Sand or Wood Shavings in brooder

[2boxers]

I ran out of pine shavings, so I sent my husband to tractor supply for more. He came back with cedar

so I had to use hay. It was all I had. I must say, though, that the waterer has stayed much cleaner!

 

[geareduplyn]

Shavings IMO are the worst bedding ever for chicks. I've been using Pellets for over 25 years, and have not lost one chick from impaction caused by eating the substrate, which they will do if you put them on shavings. They never eat the pellets plus the footing for little feet is much better.

 

[CARS]

I don't have access to pellets. Seriously, no one carries them within an hour drive... don't know why.

I have always used pine shavings and never had a problem. Cheap and easy to use.

I did get some shredded paper, one bag of long shreds and one of short shreds. I was going to use it in my nesting boxes starting this weekend. I may have to try it in the brooder.

I never thought about sand. I can understand it being harder to keep clean or at least, clean in appearance (which I guess is not clean to the birds...). One thing that interests me is how absorbent the sand would be in regards to heat. A dark sand would hold the heat and radiate back where as shavings... well, I don't think they do anything. A highway surface radiates heat for hours after the sun goes down, grass doesn't.

Maybe a combination of the two. A dark sand base and a few inches of shavings.

(Maybe I am just over thinking this

)

 

[cockadoodle]

Well I'm sold on those pellets, that's for sure. After a couple weeks I've had 0 problems. They are lasting longer, are about 6 bucks per 40lb bag here and the chickens like them as much, if not more than the pine shavings. I'll be curious to see if these pellets compost as quickly as the pine did. I'm guessing that my ratio of carbon to nitrogen in the compost pile just changed a bit with this switch. The pellets are pretty heavy, I guess that's the only concern I'd have if for example I had a light weight coop with a wire floor or something... dunno, works for me though, perfectly. The pellets I buy are for wood burning pellet stoves, the guy at my feedstore said they were the same as the ones for horse stalls. We get just cold enough here where a lot of people have the pellet stoves so there's always a supply. I'll definitely be putting sand in their run though...some at least

~Mark

 

[CARS]

Quote:
Really? That is what you guys are talking about. I have been burning wood pellets and corn for years!!! When you buy it by the pallet (1 ton) it's about $4.50 a 40lb. bag.

Are you sure though?? I soak a handful of wood pellets (for stoves) in gas for about 15 minutes before lighting my stove to "get it going". They don't swell or absorb that much. At least I can't imagine them out-performing shavings. Might give it a try!

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

I use the sand Here in Florida its free. I have three brooders going now in my laundry room and there is so smell. I also have a very large coop with a sand floor. I find its alot easier to clean than DH's coop with ahy in the bedding. I just sift the sand when it needs it and when it gets too bad looking I just go outside and get more,lol Of course our farm says it all Sugar Sand Farm.lol

 

[cockadoodle]

Quote:
Really? That is what you guys are talking about. I have been burning wood pellets and corn for years!!! When you buy it by the pallet (1 ton) it's about $4.50 a 40lb. bag.

Are you sure though?? I soak a handful of wood pellets (for stoves) in gas for about 15 minutes before lighting my stove to "get it going". They don't swell or absorb that much. At least I can't imagine them out-performing shavings. Might give it a try!

Yeah

pretty cool huh? I tend to take what they tell me at most feed stores with a grain of salt, but this particular one is pretty good and when they convince me to spend less money than I am prepared to spend, I usually trust it

They had pallets of the stuff designed for livestock too, but it cost more and was identical. The reccomendation was to use the wood stove ones because as summer approaches, those will start to dissapear and we'll be stuck buying the expensive horse stall ones that come out of the same machine, just usually in smaller bags @ more cost per lb. I would have picked up a pallet but an still experimenting with the best bedding. Sounds like geareduplyn has about 24 years 51 weeks more experience than me with the pellets

I'll trust him (or her?) too.

edited for typo.. must be martini time

 

[geareduplyn]

Quote:
Really? That is what you guys are talking about. I have been burning wood pellets and corn for years!!! When you buy it by the pallet (1 ton) it's about $4.50 a 40lb. bag.

Are you sure though?? I soak a handful of wood pellets (for stoves) in gas for about 15 minutes before lighting my stove to "get it going". They don't swell or absorb that much. At least I can't imagine them out-performing shavings. Might give it a try!

The pellets do not absorb oil based stuff very well. Try a little water on a few it will give you an idea about how well they wiil absorb the moisture in droppings.

 

[cgmccary]

My brooder is in my basement. I have used both pine shavings and sandbox (sanitized) sand. With a larger number of chicks, the sand is much easier, IMHO. I use a metal kitchen sifter and sift the poop out and reuse the sand. The trick is to have two brooders so you move them back and forth and sift the empty one while the other one has the chicks. I sift the sand completely (50 lb bag worth) in about 30 minutes about every 3 days.

The water stays cleaner than with shavings (sand sinks).

There is no pasty butt (which you sometimes encounter with sahvings).

It is easy to clean (you must throw shavings away).

It recycles (ditto).

On using shavings: Cedar Shavings in the bags you buy are not toxic. The "toxic" oils have been kiln dried out of the bagged cedar shavings. I use Cedar with my adult birds but always used pine shavings with chicks. If I were keeping a small number of chicks (say 12 or less) in the house (and not the basement), then I'd probably still use pine shavings.

Both sand and pine shavings are good to use so you can't go wrong.

I use paper towels only the FIRST day so that I can put food down and they can identify it and start eating before going to their sand brooder.

 

[cmom]

I have raised all of my chicks in this wire brooder. There are catch trays under the brooder with shavings in it. Also a tray in the brooder with pine shavings in it for the chicks to scratch, peck in and sleep in. The water and feed stays clean. I have never had any problems with their feet going through the wire and they grow so fast.