I'm afraid to take away the paper towels !!!

[chickenriot]

Hi,

My baby chicks are 1 week old today and I had planned on switching their bedding to aspen chips.

They are all eating and drinking but you know how chickens have to peck at everything.

I've read some posts about baby chicks getting bedding stuck in their crops and naturally, being new to having chickens, I can just see all 34 of them gobbling down the chips.

Is this a common worry for inexperienced chicken wranglers ?

 

[zatsdeb]

pine shavings is all I use, other shavings like cedar are toxic to chicks, I don't know about aspen? They should be fine, as long as they know where their feed is, you might keep a few paper towels under the feed container and pine shavings everywhere else. the will scratch in the shavings, they like to scratch!

 

[teach1rusl]

They will be fine!

They will peck at them, and may sample a few of the smaller peices (My birds are grown girls now and STILL sample the bedding sometimes

), but that will be okay...truly.

 

[speckledhen]

You'll be amazed at how much less stinky they are on shavings. Out with the paper towels!

 

[vstoltzfus]

Go for it! All my chicks are immediately put on mixed shavings (my husband is a cabinet maker, so I get what he gives me) and I've never had a problem. I think you'll be fine.

 

[grammy of David]

I always start with paper towels, then at a week change to news paper until, second week when I put them out in the coop which has a dirt floor.

 

[trooper]

I use pine shavings.I find that they do an excellent job and that they are much cheaper in this area than the aspen.

 

[vatterpa]

I haven't had a problem with mine eating the shavings. good luck!

 

[Keene's coop]

mine are a week today too and i put shavings in when they were 4 days old. and yes they do peck at it only because it's something new. don't worry.

 

[SilkieTime]

Poor thing, paper towels are a lot of work. When you do change them over to pine shavings you all will be so much happier.