So just how must dust DO baby chicks create?

[Nonny]

We have three day olds arriving soon and to keep them safe from our cat my plan was to have them in part of our sunroom, which has a wood floor, no soft furnishings, plenty of windows and screens for temperature control, and a lockable glass sliding door between that room and our lounge, so we could keep an eye on them easily. I also have baby gates set up to partition off a bit of the room so the kids can't get to them without adult supervision.

BUT.... that's also my kids play area.

I hear a lot about all the dust chicks create, but I'll only have three. Are three chicks going to create that much dust? Do I need to move all the play stuff out of there while the chicks are in the brooder?

 

[bambi]

A-lot. I had 6 chicks in a tupperware container in the bathroom, and my bathroom was filthy I had to clean all surface including the walls. FYI I cleaned the container daily, so I can only imagine what it would have looked like if I did not.

 

[ChickiKat]

TONS AND TONS!! We had our brooder in our storage room off the garage. The storage room that has all the Christmas decorations stored. Everything is filthy.. ugh!!

 

[SteveBaz]

ONLY

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

They do make A LOT of dust, but generally not too much until they start getting their feathers in.

Three shouldn't be too bad at all, I would just make sure you keep them very clean and if need be (make sure it's not too hot) put a thin towel (or sheet) over the top of the brooder, this will help keep the dust inside.

 

[Nonny]

LOL! OK, so from those replies I guess I will be moving the kids out of that room for the duration. We keep it bare of carpets and furniture for a reason - before we had our roof fixed the room would flood every time we had a downpour, so it's well suited to being hosed out if need be, and open out onto the porch and garden.

I guess I could also move them to the coop sooner as well, seeing as it will be Summer and very warm outdoors in the evenings.

 

[Bantam Username]

I'm on my second batch of 3 chicks and can honestly say I've never noticed extra dust.

Maybe its what I keep my lot on or in, but I had my first lot indoors til 6 weeks old and my second lot are 4 weeks coming up to 5 weeks old now and still no extra dust.

This is my first stage brooder, the first few days I have a base of sand with paper towel on top, then a base of sand with pine shavings on top. Soon they'll go in the bigger one which is a clear plastic rodent cage again with mesh on top. Then they'll have a base of grit instead of sand with pine shavings on top.
(sorry about the pic of rats but this is just what I use as my second stage and don't have a pic of the whole of it with chicks in) Lol.

 

[artsy1]

I guess everyone is different, I think it depends on their bedding. I almost drowned my 3 day old baby chicks by accident, they were outside in a tupperware in the aviary, somehow it started to rain so hard it got into the aviary and the tupperware....brooder.
So I took them inside and dryed them off, and kept them in our bathtub, for 3 weeks on towels. under the light.
They are so huge now and I didn't notice tons of dust, but I changed the towels everyday.

 

[CorralitosSunflower]

It really depends on the brooder and what type of bedding you are using. I have used a terrarium with screened lid using wood chips which was pretty low dust, any open container with wood shavings will be awfully dusty! I now use straw which I can use in any brooder with no dust, also the chicks don't kick nearly as much into their food and water. So that my suggestion

 

[Nonny]

Thanks for all the replies.

Here is the brooder package I'm getting. It seems to have a lid as well as doors at the front, so I guess it'll be slightly less dusty than a completely open one?