Duckling Bedding?

[Bleenie]

Speaking of double useage! The stall pellets that I use break down after a while and I empty them into our old pig pen area & spread them out. After about a week of rain & sun they start to grow grass, nice, lush, green grass... lol. they make great fertilizer and because they break down they're real easy to mix in with dirt.

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[Miss Lydia]

Bleenie what are stall pellets? can they be bought at Tractor Supply. I've never heard of them till you mentioned it. I do buy sweet pdz to use in their house.

 

[nettie]

I prefer Horse stall pellets (or if you have access to wood stove pellets with out accelerate) those works great. I expand them for ducklings by misting it with a little water from a spray bottle, making it soft and fluffy. I raised several ducklings on this and it worked better than any shaving. Shavings are sharp, can cut feet, which can cause bumblefoot (How my duck got bumble when she was little) and they don't really absorb much... The pellets do a much better job absorbing. then if they seem to poop in one spot, you can just scoop out the one section. We used to fill the bedding a little higher and scrap off the top layer every day and change it all out one a week. It works great.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

I have not had any duckling babies in years..and can't remember what I used....I am going to get some this spring and was thinking about using confetti/scraps of paper from the shred bin. will this work?

 

[Amiga]

It might. When it gets wet it gets really gooey, doesn't it? I remember papier mache.

Depending on how many ducklings you have, I like Wifezilla's setup. A search of the forum will probably turn that up - there are pictures along with the explanation.

 

[Miss Lydia]

is this it? https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1739361
that is an awesome set up.

 

[Bleenie]

I am sure Tractor Supply sells them, all feed stores sell them around here. They are horse stall pellets, pellet bedding or pellet fuel(no accellerate). you can ask if they have anything like that and read the package to make sure it's safe, the stuff i buy is simply compressed sawdust pellets.

Like nettie said, you can mist them and break them down before you put them in the brooder too, i like to put them in whole and let the babies break them down on their own, they seem to last a little longer and absorb more of the poo and smell. I also use these in my chicken & adult duck coops(mixed with straw).

 

[Amiga]

Miss Lydia, yes that's the brooder!

And I use the compressed sawdust pellets, too, under the straw in the basement coop, and in the splash catcher to absorb spilt water.

I didn't use it in the brooder just because that would not have worked well with my setup.

In retrospect, I could have used it in the smaller splash catchers - but I did not know about it.

 

[Doug the Chicken Man]

Would they be simular to the cat litter compressed wood pellets?

 

[dumb_cluck]

I use newspaper and on top hay and/or straw. I don't like shavings because they can eat them.