Cleaning Routine Brooder and Beyond

[Heidizzybean]

I have 10 chicks in my 4' by 2' red tub with the light right over their heads. I probably will clean it tonight or tomorrow night.

BTW - I bought these little fuzz butts on Sat. morning. Just have stirred it up and added a couple handfuls of shavings a day for them.
Just realized that I'll need to buy another bag of shavings to make sure I have enough. For them and the chickens in the coop.
And...... my broody hen's eggs are beginning to hatch!! Heard several loud cheeps and she lifted up enough for me to see 6 eggs a
rockin' an' a rollin' under her!!

 

[sacchick]

I have 6 chicks about 3 weeks old. My brooder is a 3 x 2.5 foot cardboard box. I have been using paper towel bedding two layers thick and I roll it up, toss it in my compost bin, and put a fresh double layer down once a day. I wash the waterer and give fresh water once a day. The feeder stays clean as I have it elevated on wooden blocks. I just fill it every day. I sprinkle a little some chick grit around.

Wow mine were practicing all sorts of chicken behaviors like scratching around and dust bathing at 2 weeks. They might want something other than paper towels at this point. I have a 4'X3' with 4 chicks...They will be 4 weeks tomorrow and yesterday they spent their first night out in the coop! CA weather!!!

 

[Tappy4me]

We used paper towels for the first few days to make sure poos looked ok and that they were eating and drinking well. Once we added shavings, the shenanigans began! Today (they're about a week old for the older ones) they started trying to dust bathe in the shavings! They've been kicking shavings and scratching almost since day 1 haha.

 

[grampsjim]

We just graduated our 6 babies to a larger brooder which is a 4x4 cardboard furniture box. The hubs made a cover and a perch for them. The cat can't get to them and they are having a time learning to perch, scratching and "dust" bathing. I changed everything every 2-3 days in the smaller brooder, but now I think I can wait a bit longer. We put a large cardboard piece that we covered with a trash bag into the bottom before we covered it with pine shavings. Their water jar and feeder is put on blocks about 3-4 inches which helps in keeping the debris at a min. They are 2 weeks old this Wed. and are growing like little weeds. They love their snacks, too.
I give them grapes chopped up and hard boiled eggs chopped. I don't do it often though because they need their chick starter. Oh, I hung some large leaf lettuce from a string just low enough for them to jump and peck. They completely demolished it!

 

[Loc20chick]

I moved my 4 wks and 3 wks chicks to a 4x5 coop in the garage with a lamp, they were getting too dusty, I only plan to clean it once a week, I used to clean their brooder every couple of days and it was ok. They've grown so big in just a few weeks.

 

[Beekissed]

I brood from day one out in the coop in a haybale brooder, using the deep litter I've been cultivating for almost 2 yrs, so no cleaning of the brooder at all....everything gets incorporated into the litter and composted right in place.

So, no cleaning chores for brooder or coop....ever. The extent of any "cleaning" of poop is to take a pitchfork and lightly toss bedding on top of the poop under the roosts about every other day.

Chick feeder is up out of the bedding and doesn't get cleaned either...just more feed added as necessary. Water is in a nipple bucket, so it doesn't get dirty...it doesn't get refreshed for the two weeks they are in a brooder unless it would be hot weather, which it rarely is....I'm usually not brooding chicks in hot weather.

At two weeks the brooder gets opened and they integrate with the big flock and can go out to range if they like or stay in the coop and explore, whatever they choose. They go back to their corner to sleep each night until they no longer need a heat source, then that is removed and they use body heat for that. They form their own little flock and society and most often they will just live at the edge of the woods in the weeds all day long, feeding along the edge, melting into the weeds at any threat and then return to the coop for their one meal a day and later to go to sleep.

 

[JaceAgain]

I have a 4x4 xpen that I have 5 chicks in, 2-4 weeks. I just add some more shavings once a week, and have some DE mixed in.

 

[onebigglo1]

My mom has a garage apartment that no one was living in so I put about 4 layers of newspaper down in the bath tub and put my 12 chicks in there. I have a chair by the tub with my heat lamp clamped on it that I can raise or lower as needed. I just recently put the feeder on a pole going across the tub to raise it some because a found a chick inside the feeder. I will do this with the waterer when I find something to lower it a little. I have one EE chick that was to small to reach. I remove the waterer each day and clean it and put down clean newspaper. I haven't used any shavings or sand, although the sand does sound like a good idea. The bathroom was the perfect place because I can close the door and nothing can harm them. I will be moving them out into the grow-up pen in another week so my new hatchlings can take their place. I have a bunch of mutts that are all different colors but as long as they eggs, it's all good.

 

[TheDens]

I have four two week olds in a 50 gallon tote. I put down three layers of new paper towels every morning. At night before bed, I pull out the top layer, in the morning I change the rest. I also wash out the waterer every morning, but they're on tetracycline so I have to mix up a new batch every morning whether I want to or not.

 

[sheryl0039]

I clean mine weekly if not sooner depending on wet weather!