bedding in the brooder..

[Akane]

I think the off brand carefresh sold at places like walmart is called critter care. We used it for guinea pigs for awhile. As far as paper beddings go it's quite cheap. Not quite as absorbent as shavings and far below pine pellets but if your only using it short term for chicks without overcrowding it would work fine. It carries none of the risk of harmful oils like softwood shavings.

 

[lockedhearts]

I have used shavings, since I have a huge pile for my horses anyway, but they do get very stinky very fast. I bought a bag of pelleted pine bedding and plan to clean the brooders tomorrow.
Just wondering if you need to wet it a bit like when it used in horse stalls? I think the pellets will work better for my house brooders, not so sure about the outdoor ones.

 

[Stina]

actual carefresh is a MUCH better bedding than the "off-brand" versions....much less dusty and much more absorbant. Carefresh is FAR more absorbant and odor controling than shavings (still less pelles...but way better than shavings for sure). I hate the offbrand "carefresh"

 

[Akane]

It is much less dusty but the price tag for actual carefresh is just not worth it. The off brand stuff is no dustier than wood based beddings. Personally I don't see much benefit since it also isn't anymore absorbent than wood based bedding and pine pellets have very little phenols left after all the heat treating. I use the pellets without wetting them down but I only use them in pens that are likely to have a large amount of waste and moisture like when I hatched the 100s of coturnix chicks at the same time.

 

[Stina]

I didn't say the carefresh was better than pellets....pellets are definitely more absorbant and have better odor control....I was just saying that actual carefresh and the offbrand versions are NOT the same thing.....though there is a version made by Harlan Teklad that is basically the same as Carefresh and less expensive...but is less common.

 

[Stina]

Here is a photo of my brooder....

The coconut bedding is 1.5-2" deep. I can't imagine the mess with the ducklings if I didn't at least have the water the way I do!

 

[pdpatch]

For the first week we use old blankets, then switch to pine dust/shavings. The dust shavings comes from a pallet making buisness and it's filtered for and dried.

It's about like the material you get from pellets when you sprinkle with water.

Tom