Dirty belly?

[Littlechick]

I have 26 week old chicks in a large plastic bin. I change their padding (layer of oak sawdust, layer of newspaper, covered with paper towels) twice a day. I just went to change it and I noticed several of the chicks have matted feathers on their bellies. I checked all their vents, no problems there. Do I need to worry about their bellies being dirty? I know they need to be clean, but I don't know what else to do to ensure they keep out of the poop, and boy are they pooping a lot.

 

[farmergal]

I only use paper towels for the first couple of days -- while they're learning to eat food and not litter. After that, they're such poop machines that you'd have to change the paper towels every hour to keep them clean! If I were you, I'd switch to pine shavings... that's what most folks on BYC seem to use. The pine shavings keep the smell down, and clump around the poop so that it doesn't end up on bellies and feet.
Some folks also use hay or grass clippings, but I don't have experience with that.

 

[swtangel321]

Quote:
I think I would be more concerned about the sawdust !!!!! Make sure they dont start eating that and not there food (they look alike)

 

[Littlechick]

Quote:
I think I would be more concerned about the sawdust !!!!! Make sure they dont start eating that and not there food (they look alike)

With the newpaper and paper towels, there's no way for them to get to the saw dust. Trust me, I made sure of it. I did take Farmer's advice, planed some pine 2X4's, and put that in there. They seem to be doing better with that. The poo is not as....there.

 

[swtangel321]

Thats good that you put them on shavings !!!!! Its much easyer to keep clean that way and yes the poop hides a little better, Plus news paper really isent good for chicks to be on.... Yah know you can buy a bag of pine shavings at your local feed/hardware store for about $5.00