Cleaning the brooder

[Mainechick168]

How often do you all clean our your brooders? I have been cleaning mine our every other day or so- I use newspaper, then paper towel with pine shavings on top- I am wondering if I really need to clean it out this often?

ALSO- on a funny note, when I clean it out, I have been putting my 5 chicks in a shoebox, without a cover, and they all would sit fine and wait to be put back in...but today ( they are 2 weeks old now) they all escaped!! I had to get a bigger box. Everyone is getting curious and strong!

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I put down a fresh layer of paper each day so that the chicks are not walking, sitting and pecking at their fecal material. After about 3 days or so I just roll the whole mess up and lay down a fresh layer of paper to start the process over again.

Once everybody is feeding and drinking properly...I go to woodshavings as a substrate until the chicks feather out and are ready to go outside to the coop.

 

[sumi]

Breathing in the fumes from their poop is bad for them, so it's best to do it often. I usually clean every second day or so while they (and the poopies) are still small and more often as they grow older.

I just had this mental picture of you turning around to find an empty shoe box...

 

[CorinneP]

you just want to be careful not to have smoothe paper they need some traction to prevent splayed leggs and feet issues. I do mine pretty often in my tiny baby almost every day .. I use Hay .. My older brooders that are out side I do a little less frequently as the bottom has carpenters mesh and hay and it is raised up so some mess can eak out .. Still you dont want them to be laying in wet bedding .. Clean water and food is so important. And if in your house your nose will know ! I have a screen that I have to keep over when transferring for excapees ..

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Here is the setup that I use for a brooder.

It is a 40 Gallon Breeder Aquarium. The 40 Breeder is a great tank to use for brooding small quantities of poultry. It is a short wide tank, so it offers a good inside floor space for the chicks. Inside the tank I have a stick-on temperature guage and a guage to measure the humidity.

 

[ChickiesInUtah]

We've been cleaning it out every other day. We lay down smooth paper then top it with a layer of shredded newspaper (we just run it through the paper shredder). They seem to enjoy walking around in it, picking at it, moving it around, etc. The only downside I've found to the newspaper shreds is it gets kicked into the water dispenser. I just change it more frequently.

 

[Mainechick168]

I built a large brooder out of plywood- its about 2.5 feet X almost 4 feet- with a cut down old screen door as a top. When I cleaned it out today ( after the escape incident!) I my typical layer of papers, followed by a layer of paper towel and them pine shavings, only to put everyone back in and watch them immediately kick tons of pine shavings into their waterer, and then scratch and pull at the paper towels! I do make sure to give fresh food and water at least once a day. I suppose I'm doing the right amount of cleaning, as I have yet to notice any stink!

 

[highpointfarm]

I clean it whenever it is smelly... When they get to be 2 weeks old, they go outside with a heat lamp....

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I built a large brooder out of plywood- its about 2.5 feet X almost 4 feet- with a cut down old screen door as a top. When I cleaned it out today ( after the escape incident!) I my typical layer of papers, followed by a layer of paper towel and them pine shavings, only to put everyone back in and watch them immediately kick tons of pine shavings into their waterer, and then scratch and pull at the paper towels! I do make sure to give fresh food and water at least once a day. I suppose I'm doing the right amount of cleaning, as I have yet to notice any stink!

That sounds so nice...very cool.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I clean it whenever it is smelly... When they get to be 2 weeks old, they go outside with a heat lamp....

I wasn't able to put them outside until I finished the coop...won't have that problem again.