fairly clean straight out of the deposit depending on where it's mined. It's not going to hurt the chicks to eat it.

 

[cherylcohen]

My broody is sitting on her eggs in a big plastic swimming pool, I'm not sure if this will be ok for a brooder...sounds like I need something taller???

She is sitting on a mixture of dirt/sand/soot and a dusting of pine shavings.