Brinsea Brooder and Pine shavings?

[mlpeik]

Hi all-- I am awaiting some new chicks (tomorrow or Thursday) and I had a question. I have the Brinsea brooder, but is it ok to put pine shavings down along with the brooder? Being that it's a heat source? Is there anything better to use? Thank you for the help!!

 

[gardendufus]

It is completely safe. Unlike a heat lamp, the brinsea is a low heat. If you haven't used one before, it basically acts like a heat lamp that the chicks snuggle up under, similar to how they would under a hen.

Here's one of the few pics I have of brinsea on pine shavings (outside in the coop). Also I used it outside in much lower outside temps than 50 and probably as low as 40 inside the coop. The chicks did fine.

When I got the brinsea, some of my chicks were 5 weeks old, some 2 weeks old. I kept the heat lamp in the larger portion of the coop and separated the 5 week olds. The 2 week olds had access to both types of heat and they chose to sleep with the brinsea.

 

[mlpeik]

Thank you so much for the reply and picture!