brooder cleaning

[mac_chooks]

I was warned but I'm still amazed at how much poop 4 chicks can make. Those of you with 25 or more, wow.

What sort of cleaning should I be doing? The chicks are on pine shavings and I put down wood to move the waterer and feeder up a little. They still poop in one or the other at least once a day. I'm fine cleaning those out often since they are easy and my 9 yo son actually offered that duty (anything to avoid poop duty).

I found with the waterer I can just run it under the faucet and clear out the pine bits that way as long as there is no poop. The food thing I refill unless they pooped in it.

But the bedding! OMG do they poop everywhere. So do I replace the shavings every day? Like all of it? I have been sort of picking out the poop (with a paper towel in my hand...), stirring it to make the poop drop down and then adding more, figuring I would change out the whole thing weekly.

What do other people do with the pine shavings in their brooders?

I only have 4 chicks so the scale is pretty small, but they are in the dining room so somehow it has to look clean before dinner!

 

[MissPrissy]

You have the right plan going! Stir the shavings up. Then add a new layer if you need to. You shouldn't have to change them daily. About once a week dump them out and add all new bedding.

 

[TheFunnyFarm]

I have 34 chicks in a large horse water tank in the family room with about 4 inches of pine shavings....for a week now . I just stir them up every day .......so far so good still smells like pine shavings..

 

[bigzio]

It depends on how large your brooder is. The larger it is, the more sq ft you have allowing the bedding to stay cleaner longer.
I always like to provide extra room for exercise, that the peeps always use. It also gives the poo a chance to be spread around over a larger area. Creating a cleaner enviornment.

bigzio