Keeping LITTER out of water and food in homemade brooder?!

[felidaet]

I place my waterer and feeder on 2 x 4 blocks of wood. Something that can be thrown away when the chicks are done with the brooder. I use pine pellets rather than pine shavings. They don't kick near as many in the water.

I put a roost in by brooder about 3 inches high. The birds love it. I put it in there right away.

 

[Dingo]

For the water you could switch them over to water bottles(the kind people use for hamsters and rabbits). For food I find a brick works, they'll still kick some shavings into it but they'll eat around them. They only need enough shavings to keep poo and such sticking to them, using a little less shavings will also help cut down on the amount they kick around.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Elevate on "platforms" 2-3 inches elevations. The chicks will hop right up there and eat and drink.


BTW.... what's with all the large, super-sized fonts everyone's using? Silent protest or something?

It is easier for me to read, and this helps me a lot. I proofread my posts at least three times. Sometimes 4 or 5!

Also I really like typing in color!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
I take the bricks out every few days and hose them off...put previously hosed off (and now dry) ones in...switch every few days.

I have never had ducks so don't know about them.

 

[gryeyes]

If you don't switch over to water bottles or nipple waterers, the best way is to use a platform, as others have posted.

Ducks grow faster than chickens and need water available to clear their nares often. I cut an oval bit out of the lid of a cottage cheese or Cool Whip tub, then fill the tub for them, putting the lid back on. I also put a rock in the tub to help keep it from being knocked over; ducklings will try to get INTO thie waterers. Therefore, I brood them separately after the first week.

Chicks put growing energy into feathers first; ducklings put growing energy into their bodies first, staying "fluffy" much longer. By the first week, they have become larger than the chicks and will continue to grow bigger before they put energy into building feathers. Big, gangly webbed feet all flapping across the brooder in a mass of ducklings can bowl over baby chicks.

 

[StevieNay]

Do chicks learn to use the water bottle waters very fast? Would I still need to leave another waterer in there until they get used to it? My chicks are scratching shavings into everything, so those bottles might be a good way to go.

 

[HEChicken]

Do chicks learn to use the water bottle waters very fast? Would I still need to leave another waterer in there until they get used to it? My chicks are scratching shavings into everything, so those bottles might be a good way to go.

I taught my first batch to drink from rabbit water bottles and they picked it up super fast. We had to put their beaks on the ball 2-3 times apiece, until they got a drop of water out, and that was about all it took. After that, they helped themselves when they were thirsty and it certainly did help to keep a clean water source. Even after I transitioned them outside, I kept a water bottle full for a few weeks and they'd head over to it when they got thirsty, but eventually while free-ranging they decided they really preferred drinking the old-fashioned way and would drink out of puddles etc in preference to the water bottle. Somewhere I have a pic of some of them drinking from it. I'll see if I can find it.....

 

[Daddas1Punkin]

In my brooder I put the waterers up on bricks, with the tail end of the brick sitting out so they can step up to the waterer. Works great!

That's what we did!

 

[featherz]

I use nipple waterers right out of the egg. SOOOO easy and I hang the waterer on a bungee so it's easy to adjust up as they get older. Plus you can tilt it so smaller ones can use the lower nipples. You can see it on the left in this pic.