Chicks Eating Newspaper

[CorderMama]

Hi Friends. I have three week old chicks in a horse trough-brooder. I line the bottom with newspaper and top with pine shavings. It makes cleaning three times a day very easy. The problem is that the water makes the newspaper wet and the chicks seem to be eating it! They have chick grit and chick feed in abundance but the type on the newsprint looks like bugs (maybe?). Is this harmful? I thought about skipping the newspaper and just using the shavings but it makes the brooder much harder to keep clean. Baby chicks poop ALOT!

 

[Acre4Me]

They will peck at a variety of things. Some people use old towels, or shop towels like you can buy at walmart, etc - so you could put that under the shavings, then use it to toss the dirty shavings, and shake out the towel, hang up to dry to re-use for chicks the next day. Of course, when they are out of the brooder, you can wash however many of the towels you used. Just cut off any stray threads - you don't want them pulling at threads then getting them stuck in their crop.

You can use large paper towels, but might have similar problem.

I've used puppy pee pads, which are absorbent and backed with a thin layer of plastic, but chicks might peck at it too, as it can be picked apart by skilled chicks. I only use puppy pee pads for the first few days.