Do you have dust?!

[samiam4863]

We're in our 8th year of chickens and about to get another batch of peeps. . We've started the peeps in a stock tank with pine shavings. Unfortunately by the time we can move them to their coop, our garages are caked in a crazy thick layer of dust that takes a week (or longer) to clean up. Does anyone else have this problem? If not (since I see a lot of people starting peeps in their houses), how do you avoid it? We start with 15 peeps at a time. They get moved to their coop at about 6-8 weeks depending on the weather. (Wisconsin is so fickle in spring!)

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I call it Chicken Dust. I've had chicks living in my room before, but it's been years since hand. Boy was my sister ever glad to see them move out! She was cleaning their Chicken Dust for weeks afterwards!

 

[rosemarythyme]

How big is the coop? Do you have space and electricity out there to be brooding outdoors?

I avoid all mess by brooding out in the run. Zero clean up involved that way.

 

[Cindy in PA]

I always brooded in the garage & the dust was horrible. Brooded 8 chicks in the coop last year & I'm never going back!

 

[mcdze]

i try to get them in the coop asap ... theyre generally not too bad until after a couple weeks and then at that point my strategy is 'cover' them with a towel, sheet etc and adjust things so the temp is good covered .. soon after i start putting them in an outside portable wire cage during the day if weather allows and back in the brooder at night .. saves on cleaning the brooder, the wire cage can be sprayed out easy, gets them used to being outside with the other chickens to .. they'll get into the routine of being handled back and forth quick to and that helps your role as the leader of the flock later on ..

 

[samiam4863]

How big is the coop? Do you have space and electricity out there to be brooding outdoors?

I avoid all mess by brooding out in the run. Zero clean up involved that way.

8x12 with a 9x6 addition (including run areas). The inside of the coop is 8x8. We haven't done peeps in it because we keep our older chickens as long as possible for eggs. Looks like we're stuck with chicken dust. . It's also nice to keep the peeps close to check on them. With people raising them in the house I thought we really had to be off base! We're going to try a heat plate this time and maybe it'll help with less activity for the night. We can only hope.

 

[rosemarythyme]

8x12 with a 9x6 addition (including run areas). The inside of the coop is 8x8. We haven't done peeps in it because we keep our older chickens as long as possible for eggs.

Do you cycle out the older birds completely then? Provided you have space enough for the birds you could just raise the little ones in the coop with the adults, even if they won't be around for long after that.

 

[samiam4863]

Do you cycle out the older birds completely then? Provided you have space enough for the birds you could just raise the little ones in the coop with the adults, even if they won't be around for long after that.

We do cycle completely. We've not combined the two so that we avoid any pecking order issues.