First ever baby chicks: Six Days In. QUESTIONS and PICTURES

[BantamoftheOpera]

I am so so appreciative of all your advice and wisdom.

I will say that I am not afraid of letting my chickens touch the pine shavings, but I did not realize that it was necessary. For a brooder we are using an old charcoal grill (It is very large). It has grates on the top where I am able to rest the heat lamp, and grates on the bottom where the chickens walk. Under the bottom grate it has a pull out drawer where I have the pine shavings. This makes cleaning the brooder so much easier without having to move or disturb the chickens. The metal that the grate is made of is much much thicker than wire, and they actually seem to have a very firm footing. I also have added a fairly large piece of cardboard on one half of the brooder, under the feeder so I don't lose so much feed when they scratch it out, and they are enjoying the new surface to walk on.

Having said all of this, however, I will tell you that the bottom grates are easily removable and I plan on going home tonight and removing them so the chicks set right on the pine shavings. I had always intended of doing this, even before reading your posts, but they were just doing so good on the grate, I thought I would keep the ease of cleaning.

Being so new to chickens I have been trying to absorb as much information and direction as I can, and then rightly divide it. As so many people and books talk about the importance of proper sanitation for your chickens to guard against disease and vermon, I thought it would help that they weren't touching their poop, and that I change it about every other day, and sine Orscheln was keeping them on a similar system that I was, I thought that was great. I am, by no means, trying to argue with anyone here, just trying to let you know the thought process that led to my decisions. I value all of your advice, wisdom, and knowledge so much.

Thank you all.

Any more advice for me?

That's what BYC is all about! You ask, receive information, sort through it, and apply the best information for your needs. Just remember to keep asking questions and read other's questions and you will learn a ton!

 

[newchickenista]

We got our chickies on the 24th, too!

Others have done a great job helping you out, but I thought I'd touch base on a recommendation for an excellent book. I have found, "The Small-Scale Poultry Flock" by Harvey Ussery, to be an invaluable resource! I have other great books, but this one stands out above the rest. You can check it out on Amazon and read the reviews for it there.

Thanks so much! I will check that book out for sure!

 

[newchickenista]

The babies are about 12 days old now and doing great, growing like weeds! Their wings are fully featherd, and they are strong strong flappers!

They have been directly on the pine shavings for about 3 days now and they seem to have really taken to it! I had a little bit of trouble the first day with them kicking shavings into their water dish. It would only take 5 mins for their water dish to completely plug up. I am at work all day and am not available to change their water every 5 mins. To remedy this I elevated the water and food off the shavins about a half inch and that has seemed to eliviate the problem almost completely.

In addition to this, I went out into the middle of our yard and found a nice patch of lush long clover that the mower hadn't touched yet (in Southern Oklahoma its been 75 and 80 degrees during the day and our grass is growing nicely) and dug up about a 3" x 3" chunk of clover, broke off a great deal of the dirt so it didn't stand too tall, and placed it in the brooder. For the first 2 hours they were terrified of it. For the next 3 hours they were tolerant of it. Ever since then, they absolutely love it. So much so that its time to raplace it!

So, for the most part, I think we are doing good. I think I am going to go today and get some fine chicken grit and start them on that this afternoon.

 

[OkChickens]

The babies are about 12 days old now and doing great, growing like weeds! Their wings are fully featherd, and they are strong strong flappers!

They have been directly on the pine shavings for about 3 days now and they seem to have really taken to it! I had a little bit of trouble the first day with them kicking shavings into their water dish. It would only take 5 mins for their water dish to completely plug up. I am at work all day and am not available to change their water every 5 mins. To remedy this I elevated the water and food off the shavins about a half inch and that has seemed to eliviate the problem almost completely.

In addition to this, I went out into the middle of our yard and found a nice patch of lush long clover that the mower hadn't touched yet (in Southern Oklahoma its been 75 and 80 degrees during the day and our grass is growing nicely) and dug up about a 3" x 3" chunk of clover, broke off a great deal of the dirt so it didn't stand too tall, and placed it in the brooder. For the first 2 hours they were terrified of it. For the next 3 hours they were tolerant of it. Ever since then, they absolutely love it. So much so that its time to raplace it!

So, for the most part, I think we are doing good. I think I am going to go today and get some fine chicken grit and start them on that this afternoon.

Howdy Neighbor!

I also raise all of my chicks on Shavings. I have a few 2x8 Breeding pens with Pairs that are shavings as well. As for them kicking shavings into the water try cutting a piece of Plywood or cardboard to go underneath it. I will post a few pictures later tonight.

Nate

 

[thatbethchick]

I raise my chicks on shavings and layer new shavings over soiled. After the chicks are out of the brooder, the soiled shavings start a new compost pile.

 

[jecombs]

I'm am fairly new to chicken-keeping, so my opinion could be totally off-base... That being said, here's my 2 cents.

There are advantages to the grate method for sanitation reasons. Obviously, it makes it easier to clean the brooder and keeps the chicks from walking in their own poo. However, there does seem to be an increased risk of injury to the chicks and my concern is that it also keeps the chicks from engaging in natural, instinctual behaviors like scratching and taking dust baths. In my experience, animals who aren't able to engage in behaviors that are genetically programmed in them are not very mentally healthy animals. I want my chicks to be able to scratch around in the dust, because it's probably a stress-reducing behavior for them.

 

[OkChickens]

Here are a few pictures of my feeders and waterer in my day old to 2 week old brooder. They are scrap pieces of plywood from building breeding pens the last few days. When they get soild I hose them off with a high pressure sprayer and let put them back in the brooder.


Feeders


Waterer


These are in my 3x7 Brooder that houses chicks from day old to around 2 weeks of so. They work pretty good at keeping the shavings out of the water and feed!

Nate

 

[wayne hulgan]

I am slightly concerned about them being on the grate. I am worried about leg injuries occurring. If there is a way for you to keep them on the shavings they will be able to eat their spilled food and take dust baths.

Yes I think they need to be on the shavings. having them on wire could cause foot problems. as far as the messy eating, that will continue until they die. ours are a year old and they still spill bout 1/4 of what they eat. We started grit at about 3 days old. Construction sand in a bowl, not only did they eat a little, they loved to play in it. This helped with the pasty butt also.

 

[loanwizard]

I wondered about the grate, but a lot of people here treat chickens as pets so.... I have raised about 6 or 7 hatches so by no means an aged pro.... aged yes... but I can't see the grates causing problems or even wire mesh. I think some use mesh either for cleaning purposes or portability. Due to advice on here, my brooder is a 4x8 trailer with a wood floor. I used to use shavings, but since I want these (broilers) to range, I put them on hay. I just received 125 today. I was planning to introduce them to the waterer (5 gallon bucket with nipples [2]) and the feeders (cookie sheets [3]) as well as count them as they usually send out 3% more. I lost count at 12. Anyhow.... Glad to see y'all adjusting to each other. I am sure that now that you have removed the grate that the chicks are loving being able to scratch around.

Shawn

 

[Gigiintheforest]

I'm so glad you are moving them to 've . My eleven are also 6 days old and have now been on shavings for for two days after being on paper towels. I started with two inches of shavings and every morning I stir it and add another inch - kind of like a deep litter in the brooder methods. My chicks love the shavings and I've not had any problems with them eating it, etc. I actually think it is much cleaner than a grate or wire as they are continually walking around on a surface on which they've pooped (assuming it doesn't fall through) until it's scraped off. Does that make sense? Anyway, my pine shavings absorb and dry any poop and it seems like a much more comfortable environment. Just my thoughts

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