Hubby wonders if I'm cleaning the brooder too often

[rosemarythyme]

There's no set procedure because obviously everyone's set up is different, climate, number and ages of birds, etc. But yes I think you're over cleaning.

I'm the exact opposite as far as brooder cleaning. I don't clean the brooder at all while I have chicks. Because I brood out in the run (which is deep litter), I do this:

what I sometimes do to stretch cleanings is just stir the bedding up. That way the poop goes down into it and fresh shavings come up.

each day, then about once a week, week and a half, I drag my brooder to a clean spot of litter. My hens come and kick around the previously soiled area and "clean" it up for me.

Of course I check and refill water and feed daily/every other day, as needed, and shake any poop off the mama heat pad (I wrap it in Press n Seal so dried poops fly right off). Chicks get handled and checked for pasty butt at least twice a day, but I'd rather play with them than clean.

 

[NightingaleJen]

Well............
maybe not big...LOL... but then, we calculate distance, not in miles, but min and hours...LOL
You can be anywhere in the state in 4 hrs or less...LOL
....and the yard sales are totally worth it!

Well... being from Detroit, whenever we wanted to go anywhere outside Michigan, we had to go through Ohio... Seemed to take forever. Maybe that has just stuck with me!

Speaking of yard sales, I wonder if the Lincoln Highway Buy-Way is still on this year...

 

[RobertaD1]

Well... being from Detroit, whenever we wanted to go anywhere outside Michigan, we had to go through Ohio... Seemed to take forever. Maybe that has just stuck with me!

Speaking of yard sales, I wonder if the Lincoln Highway Buy-Way is still on this year...

Now that... I dont know
And it takes forever because...there is nothing here...LOL

 

[NightingaleJen]

@rosemarythyme Someone else mentioned the Press-N-Seal; I have it on hand for embroidery projects and keep forgetting to take it out with me!

Other than the obvious everyday stuff, since Monday morning's early morning cleaning, I've just stirred things up, added additional handfuls, and given them a few clods of dirt and crumbled dry leaves to add to the mix.

FWIW, I really like your outdoor brooder idea. Still building our run, though... Tonight while pulling a handful of wet bedding from the brooder and nearly banging my head on a nest box, I told the chicks I expected one of them to raise the next batch of chicks!

I do love playing with them, though, and watching their little antics after (but of course!) checking their little rumps. Tonight I sat out there with a book that ended up being mostly ignored becuase they are so cute. ☺ Only eight days old and already getting some air with those wee wings! A couple even already have real tail feathers coming in. Honestly, I'm fairly enchanted with them. ❤

 

[3KillerBs]

I told the chicks I expected one of them to raise the next batch of chicks!

I would LOVE to let a mama hen take care of keeping track of the chicks out in their pen and teaching them how to go back inside.

 

[NightingaleJen]

Now that... I dont know
And it takes forever because...there is nothing here...LOL

Along the interstates there certainly is not! The rural areas and small towns are wonderful, though. Then again, I'm older too (obviously); maybe with the years one gains an appreciation of such things.

@3KillerBs Should I begin showing the chicks videos of mama hens doing their thing? Hmmm...

 

[kodster]

I'm in the general consensus... yes, you are doing too much. I pretty much leave them alone, except to do snuggles, so they get used to being handled. In fact, I have a Freedom Ranger that comes looking for scratches... I got 6 of them from TSC at the beginning of the season in March, of which 5 turned out to be pullets, and 1 cockerel. I let them go and be chickens. You're supposed to harvest them (they're primarily meat birds, but can be dual-purpose) when they're no older than 12 weeks old. Well, lo and behold, today, 1 of them went from pullet to hen. I'm hoping it's my friendliest one, as I would like to keep her and the cockerel (really, a rooster, now) to help with the 25 younger egg layers I'm raising who are only 8 weeks old now. I also have 29 additional Freedom Rangers that are 6 weeks old, and they're all in the same coop, together, getting along fine, along with 3 turkeys. I also have 20 4-week old egg layer chicks in my grow-out/brooder area of the coop (8x10 building). All I do is make sure wet areas are cleaned up, daily food and water replenishment. They come and go at will from the coop to the attached run, which has vegetation growing in it that they either eat, or hide in, from overhead predators.

I'd recommend just cleaning out the wet areas around the waterers, if any, clean the brooder plate (use the Glad Press 'n Seal), once a week, if that. And daily, as needed, replace the water and fill the feeders. Spend more time handling the chicks and playing with them so they get used to you being around them.

 

[Sonya9]

I would LOVE to let a mama hen take care of keeping track of the chicks out in their pen and teaching them how to go back inside.

Mama hens are the best! Plus if you take the time to really observe how she raises the chicks you realize there is way more to it than it initially appears, they teach the chicks everything from what foods to eat, how to deal with predators, how to dust bathe etc... and have a whole series of commands/words that they use to give directions on various things.

It is fascinating and helps us appreciate what wonderful complex animals they really are.

 

[RobertaD1]

Along the interstates there certainly is not! The rural areas and small towns are wonderful, though. Then again, I'm older too (obviously); maybe with the years one gains an appreciation of such things.

Well, you are from a different area so we would definitely see it differently not MUCH differently, but still. I grew up around a small town, so to me, they all seem very close to the same. I do enjoy antiquing in them, and visiting local shops, but I guess I have forgotten their charm. I will try to do better!

 

[gtaus]

He claims I work too hard...

I agree with your husband, but I don't imagine keeping things extra clean would hurt anything. If you enjoy these daily tasks, then I guess they are not "chores" for you.

FWIW, this last time I raised chicks in a brooder I used a dry deep bedding of wood chips, starting off with about 2 inches of chips. I used small feeders and waterers, and therefore cleaned and refilled them daily. Baby chicks don't poo much, but sometimes the chips might get wet around the waterer. I would simply fluff up the wood chips and move the waterer to a different spot for the next day. Every so often, I would sprinkle fresh wood chips on top of the bedding. As the chicks grew older, I would have to fluff up the wood chips and add fresh chips more often, maybe twice a week. After 8 weeks in the brooder, my wood chip bedding was about 5 inches deep. Despite not removing any old wood chips, the bedding still smelled just fine and was almost completely dry on top. After 8 weeks, the chicks were moved to the coop and that was the first time I actually did any real cleaning of the brooder. The wood chips in the brooder were still almost completely dry. I just gathered them up and threw them in the compost pile.

As the chicks got to be about 5 weeks old, I started putting a clump of grass/dirt in the brooder and let them tear it apart. What they did not eat got mixed into the wood chips and disappeared. I also offered them small portions of kitchen scraps as a treat, but never as a substitute for starter feed.

All in all, I spent less than 5 minutes on daily chores with my chicks cleaning and refilling the small brooder feeder and waterer. Never bothered to clean anything else for the 8 weeks the chicks were in my brooder. I have to say the deep bedding of wood chips was the most successful method I have used.

I carried the deep bedding concept into the main chicken coop and it is almost a self cleaning system. I start off with just a few inches of chips and it requires only occasional stirring of the chips or maybe throwing fresh chips on top of the bedding. Currently I only clean out the old wood chips once in the spring and once in late fall. That is maybe a 2 hour job twice a year. At the end of this past winter, my wood chips had built up to about 10 inches in the coop. But I had designed my coop from the start with deep bedding in mind and I can go just over 12 inches deep. For me, it is just so much easier to fluff up the bedding and/or adding fresh chips then it is to do routine clean out of old litter.

So, your husband is right in that there are ways to raise chickens that do not require as much work as you are putting into the project. But if you enjoy what you are doing, I'm not going to say it is wrong for you. We all try to find a way that allows us to enjoy our backyard flock in our own way. We all have different goals and expectations and I think that is a good thing. Best wishes on raising your chicks.