Can I vacuum in the "nursery" while the chicks are in there?

[armedtodream]

Hi, I have a dozen chicks 10-14 days old about & they live in a kiddie pool with chicken wire sides. It's my first time with chicks so I didn't think about having them in something I could move so I could vacuum etc... But here we are & I am wondering if I can vacuum with them in there or if it would damage their hearing or give them heart attacks. Maybe draping a quilt over the "cage" first? If not, I will give in & put them all in a box temporarily but am hoping to avoid the stress of the pack up if the vacuum is tolerable. Thanks so much!

 

[Frannabelle]

I vacuumed my "nursery" today. It scared them for the moment, but they're fine!

 

[packmomma]

I vacuum all the time..at first they are scared but I just go really slow and tell them its ok. Yours will be fine. The more you do it the more they will get used to it.

 

[armedtodream]

Thanks for the encouragement, my son is mortified that it will deafen them & pleaded I sweep until I knew for sure The best place I have found to gather the variety of real world information has been here

 

[al6517]

Yeah I think your fine, of course they do scare easy at first, heck mine scatter in their brooder if I just open the door LOL.

AL

 

[rocky41102]

Mine were super annoyed the first time but after that they didn't seem to mind unless I got the hose part too close to the cage.

 

[sourland]

Don't suck them into the vacuum.

My MIL did that to Chippy the parakeet once upon a time.

 

[armedtodream]

Oh man! I can't imagine sucking one up! I thought that was just for the adoption commercials! Definitely will be careful to keep the hose a safe distance from our little friends Thanks for the confirmation on the vacuuming, now I have enough "evidence" to pacify a 13 year old!

 

[duckking]

My brooder is under one of the speakers of our home theater thing. We watched LOTR last night and didn't even phase them......

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

I usually take advantage of pasty-butt check time to vacuum. I pick each up out of the brooder box, take a quick heiney look, and if ok, put in a small box and grab the next one. A few per box. If not ok and needs washing, a separate box.

When the brooder coop is empty, I move the boxes into another room. Quickly add more shavings or change paper. My kid vacuums real quick (very good at that). I return the clean-butts to the brooder coop, clean the ones needing it, dry them and return them.

Don't like vacuuming while they are in the room because we have a really noisy machine. They don't even like being in a close room. If the feather/chick dust gets too bad and don't need to do a pasty-butt-check, I carpet-sweep.

I'm probably too cautious.