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

[Arielle]

Sand sounds like a natural choice depending on the location of the brooder. Mine happens to been in the kitchen and with all the boots dragging in debris already,I'm not ready to actually purposely bring in sand. I would try a sand base for a barn situation. Nice idea.

 

[HEChicken]

A.T. Hagan :

But what I don't understand is why some of you are so resistant to the idea of using shavings when it sounds like from what you've posted above that you have never actually USED them before.

Not sure if you were referring to me, but the reason I don't like shavings is because I HAVE used them. No, I'm not afraid of them being eaten. After sitting for hours observing them, I haven't seen them eat any. What I hate is the clean up and expense. The shavings are messy, smelly, and hard to dispose of. I know, I know, lots of people say they just throw them in the compost. That didn't work for me. I threw them in the compost and a year later they still looked like....shavings. When I added that compost to my vegie garden, I wound up with little bits of shavings all over my yard from the wind picking them up and blowing them around. And, tipping a heavy brooder up to dump the shavings out in the first place? Well, I got tired of doing that. Towels for me are much greener as I can reuse them over and over again. And, since I got them at a thrift store, they cost less than a bag of shavings too.​

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
I have heard the same thing about the shavings. I'm glad that you chimmed in. You have confirmed my reasons/suspicions for not using shavings.

 

[enola]

Wow, am I the only person in the world that puts a wire bottom in their chick brooder?

My chick brooder is a shallow plastic tub witha wire cage set down inside of it. The wire legs keep the floor of the cage above the layer of sand in the bottom of the brooder. The wire is a rat wire, I am not sure of the deminsions of the holes, but fairly small. When the sand is coverec with peep poop, I use a cat litter scoop to remove the clumps of poop.

The constant dust and the odor is what caused me to change to sand !

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
I have used the wire bottom before but I don't like it, so I stick with towels and puppy pads. When the chicks were inside, it was a lot of dust. I moved them in the garage. Sand is a good idea as well. My chicks are only in for a few weeks until they move to the next level of brooders and that is outside.

 

[HEChicken]

Quote:
Sand sounds like a good option. It wouldn't work for me for a number of reasons. 1. I don't have a source so would have to buy it - expense. 2. Hauling it in and out - heavy. 3. When not in use, my brooder hangs on a nail high up in the garage. To use sand I would have to empty it out before storage and then store the sand somewhere else. 4. Disposal - I don't have an easy way to dispose of it, since I don't have clay soil so don't really need it in my garden.

If space were not an issue - I.e. if I could leave a permanent brooder set up in a barn and only have to haul the sand in once and then just leave it there, I'd be interested in giving it a try.

 

[FireTigeris]

rat wire is generally 1/4 inch * 1/4 inch

 

[mkeawsh]

I do towels for the first week and then switch to pine shavings. They so love to scratch and roll around in it. I couldn't deny them that.

We put it on one of our compost piles and will use that one next year. The chickens go through it all summer and get what they want out of it and next year he will till this years bedding into the garden.