I have 13 cornish x's and 13 egg-leyers (Orpingtons, Australorps, and Rocks) in the brooder. They are separated by a partition down the middle. The egg-layers are good at scratching the pine shavings/dirt/etc... and keeping their area dry and non-smelly, but the cornish x's are not doing this much and making a big poop mess. I have been mixing in new shavings and mixing it all up to hep dry it out, but it isn't stopping the problem. The brooder is in our house - we don't have an outside place for them where the cold temps are not a problem. Is there anything to help fix this - some kind of powder or something? I know this is probably a 'meat chicken' topic, but that group gets relatively low traffic and this is getting bad fast - besides I'm sure any chicken type can have stinking litter issues. Also, the stink is not an amonia smell - just not a good smell - maybe a little soury sweet? Hard to describe, but not amonia and not good. Could this be fermintation of the droppings and pine shavings? Anyway, they are only 2 weeks old and it will be another 2 or 3 weeks from what I understand before they will be ready to go out. I still have to build a shed, then move stuff into the new shed from the coop to be, then modify the coop to be - to be a coop. Any ideas would be good! Thanks in advance!
When mine were still in the brooder box i'd take them out and dump out the soiled shavings. You can dump them in you garden or on/in a compost. Then just put in nice clean shavings for them. Need to take care they don't get too cold while making the change, but I never had a problem. Maybe some more experienced people could have a better answer for you. Good luck!!
I'll vote for changing the shavings. I always do mine every other day and I usually don't have any stink problems.
I've had to change my shavings twice a week to keep the smell down. My chicks are 4 weeks old and I had to do that from 2 weeks on... Andy
I thought of that - I guess I was trying to attempt the 'deep litter system' on the brooder, but maybe that needs to wait until they are in the coop I think I'll be heading to brooder in a few to start re-locating chicks for a little bit! Chicks are going to be upset with me Oh, well, they'll get over it 8) Thanks!
Mine did not like getting relocated during the cleaning process either. I popped them into the bathtub...made it easy to clean up. They seem to really let loose while they are out of the brooder. Andy
All done - cleaned out the whole thing down to the plastic and put down new pine shavings. Much better! Thanks everyone!
I just thought I'd mention that you'll find it won't matter how often you change the messy brooder for Cornish X's. They are meat birds and pooping machines. I would recommend moving them out by 3 weeks with a heat lamp outside. That is what we do with those. By the time they are 6 weeks, they'll be just about ready for processing and much too big for a brooder. The other breeds you can keep in longer safely and with less smell. Jody