Opinions... Do you brood on wire or shavings?

[greenfamilyfarms]

We use both. We start them off with pine shavings in a large plastic tupperware-type container (like for sweaters) and then move them outside to a brooder box with hardware cloth. They still have an area where they can get off of the wire, though.

 

[ChooksChick]

I use an old towel or sheet on the spare bathroom floor after the first week, a great big tub and paper towels for the first week.

I spoil them, true, but I can just shake out the towel or sheet and wash it on the sterilize setting, and throw down a clean one.

It works for me! No dust, to boot!

 

[gritsar]

I read an article in Backyard Poultry magazine last night written by Gail Damerow (who is also the author of Storey's Guide To Raising Chickens). The article is titled 'Pecking & Picking'. It states in part, "Cicks raised on wire are more likely to become cannibalistic than chicks raised on litter; perhaps they peck each other as a substitute for pecking on the ground."
Just thought you might be interested.

 

[onthespot]

I use cardboard boxes from day one, toss them when they become soiled. i be with bermuda hay, just because that is what I feed my horse and it is right there handy all the time. It dries the droppings out and if I am busy and it looks poopy in there I just sprinkly a light layer on top and it doesn't pack down and hold moilsture. The brooders stay almost odorless. It is cheap, handy, and they don't eat it but they do like to play around with it and carry little stems around. Keeps them entertained so they don't peck each other, even if they get crowded for a bit. When they feather in some, I start putting them outside during the day when the weather is nice, with no bulb, in a half inch hardware cloth brooder cage I made. I have found that smaller silkie chicks cage get their feet caught in that stuff because of the extra toes in back, so I don't put them in it until their feet grow big enough to be safe in it.

 

[Oceanseve]

We used wire last year and lost every chic when they joined the rest of our flock. We are using pine shavings this year, just kept them covered with towels the first few days. From what I've read they need to have access to some of their feces to build a slow immunity to cocci, if you use wire they don't get that.

 

[henpeckedhubby]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I've hatched and raised quail in the past and it was big deal not to let them get to their droppings if possible. In the quail brooder I built, it had a removable tray with pine shavings underneath a wire floor. I think I'll go with some type of solid floor and shavings with the chicks. Thanks again!

 

[gimme sum eggs]

My brooder is a 3'x4' pallet with a matching cardboard box (open on top & bottom) 18" high attached to it. I cut pieces of cardboard and use it as "subflooring" on top of the pallet slats and put my pine shavings on it. Using the cardboard subfloor makes a cheap and easily replaceable surface i'll change with new stuff along with the pine litter.

 

[raneydayfarm]

We have a large wooden brooder my husband made and we use pine shaving for about the first few weeks. What we do to keep the smell down and make clean up easier is move the chicks to a tote, use our shop vac to vaccum up all the shavings, and then dump the entire shop vac out on the compost pile. The reason we use our shop vac and not our home vaccum is because there is no filter in the shop vac, it goes directly in the canister and then you just take the lid off to empty it. After about five weeks when they get big and like to really scratch around we use hay in the bottom of the brooder. The cedar shavings tend to get in their waterer when they are scratching around and they can't get any water out.

 

[wings]

Quote:
I read that too!

Once they get a little older, can't you put them just on paper towels/newspaper? I did that with my last batch after they got to be about a week old, and I didn't have a problem!

 

[Omran]

I brood my chicks on wire, it is way cleaner than any other method, first 5 days they were on paper towls and then went to the big brooder, now they are 3 weeks old and they already in my draft free coop with heat lamps.

Omran