Cat Litter

[rschunk]

I did a search on 'cat litter' and found pages of entries talking about using litter boxes and cats and their problems.

What I was wondering about last night was, has anyone used actual CAT LITTER as partial or full bedding for chicks in brooders to keep the odor down?

If it keeps cat poo 'silenced' it ought to do the same for little chicks, but are there any health issues/dangers associated with using it?

I would think it would be a good solution to keeping the little ones in the house until they 'feather out' since we still have chilly (40-50 degree) nights here in S.E. Indiana.

I wanted to keep them in the enclosed garage but got to thinking when the temp drops they might get too cold even with a lamp. And I really don't want the odor in the house.

 

[sethsleader]

I had this very same thought about cat litter, glad you asked.
I was going to put it in the floor of my coop as I have an 'easy clean' pull out tray but it can get a bit wiffy on a warm day.

 

[Big Chicken Little]

Great question ...can't wait to see the replies !!

 

[BCMominMD]

Yup! I'd like to know too. Anything to get through one more week in the house while the weather warms and the paint in the coop dries!

 

[NancyP]

Most cat litters are comprised mainly of clay so dust content is high which could be an issue also once the litter is wet you have a globby mess.

 

[Uzuri]

And wouldn't the chicks eat it? Then you'd have a real mess. Litter would clump inside them.

 

[ranchhand]

I considered it a while back- but discarded the idea because of the dust and/or chemical odor controllers added, as well as the fact that they might eat it and get impacted.

Also, cat litter doesn't compost, and if you dump it somewhere outside, it will be there forever. The clay doesn't break down in the rain.

 

[noitulover]

chicks are very sensitive and their lungs can be affected by dusts, oils, and other things in the air. newspaper and cedar shavings can cause fatality or severely damage chick's respiratory systems, so i can imagine that cat litter would be harmful.

 

[sjarvis00]

Since cat liter doesn't sound good what about baking soda? It's a good odor absorber, so long as you have a pull out tray so they dont eat it? sorry to ask a question on your post but any alternative is better than nothing.

 

[Uzuri]

Nice thing about baking soda is that you can put it in a box *outside* the brooder where they can't eat it and it works just as well.

When I get home, if I don't forget, I'll go down in the basement and find the name of the air freshener that i use for my cats. It's a little tub that absorbs odors rather than putting out a scent and masking smells, but I can't remember the type right now -- I just know that it works really well on litter box stench XD