Corn cob bottom or shaving bottom?

[newtothis]

When I got the chicks they said to use corn cob's (you buy a bag and it's dried out) on the bottom for the chicks. Most brooders I see have some type of shavings. What is best? I also read sand as an option. I need to buy more of something so insight is appreciated.

 

[RAWR]

personly, i like the corn cobb bottom
but the shavings work just as well

 

[Mattemma]

I used shavings when I could find the ones that were not like saw dust.I would like to try the cob or swheat scoop(cat litter),but worry they would eat it.

 

[RAWR]

the thing i dont like about the shavings is it gets everywhere and junk.
the corn cobs are heavyer and dont really go everywhere
how big are the chicks??

 

[bel]

I've not used corncob for the birds but used it for a while when I had a lot of pet mice. Have to warn you corncob mold VERY easily, which is why some people dont recommend them for birds because birds have very sensitive respritory tracts and tend to get the bedding wet. Even for mice I switched to shavings because they are much cheaper, lighter, require less storage space because they are compressed, and don't mold and mildew so fast like corncob does.

I purchased a bag of the hartz corncob from walmart once when a waterbottle dumped and it was too late to go to petco to get the good brand and as soon as I poured it in the big mouse tank was hit by a strong mildew smell, had to catch all the mice and put them in a carrier while I cleaned the new bedding out. It was a brand new bag and already mildewed.

Aside from that, I wonder if chicks would eat it since its close in color to feed? I'm not going to try it, have some gigantic bags of shavings they are so much easier, and with as far as they spread its about 1/4 the price.

 

[RAWR]

Quote:
i had not thought about that :O
that makes since

 

[City Gardener]

We used shavings, but all of our chicks ate them constantly. I've read since then that you can put burlap over the shavings, which I will try next time.

 

[RAWR]

maybe you could mix them..,,....

 

[newtothis]

The chicks are a week old today. They don't seem to be eating it as their food is much smaller than the corn cobs. When they go into their hen house what do you use there?

 

[bel]

Quote:
Were they newly hatched? they seem to bite everything at first, one of mine even tried biting his own toe, he let go so he could peep loudly. I read to put them on papertowel first until they learn what its food, mine are on rubber shelf liner over paper towel right now (the paper towel absorbs fluid through the holes in the rubber shelf liner so the droppings dry fast.