Pine pellets for coop bedding??? Does it work?? I'm curious....

[Bawkbok]

I'd be more worried of them falling on the rolled pellets, maybe that's just me. Although I've never used the pellets in chicks, who are clumsy anyway
Good luck! And yes, hen raised chicks are practically feral lol!

Now I'm convinced I don't want to raise my own baby chicks. We have enough 'feral' around here with cats....haha

 

[Debbie292d]

@Debbie292d and everyone, I was wondering if chicks are comfortable enough to sleep in pine pellets because they are kind of hard? I'm getting chicks in March probably and I want to try using pine pellets in the brooder. Haven't gotten the chance to use them yet because for the past 2 years we have let the hens hatch chicks. Never doing that again, because the hen-raised chicks are NOT nice!

I too am never letting hens hatch anymore chicks. Too many issues have arisen that don't when I hatch them, so never again!

Yes, the chicks sleep on the pellets or the one little spot I provide them with a couple of paper towels.

To start out, I put about an inch of the pellets down, then cover the warm side with paper towels for the first 3-4 days. This way they can wander over in the pellets if they want.

They get used to the pellets when they go investigate the rest of the brooder. Over on the left is the mash where those other chicks are. The black ceramic bulb lamp is in the corner right above the puddle of younger chicks there.




After pulling the majority of the paper towels, sometimes in the corner of the warm side, I put a paper towel, or in the case of this younger orphan, a shallow bowl. I just do it to be nice, as really they'll sleep anywhere.



We use a verticle nipple in the beginning. Here the horizontal one is there, but they are too young to use it yet. This shows the pellets after about two weeks of them being in there. Their poop just dries up. I stir the pellets around every couple of days. They are good for about a month, and then I'll replace them with fresh pellets. In the coop, they go a year.



Here's some just sleeping on the pellets or on the board we thought we'd try out. A little surprising to see them want to try perching at such a young age. We'll sometimes put a 3-4" in diameter log in there for them to sit/sleep on too.


There are two of these brooders in the house at the present time, and we've never had a smell problem ever.

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

Now I'm convinced I don't want to raise my own baby chicks. We have enough 'feral' around here with cats....haha

I'm sure others have had better luck, and we even handled our first batch of hen hatched, our hen was the greatest Mama and let us interact. But they still feral AF! Lol

 

[NagemTX]

I switched to the pellets and I won't go back to shavings. The chicks do fine on them even the smallest of them. Going to do pellets in the pens outside as well now.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I too am never letting hens hatch anymore chicks. Too many issues have arisen that don't when I hatch them, so never again!

Yes, the chicks sleep on the pellets or the one little spot I provide them with a couple of paper towels.

To start out, I put about an inch of the pellets down, then cover the warm side with paper towels for the first 3-4 days. This way they can wander over in the pellets if they want.

They get used to the pellets when they go investigate the rest of the brooder. Over on the left is the mash where those other chicks are. The ceramic bulb lamp is in the corner right above the puddle of younger chicks there.

View attachment 4026606


After pulling the majority of the paper towels, sometimes in the corner of the warm side, I put a paper towel, or in the case of this younger orphan, a shallow bowl. I just do it to be nice, as really they'll sleep anywhere.

View attachment 4026600

We use a verticle nipple in the beginning. Here the horizontal one is there, but they are too young to use it yet. This shows the pellets after about two weeks of them being in there. Their poop just dries up. I stir the pellets around every couple of days. They are good for about a month, and then I'll replace them with fresh pellets. In the coop, they go a year.

View attachment 4026599

Here's some just sleeping on the pellets or on the board we thought we'd try out. A little surprising to see them want to try perching at such a young age. We'll sometimes put a 3-4" in diameter log in there for them to sit/sleep on too.
View attachment 4026607

There are two of these brooders in the house at the present time, and we've never had a smell problem ever.

Awww! Your chicks are SO adorable! You have officially convinced me. Now I really want to use pine pellets because they seem amazing. I'm creating a website and my 1st article is going to be about different bedding to use in the brooder- can I use what you said about pine pellets in my blog? I just want everyone's permission before I do so.

 

[Debbie292d]

Awww! Your chicks are SO adorable! You have officially convinced me. Now I really want to use pine pellets because they seem amazing. I'm creating a website and my 1st article is going to be about different bedding to use in the brooder- can I use what you said about pine pellets in my blog? I just want everyone's permission before I do so.

Thank you!

Yes, of course you can! And I'm always happy to answer questions if anyone has any!

You can use one of my pictures too if you need to show them in pellets. I have more, I just quickly wanted to reply here so they could be seen in action.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Thank you!

Yes, of course you can! And I'm always happy to answer questions if anyone has any!

You can use one of my pictures too if you need to show them in pellets. I have more, I just quickly wanted to reply here so they could be seen in action.

Thank you so much!!! Once I'm done with my website I will be sure to share it with all of you...building the website itself is gonna take a long time so it make be a few weeks/months lol

 

[Debbie292d]

Thank you so much!!! Once I'm done with my website I will be sure to share it with all of you...building the website itself is gonna take a long time so it make be a few weeks/months lol

Oh, I thought you were writing an article in BYC. Either way, it's fine! Good luck!

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Oh, I thought you were writing an article in BYC. Either way, it's fine! Good luck!

Are you sure? Because I don't have to

 

[Debbie292d]

Are you sure? Because I don't have to

I'm checking to be sure it's okay since you're taking content from BYC to post outside of BYC. I think it's okay, but I don't want to give you any wrong information. It'll just be a couple of minutes and I should know for sure.