rubbermaid brooder/ "homemade" pine shavings

[hickchick55]

Hello BYC helpers- I am getting my brooder ready for chicks midweek. I am using a large clear tote that is screwed to a table and has a tight-fitting hardware cloth covered lid (I have a very curious cat). My concern is that the bottom of the tote is very slippery. I am currently drying/warming sand by the woodstove and was going to cover the bottom of the tote with sand before adding the pine shavings. Which brings me to the fact that my very handy husband hates to pay for something he can do himself, and we have lots of pine boards and a planer. We experimented making shavings and they are very soft and fragrant. It seems like a chick would be buried in them though. Maybe I will just need to tamp them down first? Thanks for the help- I already woke at 3 this morning worrying about the darn chicks and I don't even have them yet!

 

[Darklingstorm]

I placed my chicks straight on the pine shaving that I got from the feed store and they did fine. The only thing that you have to really be careful with IMO is the temperature. Those plastic totes get hotter faster. Definitely put a thermometer in and give it a test run before adding chicks. When I first did my test run, the light actually melted part of the rim of the tote.

 

[mrsteiner]

I put some of that foamy shelf liner on the bottom of the tote before I added the pine shavings. It made the floor less slippery and it helped when I cleaned out the brooder too--just roll up the corners and dump out the shavings, only a few left to sweep out.

I used shavings from TSC the first day and no one got lost in them.