Can I use just newspaper now that they are five weeks old.

[Wyoyell]

New chicken mom here so please forgive any stupid questions. I have five week old chicks and I didn’t use newspaper in the brooder when they were little because they could slip on it so I used pine shavings....as they got older they kept getting so much pine shavings in their water that it was hard for them to drink. But now that they are five weeks old can I stop using the Rubbermaid product that I put on top of the newspaper, that I change out every day, now that they are older. Is it OK to use just the newspaper to make the cleanup each day a little easier. They’ve grown into a duplex, and I’ve added a picture with just the newspaper and then with the Rubbermaid shelf liner and newspaper. thank you very much for all your help.

 

[feathermaid]

Plain newspaper would be way ickier than shavings. I like to use stall pellets for younger chicks in the brooder, but shavings are also better than nothing. The only reason to have newspaper or paper towels as the floor would be to help day old chicks learn to eat food instead of the bedding material, I really believe chickens should be kept with some sort of bedding available. You can raise their food and water up higher on bricks to keep it cleaner. They should be weaned off heat pretty soon anyway and need to go outside. When do you plan moving them out to the coop? I could never stand to keep chicks in the house past 4 weeks old, they are way too messy! I brood in the coop now with a Mama Heating Pad and my chicks are feathered, off heat and integrated with older birds by 5 weeks old. Your brooder looks really small for any more than 2 chicks, and at 5 weeks old you might want to start getting them prepared to go to the coop. Try to get them a dust bath and start introducing them to their future surroundings by bringing in a chunk of sod to nibble on, and take them outside for short "field trips."
Here are my chicks at 2 weeks old


and 3 weeks old



and almost 5 weeks old

 

[Wyoyell]

The boxes are three feet by two feet and they are joined by the opening between them. They usually sleep on the side with the shavings and eat on the other side. We do have extra bricks and I will get those to elevate the food and water. I’m changing their water three times a day because it gets pretty yucky. We have been taking them outside each day in a puppy playpen type device so they can get used to the yard. The coop is almost finished and we will be moving them outside this coming weekend. Thank you so much for your help...

 

[Doc7]

This is why I never use any type
Of waterer except nipples with chicks. Days 0-10 Vertical and on Day 10 switch to the hen waterer for life. A paint pan filled with gravel keeps the coop 100% dry.

the chick water gets refilled without clean water around day 6, and the 5 gallon bucket waterers are dumped and refilled at 7-10 day intervals.

here ya go: