Hay as bedding for brooder?

[Going Quackers]

My chicks aren't here yet but thinking ahead lol I usually prefer shavings(have brooded ducks before) but my usual supplier is mainly giving out sawdust which is a definite no.

So i was reading where someone used hay? i have a nice grassy hay mix i feed my horses? not sure about this idea though.. opinions? or what have you used instead of the shavings. I may try a different source but that still won't guarantee i get better proper curled shavings.

 

[mnferalkitty]

I would not use hay for a week or so. I use paper towels for about a week.

 

[darin367]

i use newspaper for a few days then go to hay... no problems..

 

[donrae]

I've always brooded mine on the hay I swept up off the barn floor. They peck at the seed parts but it's really okay for them to eat it, and the don't eat much, just like tasting. They're going to taste whatever you put in there anyway. I figured why pay for something I already have for free?

 

[Going Quackers]

I would not use hay for a week or so. I use paper towels for about a week.

Wouldn't the towels be slippery? I have a wooden brooder box... i wonder what i could place underneath

 

[Going Quackers]

i use newspaper for a few days then go to hay... no problems..

I gather it's the first couple days it;s ok to do, i guess i am worried about legs.. you know with slippery surfaces?

 

[Going Quackers]

I've always brooded mine on the hay I swept up off the barn floor. They peck at the seed parts but it's really okay for them to eat it, and the don't eat much, just like tasting. They're going to taste whatever you put in there anyway. I figured why pay for something I already have for free?

This is what i read, they peck away at it, i figure the stuff that is leftover in the hay barn would be excellent.. it's soft not a stem hay at all.

 

[mnferalkitty]

Wouldn't the towels be slippery? I have a wooden brooder box... i wonder what i could place underneath

I use the textured non-shiny paper towels like bounty or the generic kind, it has bumps and quilted design not slippery at all, that way I can see their poop better and I can tell if they are healthy, getting enough water etc. Just easier to see that way. I would NEVER use newspapers as that is slippery and you could have problems with spradle legs etc.

 

[Going Quackers]

I use the textured non-shiny paper towels like bounty or the generic kind, it has bumps and quilted design not slippery at all, that way I can see their poop better and I can tell if they are healthy, getting enough water etc. Just easier to see that way. I would NEVER use newspapers as that is slippery and you could have problems with spradle legs etc.

Gotcha, that is what i thought with the newspaper plus it would make the chicks covered in newspaper ink yucky.