Pellets vs. Pine litter

[nlove_3000]

My chicks have been with me for a week now. I love them to death. A friend with experience suggested that we use pellet bedding. She swore by it and I went with it. I have 10 chicks 1 and 2 weeks old in a 3'x3' brooder and then 4 chicks 4weeks old in a large rubbermaid. We used pellet bedding for all. I spot cleaned twice (or more) daily and there was no smell at all.

Since it's been a week, even though there is no smell, I decided it would do everyone good for me to dump, clean and relitter the brooders. While at the feed store yesterday though I realized the AMAZING price difference and picked up a HUGE bag of pine shaving litter. This thing will last me forever and cost me half of what a week's worth of pellets are.

So far I'm torn when deciding to continue or go back to pellets.

Pellet problems:
more expensive
pellets are same size, color, and sometimes same shape as 4wk old poop....hard to spot clean when I feel like I'm playing "I Spy"

Pine shavings problems:
they are dust bathing it in --- great! until the waterer is full of shavings in 30 seconds flat
I can smell the pine from here.....10ft away....is this bothering them?
Dust flying everywhere! Even with a 10 inch wall on the brooder.
Chicks are now pecking sawdust off of their buddies backs and I don't want this to lead to pecking each other

So....any experience? advice? ways to counteract the problems with either?

Thanks so much!

 

[alicefelldown]

Lots of good threads with this info, pull up a chair, take a look around - promise, we don't bite!

Alternative Brooder Bedding Ideas? - https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=306345

Bedding for chicks - https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=313945

Bedding - https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=294936

 

[nlove_3000]

Link to pic of brooder in case it matters.... We have a heat lamp in one corner and the food and water are spread out at the opposite end. This is before we added bedding or chicks

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4401613&l=3808e2f939&id=584655769

 

[nancypo]

I'm using cheap paper towels right now. I change 2xs a day, and just roll up, no mess. I thought whne they're a bit older (mine are 1 week maybe) will go to the pine shavings...

 

[nancypo]

Actually I could compost them too, no odor so far...

 

[Kittymomma]

I like the pellets. It's true that they cost a bit more, but that is offset because they expand and need to be changed out less often. They also are not as dusty, keep the odor down better, and don't get into the waterer as easily. You'll probably get a lot of conflicting answers because it really depends on what is most important to any given person. After the dusty mess that was the pine shavings in the brooder the first time I did chicks I'll stick with the pellets from now on.

 

[kimb]

personally - ... pellets with chicks & chickens make me nervous... I LOVE them in my horse stall

where they break down to fine particles and they last a long time...

For older chicks they're wormy size (and of course all my chickens try to eat ANYTHING regardless if it's edible or not)... and when they break down (for any size chick) they become "food like" ... they can't scratch/peck their food out of broken down pellets (it looks the same) and I can't image the impacted crop they'd get from ingesting a few too many beak fulls of that.

I like shavings with a handful of hay spread over a corner for them to play or sleep in

Easy to clean, easy to compost