Brooder bedding - why didn't I think of this before?

[kelseygirl707]

I use that non slip drawer liner from the dollar store, just throw it in the washing machine as needed and your good to go again.

I tried towels with my goslings, but they just wanted to pull the strings out and I knew they would eat them

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
I have been using old towels (no holes, no rips, no tears) for about 10 years now. Have never lost a chick yet. I change bedding twice a day and have never had a problem. I wonder if that person started off with a torn or ripped towel and failed to monitor their chicks. I do not use towles with holes, rips or tears. Towels is the way to go for me.

 

[HEChicken]

Yeah, actually, having posted this just today, I needed to clean out the brooder and realized I'd used the last towel. Still reluctant to use shavings for all the same reasons, I've now put down newspaper. I would NOT do this for newly hatched chicks but my chicks are now 3 1/2 weeks old and very steady on their feet so I'm no longer concerned about spraddle leg. Our local newspaper delivers a freebie on Sundays and Wednesdays to everyone whether we want it or not, so I always have a big box of newspaper and not enough uses for the stuff. I put down 8-10 layers so future cleanings will simply be a matter of peeling off the top layer. Its been several hours and so far, so good.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
As long as I raise chickens, I will NEVER use shavings. Too afraid they will eat it and it gets stuck in their throat and die. NEVER NEVER NEVER.

 

[onthespot]

I brood in cardboard boxes, and line the bottom with scraps of linoleum. I lay 1/2" x 1/2" wire over that. I grind the Start N' Grow in a blender until it is like cornmeal and I pour it all over the floor of the brooder, so no matter where they fall asleep, if they wake up with the munchies the first week or so, it is right there. They don't even have to stretch their necks to eat. The wire helps with footing. The feed is cheap enough that what they soil and don't eat goes into the garden. I don't bed really deep, just a thin layer. New feed every day, and I spoil them so much, I micro-wave the ground up feed so it will be warm like the beach when they go back into the brooder after it gets cleaned every morning. I figure I waste half the feed used the first week, but it is worth a couple extra scoops of feed to me because they get such a great start.

 

[Sassafras]

Quote:
kelseygirl707, do you put any newspaper over the drawer liner? I like the idea of having the pad of newspaper in there and just pulling off the sheet when needing to clean.

 

[kelseygirl707]

Quote:
kelseygirl707, do you put any newspaper over the drawer liner? I like the idea of having the pad of newspaper in there and just pulling off the sheet when needing to clean.

I don't, but that is for fear of Spraddle leg, I hate splinting chicks.

 

[pamperedpoultry]

Quote:
I used them one year they work great for the first couple weeks after that they start pecking and scratching at them and tear them up but they did work wonderful until then

 

[HEChicken]

Quote:
Hmmm...that's strange. My chicks are 3 1/2 weeks old now and haven't scratched or pecked at them at all. As of today they're just on newspaper and that seems to be working out great too. We had a couple of days here this past weekend where temps were in the mid-seventies so they spent the afternoons outside. They LOVED scratching at the grass in the little chick run I had them in. I'm sure they're missing their outdoor time now that temps have dropped again this week.....

 

[mkeawsh]

Yep, been using old towels for years. Holds in heat and the chicks aren't slipping.