Sand in brooder

[LaynaDon95]

I have sand in the brooder right now. The chicks are outside right now so they don't know about the swap yet. I'll be getting a kitty litter scoop or something soon. I think I'm going to like it.

 

[Nslangton]

I'm gonna try the play sand in the brooder tomorrow for my chicks. They will be 5 days old and are sure making a mess out of their paper towels. I use pine shavings for the goat and horses and they are dusty and I don't think I could keep the brooder as clean with them because it would be impossible to sift the poop out and I am a clean freak!!! Sand seems like it could be sifted easily. As far as the pregnant cat, make sure not to use any clumping cat litter with the kittens at first. The mom cat will still keep cleaning them when they are ready to use the litter box. The moisture on their fur will cause the clumping cat litter to stick to them and possibly cause a blockage that will prevent them from being able to eliminate their waste. Had a $400. vet bill from this happening here.

 

[southphoenixchick]

Just wanted to post my experience. I ended up putting paper over the sand for now. My two day old chicks were doing nothing but eating the sand... I let them go at it for a while but I started to worry when they wouldn't stop eating it, I know a little is good for them but they were completely ignoring their food for the sand... I think they might need to get just a little older first.

 

[LaynaDon95]

I'm gonna try the play sand in the brooder tomorrow for my chicks. They will be 5 days old and are sure making a mess out of their paper towels. I use pine shavings for the goat and horses and they are dusty and I don't think I could keep the brooder as clean with them because it would be impossible to sift the poop out and I am a clean freak!!! Sand seems like it could be sifted easily. As far as the pregnant cat, make sure not to use any clumping cat litter with the kittens at first. The mom cat will still keep cleaning them when they are ready to use the litter box. The moisture on their fur will cause the clumping cat litter to stick to them and possibly cause a blockage that will prevent them from being able to eliminate their waste. Had a $400. vet bill from this happening here.

I know not to use clumping litter for kittens, but thank you for your advice. Actually, I have been discussing (on another thread I started when I found out my cat was pregnant) what the heck kind of litter I was going to use once they got here. There are way to many choices.

What do/have you used? My mom wants to use sand. I'm gonna try it for Momma, I think I'll start out with shredded paper for the kittens. Good? No good?

 

[LaynaDon95]

Just wanted to post my experience. I ended up putting paper over the sand for now. My two day old chicks were doing nothing but eating the sand... I let them go at it for a while but I started to worry when they wouldn't stop eating it, I know a little is good for them but they were completely ignoring their food for the sand... I think they might need to get just a little older first.

I would think two day olds would try to eat it. When mine were two days old they tried to eat EVERYTHING! Leaves, the walls of the brooder, each other, rocks, hangnails (ouch!) etc. I havn't had a problem with my 1-2 week olds eating it though. They really liked it once it dried out. They do eat some, but not a concerning amount.

 

[motherearth]

We changed from pine shavings to sand today on the advice of our vet. One of our 5 day old chicks was not doing so great. HEAVY breathing, gaping, losing balance. I wanted to nip it in the bud so I went for antibiotics.

It turns out my vet is very anti-shavings (pine included) for all animals. He said he had seen too many problems from dust and believe it or not, fumes. Especially in babies. He claims it's an irritant and can cause respiratory inflammation. He's a hay guy. Said he just hadn't seen as many hay related (crop compaction) problems. I asked about sand. I had just read many threads here about sand as bedding. He said that was OK too. Our feed store's not open on Sunday for hay so we went to a home improvement store for sand (play sand).

They are eating a lot, but we put paper towels over a lot of it. And we distracted them with meal worms (which they LOVE and can now have since they are eating the sand as grit), and a little jungle gym we made.

I like that it gets warm under the light and is pretty easy to clean by sifting out the poo. They haven't figured out dust bathing yet.

We discovered that a deep fryer scoop works great for sifting! It has a long handle and a fine wire sieve. We got ours at IKEA.

I should also say we raised our first batch on shavings without any problems and use it in our coop. I think every option has pros and risks. And maybe you just need to watch carefully how your chicks are doing whatever you use.

Good Luck and enjoy your babes!

 

[Nslangton]

I know not to use clumping litter for kittens, but thank you for your advice. Actually, I have been discussing (on another thread I started when I found out my cat was pregnant) what the heck kind of litter I was going to use once they got here. There are way to many choices.

What do/have you used? My mom wants to use sand. I'm gonna try it for Momma, I think I'll start out with shredded paper for the kittens. Good? No good?

Shredded paper is great!!!

 

[Nslangton]

Day 2 with sand in brooder. Love it so far. Only have seven chicks, so they were very quick to learn where their food and water is. Started with hand towels on bottom, puppy pads. and paper towels on top. Switched to sand on day five and they seem to be doing great. Use a strainer that we poked a few larger holes in to sift and clean the sand. Takes about one minute to clean the brooder. Yeah

 

[LaynaDon95]

What the heck! I just wrote a whole paragraph and now it's gone!

Long story short ('cause I don't feel like typing it all again) I'm loving the sand, it's easy to clean and the chicks like it too.

The cat also seems to like it as litter.

 

[Mingming]

We changed from pine shavings to sand today on the advice of our vet. One of our 5 day old chicks was not doing so great. HEAVY breathing, gaping, losing balance. I wanted to nip it in the bud so I went for antibiotics.

It turns out my vet is very anti-shavings (pine included) for all animals. He said he had seen too many problems from dust and believe it or not, fumes. Especially in babies. He claims it's an irritant and can cause respiratory inflammation. He's a hay guy. Said he just hadn't seen as many hay related (crop compaction) problems. I asked about sand. I had just read many threads here about sand as bedding. He said that was OK too. Our feed store's not open on Sunday for hay so we went to a home improvement store for sand (play sand).

They are eating a lot, but we put paper towels over a lot of it. And we distracted them with meal worms (which they LOVE and can now have since they are eating the sand as grit), and a little jungle gym we made.

I like that it gets warm under the light and is pretty easy to clean by sifting out the poo. They haven't figured out dust bathing yet.

We discovered that a deep fryer scoop works great for sifting! It has a long handle and a fine wire sieve. We got ours at IKEA.

I should also say we raised our first batch on shavings without any problems and use it in our coop. I think every option has pros and risks. And maybe you just need to watch carefully how your chicks are doing whatever you use.

Good Luck and enjoy your babes!

Jungle gym? Can you explain or post a picture please? Sounds like a great idea!