abbyok
In the Brooder
- May 3, 2015
- 64
- 5
- 43
Hi! I'm new. I have 6 5 week old chicks in my brooder. (3 Australia's and 3 unknown). I've kept them alive so far - but now I'm in panic mode. So for our coop. We had an 8x8 coop run combo - but an acre fenced yard that I will allow them to free range supervised. Currently they are on non medicated starter feed (I have to keep them off antibiotics for kid health reasons). So, I've been taking them outside in the grass when sunny and dry. So here's my problem. The coop. Because of predators I ended up wrapping the entire coop bottom with hardware cloth - I dug down about a foot. But instead of filling it with dirt again I filled it with gravel and sand. Now I'm reading that this is horrible and the birds will get impacted crop and coccidiosis. Do I need to dig out all this stuff and then find dirt to go in (original dirt was repurposed). I don't want to kill my chickens.....