Alternative to pine shavings

[Brie6895]

I second the sweet pdz. I have this in my brooder as the sole bedding and I love it. Easy to clean, no odors and the chicks love dustbathing in it.

. Where did you get yours from, I looked at tractor supply place and they didn't have any

 

[fiddlebanshee]

It is in the horse supply isle. It is used to keep horse stalls dry.

 

[ken-t]

I live in the west so things are different, My brooder has a wood floor, but I have a leaf shredder I run straw through then put it in the brooder. it absorbs moisture and gives the chicks something to scratch in. I don't like shavings I've had chicks die and opened up the craw and it was full of shavings. As far as I know I'm the only one with that bad luck.

 

[Araucana16]

I may be in the minority here, but I have lost two leopard geckos in the past few months I'd had for years due to inadvertently eating sand. Despite that geckos and chicks are very different, I would still be concerned for them eating the sand...

What I did was put newspaper in the bottom of a recycling bin and then a few sputters of pine shavings, then hay.

 

[Brie6895]

Well one thing I have found out is the sweet pdz is so messy inside. The room I keep them in got dusty so fast and when I say dusty I mean everything was covered! I'm still trying to clean the room and have switched back to pine shavings.

Maybe the pdz will be a life savor in their coop, but as far as the brooder goes, it made more of a mess than it was worth. And it was also hard to breath! I can't imagine it being much easier on them either. Another thing was the water bowl would get dirty so quick from the sand flying in when they are running around. It did help with the smell but just too stuffy in the room.

I have recently heard of using something called aspen shavings. It's suppose to be safer on the chicks than pine and cedar shavings. I read somewhere recently that the pine shavings can make chicks have respiratory problems. I remember specifically choosing pine instead of cedar for that reason, but I guess I was not 100 percent informed. It might not mess with some chicks but I have noticed my chicks sneezing a lot and in the past making a weird clicking noise.

 

[irischick]

I second the sweet pdz. I have this in my brooder as the sole bedding and I love it. Easy to clean, no odors and the chicks love dustbathing in it.

What base do you use for your brooder under the PDZ?

 

[colbychik]

We use a heater pad to keep them warm instead of the heat lamp. Does anyone else use one of these with chicks? The smell with the pine shavings is unbarable after one day and I'm tired of cleaning them out daily