Lol I am just trying to build what they need till it is time to join the flock outside. Now how does this sound for bedding. Non slip mats like what goes under your silver holder, pine shavings on top of that paper towels on top of that for the first few days then remove paper towels.. Or should I just use the non slip mats for first few days and then add shavings? Sorry guys I am just trying to do this right. My gma never brooded she let the hens do it lol so this is my first brooding.
8 wks is kind of a long time to be brooding chicks. I have heard that they are actually more hardy if they go outside sooner, than if they are brooded inside for too long - but I've never brooded indoors past four weeks so I can't verify if that is true. My last batch were outside full-time by the time they were two weeks old and my most batch were moved outside full-time at 12 days old. They are still only 16 days old and when I saw on the thermometer this morning that it was only 47 degrees, I wondered how they had fared overnight but when I went down to see them, they couldn't have been happier. Chicks are definitely more hardy than we sometimes give them credit for. They spent the night in the coop with no heat. With 15 of them they are able to snuggle together and share warmth but they really do seem to be doing just fine.
I've brooded on a variety of materials. Are we still talking bathtub and that's why you're doing the non-slip mats? I haven't brooded in a bathtub so that might work fine. I used to use pine shavings but found them difficult to dispose of. If I put them in the compost, the wind would take and blow them everywhere, plus they decompose very slowly. Yet I didn't feel right just throwing them away. So I switched to old bath towels and I really liked using those. I would change them out as needed and after letting them dry, shake them outside and most of the poop flew right off. Then I'd save them up until I had enough for a load and they'd come out clean and ready for re-use. The last two batches I have brooded on straw and so far I am liking it the very best. It absorbs liquids and odors better than anything else I've used and there is almost no odor or dust.
Mine spend the first few days in a Rubbermaid tub and and a couple of layers of paper towels is enough. I haven't ever had a chick try to eat shavings either. I use a metal lid to a gallon glass jar for feed and water at first, I've never at one drown. I've been really laxed I think compared to others, they just seem so incredibly smart and act like chickens right after hatching. Except for sleeping, they fall asleep so cute. Check out this one sleeping standing up, cracks me up...
I am not doing the bathtub I have a large cardboard box and a large plastic pet taxi that makes 13 sq ft of floor space. Everywhere that I am reading says put pine shavings and then paper towels or burlap ontop so they dont peck at the shavings and eat them and get clogged up. I already have pine shavings because I mix it with my straw in the nests. I do like the towel idea, I could use them the first few days and then switch to shavings..
