Brooder Bedding....grass or alfalfa based pellets?...

[Stina]

I'm trying to prepare for my chicks to hatch and am trying to decide what to use as a bedding. I've seen some people using wood pellets, and very much like the idea of pellets (I've used them for other animals...newspaper, wood, and grass based pellets)....but don't know how much the chicks may try to eat them. I feel like they would be safer than wood or newspaper if the chicks did eat them, but I don't know if they would intentionally eat a lot of them... Any thoughts?.....

 

[R@ndy]

I often wondered that myself? I would worry about them eating the pellets.

I like the wood shavings myself and haven't had any problems..Nock on wood lol, lol

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

I am still loving the wood pellets for bedding after using it for the first time for over a week. My banties are now 3 wks old and they seem to like it as well.

They smell good - even after a week, dries out the poo within a couple minutes, doesn't get kicked up in the food or water.

I wouldn't use food pellets if I were you. They just might deside to eat them since they smell like food.

Just like with the shavings, use paper towels or puppy pads over the top of the pellets for the first week till the chicks know what the food is.

Best of luck with your new babies.

 

[Stina]

the grass based pellets I'm thinking of are intended as bedding...not food (the alfalfa pellets would be horse feed...)....though I am concerned they might decide that they are food....lol I just don't know if it might be ok for them to eat some of them since it is just grass/alfalfa based... I worry abou the wood/paper being dangerous to injest. I don't like shavings though...I use coconut bedding for my mice, excellent for smell, somewhat antibacterial/antifungal, and pretty absorbent. Could I use that for the chicks?...