Chicks eating their poop

[Bonkerelli]

I'm not new to chicks but still their behavior surprises me.

I have 13 chicks roughly 3 weeks old. They poop A LOT! It is to the point I clean out the entire brooder bedding twice a day. Despite them having clean bedding, plenty of food and water, they eat poop. More specifically the softer wet stuff. They go NUTS over it!

My pervious batch of chicks didn't have this behavior. Though their grandpa was a poop eater out of 14 chicks. Skipped a generation?

Any suggestions to curb this gross behavior?

 

[chrissynemetz]

What kind of food do you give them?

 

[3KillerBs]

What bedding are they on? How thick is it?

I find that while they peck poop off the paper towels the first few days, once they're directly on the deep bed of shavings they don't do it much because the poop both dries out rapidly AND mixes quickly into the shavings.

 

[Bonkerelli]

What kind of food do you give them?

Organic chick crumble

 

[Bonkerelli]

What bedding are they on? How thick is it?

I find that while they peck poop off the paper towels the first few days, once they're directly on the deep bed of shavings they don't do it much because the poop both dries out rapidly AND mixes quickly into the shavings.

Pine shavings.. always have. About 1/2" thick.

 

[3KillerBs]

Pine shavings.. always have. About 1/2" thick.

Only half an inch? That's not deep enough for the poop to drop down and get lost out of sight and out of mind.

I use 2-4" of shavings (on top of a layer of straw in the outdoor brooder).