My broody hen, Lavender, hatched 4 chicks yesterday. I have them in a brooder with paper towels over wood shavings. Lavender keeps ripping up the paper towels and making a big mess. And she's teaching the chicks to eat shavings! Help!
Usually the mom scratches the ground and picks up bits of food to show the chicks how to eat. Sounds like she is trying to do that. If your brooder is big enough, you could push all the shavings to one side and sprinkle some chickstarter on the bare floor of the brooder, if it isnt too slippery for the chicks. You could also switch from shavings to straw or even hay for bedding. Ive always just kept mine on shavings. They figure out pretty quickly that it isnt food. chel
Thanks - I just took the paper towels out. And poured a layer of chick food around the feeder. Lavender is trying to show them what to eat, but the food kept dissapearing into the shavings. There's newspaper underneath the shavings and Lavender has a problem with that too, she keeps picking and pulling on it. Don't know what she has against paper!