Smelly chicks

[chickmomma30]

I had about 30 chicks in the house 10 where 2 weeks older then the other 20. But we had them in hte house for about a month and a half. when it was just 10 i changed their bedding every ohter day when we moved to 30 in total i changed it everyday. the smell was not bad till the older ones turned a month old then they got to smellin. and then went out in the coop with heat lap.

 

[MissPrissy]

I have kept chicks in my kitchen for 8 weeks. I think it is the dust and fluff that often is worse than any smell they might develop.

However! Meat birds should never be in the house after 1 or 2 weeks! They come with their own yucky smell. LOL

I keep my chicks from this years hatch in an upstairs bedroom with my incubators. I have kept them up there for as long as 4 weeks and not had problems with smells. I changed the papertowels once a day and stirr up the shavings or put in new shavings as needed. I keep the water up off the floor so they can't kick anything in it. I don't like the wet messy goop because for me that is what begins to smell in the brooder - when shavings get wet.

 

[OzarkCountryGirl]

How do you prevent the chicks from trying to eat the shavings?

 

[mandomama]

I have 7, not enough I know

, and they are 5 weeks now and just begining to smell a bit. We are trying to get the coop down, but the weather here has been TERRIBLE.

I started mine on papertowels and they got used to eating the food I gave them. After a few days, I put them on pine chips and they've never eaten them. They sometimes pick up the darker chips after I change them, and chase around with them a bit, but they always let them be.

 

[priszilla]

I have about 100 in the living room- it is a dusty mess-LOL but they are all bantams-mostly seramas in 10 rubbermaid totes. I clean them at least every 3 days. At least the ducks are out in the garage now- ducks really smell. I use the shelf liner stuff for the first couple of weeks- then move to shavings. The are in order of youngest to oldest with the lights to no lights-Some are ready to go out to the building in a few days- as soon as the weather warms back up (cold front here)

 

[Moonwalker]

If you walk into my house, even the room where the chickens are, you can hardly smell them. If you walk into the lobby of the stables when we have chicks in the brooder, it hits you. Why the difference?
CLEANLINESS!!
I put a deep bed of shavings in the brooders and cover it with an old sheet or plastic cross stitch squares to give them footing and keep them from eating the bedding. After a couple days, take the covering out and they have the shavings.
At home, I put the feed on one end and the water on the other. At work, it starts that way until my day off (I have 3 in a row)and lazy people stick them next to each other. (don't have to take the whole top off, just lift the end)
SPOILED, WET CHICK FEED SMELLS WORSE THAN POOP!
I also remove any bedding that gets soaked around the waterer daily. Also, if there is spilled feed, I'll scoop that out as well, so it doesn't get sifted down under the bedding. Fluff up the bedding and add a handful or so of fresh shavings.
After a few days, I put the waterer up on a brick to raise it. I find that if the brick is the same size or a little smaller than the waterer, they get less shavings in it because they can't climb up on the platform. Same with the feed.

 

[pixiechic]

We have 17 chicks in a 4' x 4' wood/wire brooder in the basement. We had a frost last night, so DH set up a small space heater next to the brooder in addition to the heat lamp. When I checked on them this morning, they were all huddled up in the corner nearest the space heater, but all healthy and happy.

The brooder is lined with newspaper and thin layer of pine shavings. I add clean shavings to the floor every day, and change everything out and hose down the brooder once a week. They are just a week or so old, but as they get older I'll probably have to clean it all out more often. The smell is not bad in the basement, but I probably wouldn't want it in the house.