Harvest Micromoon

[Kiki]

It's crinkled and shredded, so they're having an easy time walking on it. I originally gave them different substrates in different parts and they preferred the shredded newspaper. I think because it's fluffy, the one can sort of swim in it almost, otherwise she flops over onto her side.

They don't need fluffy.
A hard flat surface would be better.

 

[PoultryAnna]

Wow! You've been busy. Glad your little babes are doing okay now. Friday the 13ths moon won't be repeated again for 20years, so hopefully that means no more gunky hatches for you until then. My daughter is affected by the cycles of the moons, but for her it means 1am waking up to her standing beside the bed staring at you, and her being spacey for a couple days.

Wouldn't it be great if 20 years from now I'm still hatching eggs and it happens again?

The spaciness is real. Ugh. I feel like my eyeballs can taste static. At least you and your daughter know what's happening because I'm in my 30's and I'm just figuring it out now.

 

[PoultryAnna]

They don't need fluffy.
A hard flat surface would be better.

Whatever conventional wisdom may be, they have both a hard flat surface, and fluffy (on top of a hard, flat surface, so I guess they're not really walking on top of the fluff most of the time) and they're finding one easier to move in than the other. I'm not going to argue with them about it, lol

 

[PoultryAnna]

Actually, this gave me an idea. I just put some non-slip shelf liner on top of the bedding in half* and under the bedding in the other half (because I always give options). Seems perfect. It's the puffy kind with holes, so messes will fall through and it'll be soft and give traction. So we'll see how they take to that. Seems like a no-brainer, I bet lots of other people have thought of that already.

*ETA: by half I mean 1/4. I covered half the brooder in the non-slip lining, and half of the liner is under the bedding, so the chicks currently have 3 options

 

[PoultryAnna]

I really thought non-slip-on-top was going to be the winner, but little Spraddler has a clear preference for bedding-on-top. The non-slip is a huge hit, she just likes to be wading through the fluffy bedding. On the mat, she rolls around. I keep trying to get a video but obviously the moment I start recording she just falls asleep.

Chickens, whaddya gonna do.