Brooder bedding

[RedDrgn]

We used paper towels for a week and then went to pine shavings. I don't know about your pine shavings, but at the feed store where we bought ours they had two types; really big and rather small. We got the smaller type (which were still too big for them to eat), thinking they'd be softer/easier on their feet. Well, the chickens never told us how their feet were, but they were terribly dusty! We got the large shavings the next round and no more wood dust problem.

As for the epic quantities of dust that the chicks themselves produce from all of the their new feather growth, well, that goes on forever.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I don't think wood chips would be a problem. Like reddrgn, I use paper towels until I know they know what food is then switch to shavings.
Chickens just generate lots of dust.
I get them outside as soon as possible. If I have a lot like 25 or 50 they're in the coop (brooder house) from day one.
If I just have a few I have them in the basement for a week or 2 and then they go out.

 

[TinyChickenLady]

Well I put the pellets in 2 days ago. I also added their treat bowl at the same time so they wouldn't get confused or try to eat the pellets.
They are doing so good!

They haven't eaten any pellets and it has cut down on changing their food and water ALOT!
They did get a couple in their water but it had no smell and was very easy to clean. After the pellets get wet, they expand and then break up so it looks like a powder mixed in the water.
But I've only had to clean out their water once. Their food hasn't had to be cleaned out at all. I've only had to add to them

I'm calling the pellets a success!

 

[PegramPoultryProprietor]

I have a two week rotation on brooders, and cages. In the brooder I use paper towels and I change them once a day the first week, twice a day the second week. The reason I use paper towels is that when the babies are young I can keep crumbles sprinkled around the feeder so there is plenty of food available and nothing other than poop to confuse it with. By the second week they are pretty much trained to the feeder but the mess requires a twice a day cleaning. After that I move them to a ¼” mesh hardware cloth bottomed cage. It seems they eat anything and everything at that age so it keeps messy food away from them and the down coming off has some place to go. Once again, nothing to be confused with feed. Finally after 4 weeks I move them to cedar shavings. I know there are some who don’t like them as much as pine shavings but they are in my basement and the less they smell the longer I will be allowed to keep them there. Now they are old enough to know the difference between food and bedding. I‘ve never lost a baby to having eaten something they shouldn’t.

 

[SteveBaz]

Sorry but I think in the brooder you need either straw or pine chips. It is very easy to manage for me

 

[jmtcmkb]

They are working for me now! I took someones advice here on BYC covered them in paper towels for a day, today I removed the paper towels and they are working great, no more trying to eat them. I did put paper towel under because they love to scratch/dig and they will slip on my brooder floor.

 

[dmoffett]

Crushed corn cobs sounds like a good idea.
Where do you purchase them in bulk?

 

[artsy1]

I use coastal hay and it does absorb alot...........works good for me

 

[JellyBeanCee]

Quote:
I didn't think the cedar vs. pine thing was about personal preference, I thought the oil in the cedar is toxic to the chickens. Or so I've read on here in numerous places. But I am NOT an expert at all.

 

[Melissa Rose]

So do I. I bought a block of the pine chips but it seems so hard and brittle for their feet. I have nice soft green coastal hay I have been keeping them on. The more I read the more I think they can get an impacted crop from this? Why can they eat grass but not soft dry hay?


Quote: