I'm planning to put my soon-to-arrive bantam chicks in a large dog crate and lining the sides with aluminum screening to keep them from slipping out between the bars. I've been reading this forum for ideas on how to keep the dust and smell down, since the chicks will be in my laundry room and we don't have a garage to put them in. I've read that using hardware cloth on the floor over the pull-out pan makes clean-up easier and keeps the dust down. (I assume this is after they're a couple of weeks old, I was planning to use puppy pads for the first week or two.) Does this really work? What size would I use for bantam chicks -- is 1/4" inch okay? Or will this damage their little feet?
