Newbie question -- do I take them out to change the paper towels?

[B. Saffles Farms]

Quote:
Ditto, like Ive already said Ive not had any problems. You think if they wasnt good to use, I wouldve lost some by now.

 

[gritsar]

B. Saffles Farms :

Quote:
Ditto, like Ive already said Ive not had any problems. You think if they wasnt good to use, I wouldve lost some by now.

I agree. Or to put it another way, I started to put down paper towels over the shavings but my SO stopped me. He asked if I thought they put down paper towels in the commercial broiler houses. They don't and the shavings they use in the commercial houses are more like sawdust than pine shavings.
I put mine directly on the shavings and had no problems.​

 

[mmtillman]

Quote:
yes...same here....25 of them arrived today !! ... I just scoop 'em up ...put them in a little box for less then a minute it takes to change towels...

( after you have had to change the towels every 4-5 hours..you get real good at it!! LOL

Messy little fellars, arent they?

 

[moonflowers]

I am very new at this as I just got my first chicks on Monday so they are now six days old and I am a paranoid mommy. I bought pellets from Tractor Supply for their bedding because that is what their chicks were on (I didn't buy my chicks from there though, I had them shipped). But when I got home and they kept scratching and picking at the pellets I got worried about pasty butt so I laid paper towels over the pellets. I have been changing the paper towels twice a day and I just leave them in there. They are generally happy chicks and though they get louder when I start rolling up the paper towels they just move out of the way. I only have six chicks and they all seem to be healthy. I am planning on getting rid of the paper towels after they're a full week old.

 

[Limet8]

can I keep the paper towels in the brooder for more than one week? I am getting my chickens this weekend and I don't have shavings but I heard that it was ok to use paper towels.

 

[snoggle]

wow! It sounds like people make it harder than it needs to be!

From all my reading, I did it this way, and it worked beautifully:

2-3 inches pine/white shavings in the bottom of the brooder, stir it up once or twice a day. Mine were in there 2 weeks (15 babies) and I never needed to change it and there was no smell at all... the shavings absorbed the droppings and you just stir up the fresh stuff from the bottom. With 30 babies, maybe once per week would be all it requires. Paper towels aren't good because they are slippery and can cause leg problems, plus they don't absorb the droppings or smell well enough. Try the shavings! You won't be sorry! (just remember, no cedar... if they eat a little of the pine it doesn't hurt them, but cedar can make them sick).

This is basically what I've done. I just add extra shavings every week or so. Kinda like the deep litter method, but in the brooder. The scratch in it to stir it. I only have 7, but mine are 5 weeks old and doing fine. I'll take the shavings out of the brooder and put them in their coop to get the deep litter method started. Of course, I'll have to add a lot more shaving on top of these. As far as the concerns about them eating a lot of the shavings, I think it depends on how large the shavings are too. If they are more "sawdust" than shavings, then they might be more likely to eat them. The aspen shavings I've used are so large, it really isn't a problem.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I changed mine 3 to 4 times in first week. They disintegrated the paper towels in a day after first week so now are on the pine shavings underneath. Probably change that tomorrow, we just put them in a box while cleaning, they're not fragile to short bouts of room temp. 15 of them in a large tote and will be moving out to back shed in dog crate end of this week. Hopefully the weather stays better than normal so they can get outside in grow out coop before 4 weeks.

 

[bj taylor]

i used puppy pads on top of shavings for about a week instead of paper towels. i started w/paper towels but had to change them too often. the pads last longer, absorb more. i changed them w/the birds in the brooder.