Bedding options for Baby Wheaten Marans

[Swilso3]

If you do sand you have to get the builder's sand and not play sand. The builders or contractors sand has larger pieces in it and does not get compacted if a chick or chicken consumes some of it. You will find this type of sand in the lumber area of a Lowe's or a Home Depot.

That being said I have used sand, pine shavings, and straw in brooders.

Sand dries up the poop very well, but it does need to be scooped out just like a cat litter box because it does start getting clumpy. If the sand gets wet it will smell really bad, it doesn't even matter how well you clean it. When I used it with my chicks they tipped over their waterer and it just became a huge mess. Also the chicks will fling it around a lot because they will want to do dust baths in it. You could always put in a short cardboard box into your brooder with sand in it so that they could dust bathe in it.

Pine shavings has always been one of my favorites because it keeps the brooder dry and it is a very good bedding for them. It also doesn't ever get that nasty smell if it gets wet.

Straw I will never use again for any type of bedding and I only use it in nesting boxes. It just doesn't keep anything dry because it does have a coating on it that doesn't allow it to absorb.

I am trying these new pine pellets today with my chicks because I have heard very good reviews about them. They are supposed to be like the pine shavings, but a lot less mess. Pine shavings can get quite dusty.

We have free hay so i just tried that with my new baby chicks. I smash it down and it has worked well.

 

[Self sufficient chickens]

use it for the full grown chickens.

I feel that day-old chicks could choke on that. It is somewhat like micro shavings

 

[Self sufficient chickens]

I smash it down and it has worked well.

That's cool, thanks!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We dissected the 6 that died and found that the crops were full and had some pine shavings in them.

To revive them, we put them on ice. We could not see how it could be temperature related because they had an area that was room temp (65ºF).

I'm sorry, but this sounds like it might have been a temperature issue. The following is from Tractor Supply:

Chicks need to be kept in a warm place until they are fully feathered. The temperature at the bottom of the brooding area should be 95-100 degrees for the first two weeks and then reduced 5 degrees each week until chicks are a month old.Jul 30, 2019.

This was what we did for our baby chicks last year and had no losses.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

As for bedding, last year we used the pine shavings with no problems. They were on a gravel floor in the well house. But this year we are going to brood in a plastic tub in the house to start with, and will probably use shredded paper. This won't be newspaper but office paper, as we have an unlimited supply. I'm getting two tubs to make it easier to clean, I'll just transfer the chooks into a prepared clean tub every day. I'm not lazy, I'm efficient, lol!

 

[Self sufficient chickens]

Thanks

 

[Swilso3]

As for bedding, last year we used the pine shavings with no problems. They were on a gravel floor in the well house. But this year we are going to brood in a plastic tub in the house to start with, and will probably use shredded paper. This won't be newspaper but office paper, as we have an unlimited supply. I'm getting two tubs to make it easier to clean, I'll just transfer the chooks into a prepared clean tub every day. I'm not lazy, I'm efficient, lol!

The plastic tubs work great and stay warm. I put 2 kitchen chairs facing each other and put the light on the back of the chair so they stay cozy warm. They can fly in 5 days so hubby made a screen top to fit the plastic tubs

 

[Ghosty]

I use pine flakes from TSC as well.
I start chicks/keets on it with no issues. It is my favorite bedding for the brooder and in the coop.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...co-flake-premium-pine-shavings-covers-8-cu-ft

 

[Self sufficient chickens]

Also... They are in a plastic brooder container, the lid is left slightly off to allow some circulation.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Also... They are in a plastic brooder container, the lid is left slightly off to allow some circulation.

Uh... that's a bad idea. They need ventilation. I absolutely would not have the lid on, replace it with wire mesh instead.