Baby Chicks and pine shavings....

[Thetomsfam]

Hi Everyone, I am new to BYC and a new Chikie mama and have a question about pine shavings. Our chicks our almost a week old and have been on paper towels since we got them. They are little poop machines and I find myself changing their brooder about 4 times a day otherwise they get it stuck all over themselves, since they choose to really let loose where they sleep.. (gross). I really want to get them onto pine shavings, we tried it this morning and it was a disaster. I put them in the brooder and they went nuts and started manically eating all of the shavings they could get their little beaks on. They were in there for about 5 minutes, they would still eat their starter feed but would also chow down on the pine, I mean really eat it. I removed them from the brooder and went back to paper towels. I love these babies, but want an easier and safe solution to this problem... There are 8 of them, 4 black/blue Ameraucanas and 4 buff/gold laced Brahmas

 

[Chicks Galore3]

Even my older chickens eat go crazy and eat new, fresh shavings! As long as they are eating chick food and drinking they'll be fine. After awhile they'll slow down.

 

[RonC]

Use the largest flakes you can find, not the smaller ones. Mine were on them almost all their lives. They were on them when I bought them then for about 3 days I kept them in a bathtub with a towel in the bottom. After 3 days I came in and they were all out of the tub exploring.Then back to shavings in their new broooder. They would peck at them but had no problems. Pecking is how they explore and find out what is food. It's something new so they are going to explore/test it.

 

[CherishHolland]

I used the large shavings my chicks pick them up but can't eat them and boy oh boy they love to scratch around when new shavings are added and for fun I toss a layer of meal worms in the shavings to give them something to find when they scratch.

 

[kim87]

Thank you guys for sharing I just put my babies on pine a couple minutes ago. I held back several days because I was unsure about it...

 

[LukensFarms]

This is a natural chick behavior. Sprinkle chick starter in the shavings so they have something to find.

 

[Prettypuddles]

I am a new chick 'mom'. I picked them up yesterday from the post office. They are only 2 days old so I put them in a rubbermaid bin with paper towels, but that got so dirty so fast. After just a couple of hours they began to smell.
I moved them to their 'dog crate brooder' after a few hours with pine shavings about 2" deep over cardboard on the floor. They were eating their food and drinking their water and 'testing' the pine shavings. I didn't notice any of them eating it. Just picking it up and running around with it. After being in there all night, it still smells good. The pine shavings really absorb the water and the poops dry up so quickly.

 

[Chicks Galore3]

I have a question - how many chicks did you guys get? I have heard many people say the paper towels get smelly dirty really fast. Mine never did. I got 12 chicks.

 

[Prettypuddles]

I have 14, 3 days old now.
When I first got them it only took a few hours on paper towels and it started to smell, although it wasn't horrible yet. I think because the paper didn't dry fast enough. They have been in the shavings all night and day today so far, no smell at all. Also, that new pine smell the bedding had right out of the bag has dissipated, so it is not so strong at all. It seems that the pine shavings dry up the droppings quickly.

 

[RonC]

I had about 6 inches of shavings in my brooder. Built a small run in the yard and would transfer them to the run while I stirred the shavings in the brooder. At first they were ready to come back in. After a couple of weeks they started really liking their "field trip" and it became increasingly hard to get them back in. Glad there were only 6 to herd back into a box to transport them.