Hi All, I am now raising my first flock of chicks ever. I was wondering if those who have done this before could give me some guidelines on how and when to clean the brooder. I have 16 BO in a large brooder, my specific question would be do I need to take all the chicks out, empty the shaving and add new ones? Or is there a better and more realistic way to clean the brooder? Also, an off question, do chicks sneeze?? I think that is what I might be hearing but I am not sure. Thanks
for the first week when they are on paper towels I roll them up and put new ones with the chicks in there, but once they are on shavings it is best to remove them. Chickens don't sneeze like humans, it sounds more like a high pitched squeak.
I clean it out using a dustpan for a scoop. I just pull out the feeders, scoop out slightly more than half of the space (the chicks move to the other half), put fresh litter down, and then scoop and replace the rest (the chicks move again). I'm sure they don't enjoy the process but they are always happy to have fresh straw and I make it up to them by tossing some oats on the clean straw. As for when to do it, I just go by how dirty it looks. I probably change it more than it needs to be changed.
I just do half of it at a time. they get out of the way. My brooder is good size pics on my page. 16 BO wont generate that much waste. how big is the brooder. I usually just have about a 1 inch layer to start and add fresh alittlle at a time every few days stir it up.Dont wait until it stinks but when it gets dirty clean it out, but it should take a while for that many chicks to soil it up unless youve got em in a shoe box.
My brooder wasn't very big (thought it was huge at first and then around 4 weeks old I decided I'd better get them moved into the coop! They needed the space), so I moved the dozen chicks to a smaller box and turned over the bedding in the brooder using a cat litter scoop. Fully removing it to me was kinda dumb cause generally speaking only the bedding on top was soiled. So I just stirred it up every 2 to 3 days. About every 12 to 15 days I did a complete change of bedding. I liked moving them to a different box, I could check each one closely for poopy butt and hold them for a few seconds. When they were about 2 weeks old, I'd let them out in the yard in a dog kennel that had some wire around the sides to prevent escapees while I cleaned. It didn't have a tray in the bottom and they enjoyed being in the grass.
Thanks All, So what I am hear is...a compete change is not necessary often just once in a while. But removing the top layer, turning it, and just adding some to the top is fine. I have 16 BO, the brooder is large. I have the box brooder that when they need more space or get bigger you add another box to give them more space. Basically the brooder grows with them. They seem to really like it.
I'm very obsessive about cleaning the brooder and coop. I scoop out the poop In the brooder about 15-20 times a day with a small plastic dish. I clean the entire brooder every 4-5 days. I add food grade DE the bottom, which helps with odor at this point. I change the water 5-6 times a day and wash the dish every other day. I clean the coop 3-5 times daily scooping the poop with a litter box scooper. When I clean the brooder, I clean 1/2 at a time. I do not like chicken poop at all.lol. My hands are raw from washing them too. I have 5 chicks in the brooder and 3 in the coop.
I put my 11 babies in a small cardboard box or out in a pen outside while I change the shavings out once a day. No sense in making the babies sick!
you will find that some people on here clean up every day and some only do it once a week and some well like me only do it when I HAVE to I used the pine pellet bedding and the chicks were in there for 4 weeks and I never changed it once. That is the great things about the pellets. I added a few pellets here and there around their feeders and their waterers but I just cleaned it out today for the new chicks and it was so much easier to clean than anything I had ever cleaned.
