Keeping brooder odors and mess down

[HensInTheForest]

So these are messy girls!

They are 5 days old and 2nd day here with us.

They are super active today are running and hopping, and some even starting to run them fly from one end of brooder tent to the other. Super birds! Lol

In the spirit of healthy feet and legs no shavings down yet just paper towels down on top of grip kitchen liner.

Pew! This is not enough. We have 10 now with 10 more coming next Fri.

Puppy pads keep the smell down better? I see some of you use those before shavings. Been changing towels 3x day and assume same with pads.

Read you need 3 to 4 inches of bedding for odor.

I can add shavings need to grab large flake. Farm store sent me home with very small flake when I asked for large. Put it in small area to test them and were devouring it so I picked it up.

They are tossing alot of food on the floor wasting it. How can we do this better? Not sure elevating it on a board will help with that really.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Shavings will help! They will absorb odor/moisture and hide poop. I find a hanging waterer with vertical nipples keeps water clean, though they do drip sometimes. And, yes, I also change out the shavings frequently - daily for more chicks, every other day if only 2 or 3.

 

[HensInTheForest]

Shavings will help! They will absorb odor/moisture and hide poop. I find a hanging waterer with vertical nipples keeps water clean, though they do drip sometimes. And, yes, I also change out the shavings frequently - daily for more chicks, every other day if only 2 or 3.

Thanks for the advice.
The water is the only thing they are not spilling which is great! I plan to hang when an issue.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Thanks for the advice.
The water is the only thing they are not spilling which is great! I plan to hang when an issue.

Be aware that they will get tons of shavings in their waterer once you add them. That's my biggest issue usually.

 

[GingerRose]

I place a coated piece of plywood in my brooder wide enough to hold feeder on one side and waterer on the other side. It really helps keep the shavings out of the waterer.