Need a little help with homemade brooder

[heby]

I have my chicks in a big plastic tote for the time being. They are only about 1-2 weeks old so they are still kinda small. I put the feeder and waterer in there. I put the waterer on a block of wood to try to help with them kicking so many shavings in it. The feeder is on the bottom. However I have a few chicks that like to run on the edge of the feeder and scratch the feed out. So now they have half the feed out on the shavings which makes it kinda wasteful as I clean their pen and put in new shavings. I think I'm goin to have to start replacing shavings more often because my husband is complaining often that they stink but I refuse to take them outside just yet. Is there anything I can do to help with wasting food and with the smell? I can't raise the feeder and waterer too high because my little silky bantam can't reach. She doesn't seem to be growing and is still so tiny.

 

[cameronfarm]

We change the bedding and wash the brooders every day, there is no smell in our brooder room. What type of feeder are you using? Its pretty normal for chickens to scratch at their feed. I do the same thing with the wood block.

 

[NicoleRook]

Mine like to poopy in there food, talk about wasteful...lol... But we change bedding often, using crate too. I haven't noticed the smell. What type of bedding are you using.

 

[cowsr4eating]

Are you using a type of feeder with the small holes in them? We've found the smaller the hole the better for the younger chicks. It's harder for them to get in and scratch it out. I put my waterers on a block of wood as well. I usually end up cleaning them out everyday because of the poop and other debris. I've never found a good way to keep them clean otherwise. My husband has created tops or attached brackets to our brooders so we can hang the feeders which also helps keep them from scratching out the feed.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

I can't help with the smell part...I'm having the same problem. I have read on this forum that using sand instead of shavings helps...because the sand coats the poo and dries it out, and you can use a litter scoop (like for cats) to scoop the poop out every day. I haven't done this yet, because I don't have any sand...but I'm considering doing it for my new 6 babies.

As for the food problem, I may have a solution. No one says you have to use a chick feeder. In fact, when I bought both sets of my chicks, they were in a round bin that had the floor covered with feed. Anyhoo, after suffering with such wastefulness from my first set of chicks, I came up with a great idea that has been working for me. They get to scratch their food to their heart's content and wasted food is very slight.

I took a small cardboard box and cut down the edges to about 4 inches tall. I fill the bottom with their chick food...and they have at it! They do poop in it, but I just strain it ever day to remove the poop. Then I put a fresh layer of food on top of the strained layer. I bought a strainer from Dollar Tree that had round holes in it. It works like a charm!

 

[mandelyn]

Using a chick feeder with the holes in it helps a lot. They'll flick some out, but it's not as much waste as when they kick it out. As the get older, I'll start placing the bowl I use on a tray, same theory as above basically. When they scratch it out it lands in the tray.

I use play sand as bedding, and a reptile scoop to clean (can't use a cat litter scoop until the poops are bigger). It's awesome, only poo comes out, and goes to the compost. Nothing builds up compost or trash bags more than pine shavings.

When my husband made a smell comment, about how you don't get a fresh pine scent from the the sand... I hung one of those pine tree air fresheners near the brooder. LOL

Plus the sand moves with them. When I chucked them outside last weekend I cleaned the sand with a screen type kitchen strainer and it went on the floor of the hutch, no need to buy new sand or another $5.99 bag of shavings. With the sand conversion, our bedding cost has about disappeared. We only use the shavings in the run now, everything else is sand. I think we're down to about 6 bags a year, throwing in 2 at a time when the older stuff was either shoveled out or composted.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

mandelyn, where do you get your sand?

 

[heby]

I use the pine shavings because everytime when I went to TSC I never smelled anything and that was what they use. The have way bigger bins tho than I do. I am using a plastic feeder. Maybe its a 3 gal?? I was using a small metal one that you use with a jar on the top. But when my chicks grew from 6 chicks to 9 chicks and now total of 14, I needed something that was bigger around. The holes are def bigger with the plastic feeder. Maybe I should get one of the long rectangle feeders???? I'm waiting on my husb to build me a bigger pen to house them in until I feel comfortable taking them outside. For some reason my 4 10wk old chicks died a few weeks ago, I am nervous about putting these out there. I kno it sounds silly. All the chicken ppl around here keep telling me to just turn them loose with the other hens. But I just can't.

 

[cowsr4eating]

I love the idea about straining their food. I don't know why I never thought about that. There is a Dollar Tree close to my house so I think I will stop by on the way home today. I'm thinking this will save me a lot of money in wasted feed.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

I love the idea about straining their food. I don't know why I never thought about that. There is a Dollar Tree close to my house so I think I will stop by on the way home today. I'm thinking this will save me a lot of money in wasted feed.

It has for me! When I got my first batch of chicks, Southern States gave you 6 chicks free when you bought a 50 pound bag of feed. After a month (granted, the first 2 or 3 weeks I hadn't thought of the idea yet) I still had about 60% of the feed left in the bag. Since I'm doing the same thing with the new chicks, I expect that bag will last till they move out to the coop, and then some!