Dustless bedding help

[Oldhenhens]

I’ve been reading different posts and now I don’t know what to do. I have one of those fold up brooders that have a zip mesh top. I have been using it pretty much nonstop since November. It is inside and the dust that has been accumulating is awful! I don’t know if it is coming from the chick feed or the bedding. I use the larger size pine shavings. I can dust the surfaces but I’m so worried about how much is being pulled into the furnace and what damage it may cause.
Typically I raised my day old chicks in a stock tank in the barn so the dust isn’t a problem but it’s my first time for cold weather chicks. I currently have 12 eggs in the incubator and would like to figure out a better bedding option before they hopefully hatch in a couple weeks!
Can anyone give me advice on what they do for inside brooders and how to cut down on the dust? Thank you!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Chicks are extremely dusty - look at all the down they lose, not to mention the keratin sheaths as new feathers start coming in.
Your source of dust is coming from the chicks themselves, the feed and shavings.
I'm sure it's in your furnace and all over the house.

Where is your location, how cold is cold?
Puppy pads may help, but you aren't going to cut much dust because the chicks are shedding everywhere.

IF I have chicks inside, they go out in a week or so, but I generally don't hatch until the weather is more suitable to brooding them outdoors. If you are going to continually hatch year round, then consider making a place outside like in a shed or barn where you can still provide heat and protection, but don't have all that dust inside.

 

[Jeanna Marie]

A sheer curtain used as netting across the top of the brooder if you are using a heat plate

 

[Jeanna Marie]

If the brooder is next to a window, a box fan pointing outward will push the dust out the window

 

[Oldhenhens]

Chicks are extremely dusty - look at all the down they lose, not to mention the keratin sheaths as new feathers start coming in.
Your source of dust is coming from the chicks themselves, the feed and shavings.
I'm sure it's in your furnace and all over the house.

Where is your location, how cold is cold?
Puppy pads may help, but you aren't going to cut much dust because the chicks are shedding everywhere.

IF I have chicks inside, they go out in a week or so, but I generally don't hatch until the weather is more suitable to brooding them outdoors. If you are going to continually hatch year round, then consider making a place outside like in a shed or barn where you can still provide heat and protection, but don't have all that dust inside.

Thank you for your comments! I forgot about the bird dust too! Good point.
I’m in Missouri and we have been in the deep freeze here which is why I’ve been using the brooder inside instead of the barn. If I’m lucky to get any of the shipped leghorn egg to hatch they will be in the brooder for a shorter time then going to the barn with heat.
My next batch of chicks won’t be until May and the brooder in the barn will be just fine with the heat.

 

[Oldhenhens]

If the brooder is next to a window, a box fan pointing outward will push the dust out the window

It is much too cold here for an open window.

 

[gtaus]

I don't know where you live, but here in northern Minnesota, I usually brood my chicks out in the garage where the spring time temps are in the 30F's at night. The chicks do just fine with a couple of heat lamps in the garage brooder. I don't have to worry about a little dust out in the garage.

Our house vac has brush attachments, which I think could be used to dust a brooder and suck up most of the dust in your enclosed brooder before it gets air born in the house.

Depending on your brooder setup, I wonder if you might be able to take advantage of a shop dust collection system, using a shop vac and filters. Run it periodically to clean the air as needed in your enclosed brooder, and certainly when you surface dust the brooder. I would think that would take up most of the dust before it ever got to your furnace.

If that much dust is in the air inside the house, I would be more worried about my lungs than the furnace filters. I'll be reading this thread to see what options others come up with and hope someone can offer you a solution that works for you.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If that much dust is in the air inside the house, I would be more worried about my lungs than the furnace filters.

My feelings exactly. The dust can come from dander (bits of dried skin and down) and their scratching anything dry. That dry stuff may be feed, bedding, or even their poop if it gets dry.

I don't know of any realistic way to stop that dust. You might be able to minimize it if you can contain it. That might be in a spare bathroom, bedroom, closet, or maybe the basement if you can keep the door closed but you'll have a clean-up when you move them out.

I don't know what you have in outbuildings. If you can't use the barn do you have a workshop or shed with electricity and that you are OK with the dust? They'll still make dust but it won't be in your house. As mentioned maybe in a garage, either attached or detached. Could you build a brooder for your porch? The chicks don't care how cold it is outside, all they need is a warm enough place in the coldest of weather and a cool enough place in the warmest weather. The other requirements are protection from predators and protection from weather, especially wetness.