EMERGENCY - Chicks eating bedding!

[ronkonkoma]

I do exactly what you do. I put shavings and cover with paper towels. I change them every few hours but it’s so easy. After a few days they learn what is and isn’t good and then i can go to shavings. Love the paper towels though. If I had your issue maybe I’d try sweet pdz or sand.

 

[Strixnebulosa]

I used large puppy pads for our chicks. Worked wonders.

 

[Karen Glatz]

Also, for grit and green you can take a clod of dirt and grass (and weeds where I live), put it in a low bowl - I use a cat food dish - and put that in their brooder. Fun and games and fine grit. I put it under the water bottle with a chicken nipple on it.

They have fun with the grass and dirt and climbing on it to get to the water bottle and the drips from the water bottle water the grass clod.

 

[pamiejune]

"Sorry to bother you, but i'm panicking and i'm at my wits end here!!

my chicks are two weeks old now, and have been doing well. A few days ago, I tried to transition them from paper towels to pine shavings, but they were just running around eating the shavings, and ignoring their food!"

What are you feeding them? I gave mine chick starter with water added until they were about a month old, then switched to dry crumbles. They did pick at the shavings a bit, so I used larger shavings (one bale I had was almost like sawdust!) and that seemed to help. I also gave them chick grit which they really like.

 

[ALeyva]

I put mine on medium shavings (picture above). Even my big girls were eating the small stuff (that looked kinda like saw dust). One was eating it often and made her eggs taste rubbery .

 

[ALeyva]

This works really well for me. I also fed them Purina Organic Starter Crumbles. Also, I start out day one I get them on it. I never use newspaper or paper towels. Maybe they are eating it because it is something new.

 

[Peep Peep Baby]

sadly, the container is plastic, so I worry that they will just slip everywhere.

Get some plastic shelf liner and put that down. Not the smooth stuff but the bumpy kind that has little holes in it. Then only serve them shock feed and water.

 

[dehowery]

sadly, the container is plastic, so I worry that they will just slip everywhere.

Try using that material that is rubberized you put on your shelves. That's what we used so they fall down, etc. It is thick enough that I don't think they can shred it, At least ours didn't.

 

[Larry Rose]

Well, they seemed to have calmed down with the pine shavings, so I think it'll work out that is for all the support, I was panicking this morning when they were wolfibg down massive pieces of paper towel, but now they seem to be eating their actual food thanks again

My incubator is right next to my brooder. They go from the incubator right into the brooder filled with Pine Shavings. This way they are used to it from birth. I stick their beak into the feeder, then into the water, and never had a problem with them eating shavings. They may eat a little, but it doesn't harm them in any way.