Soft Bedding

[Leah and peeps]

Hi, im getting my first chicks next week and i know i can t use cedar bedding but what about the soft cotton-like bedding you can by that helps with odur control and its somtimes coloured. Sorry i dont know what it is called

......but on the petsmart website it says it is good for sensitive skin and non-toxic..i know that a brand that makes it is "CAREfresh". Sorry that i dont know much about it but if you could please help me out

Thanks so much in advance!!

 

[gryeyes]

I don't know about that sort of bedding, but pine shavings are great. It's absorbent, inexpensive (in the big, compressed bales), and the chickens love to scratch in it in the coop. Their scratching keeps it pretty well fluffed up - I only have to pick up the big poops and change out the one tray under the roost bars.

Cotton batting sounds like it's used for nesting animals, like hamsters, mice and rats, which stuff it into their cheeks and then pull it out again to make their nests. Not good for chickens. And it would be a nightmare to keep clean.

 

[bassoonmom]

Leah, I think the CareFresh bedding is recycled paper. We've used it for gerbils because it's lower in dust and might lower the chance of respiratory problems, but it sure is expensive. Your chicks will poop more than you think, and you'll be cleaning out the expensive bedding quickly. Try to find the pine bedding in the horse section of your supply store. At my store, it's only about $6 for a ridiculously large package that barely fits in the trunk of my car.

Hope this helps.
Cindy in Wisconsin

 

[Chicky Mama]

we do paper towels for a few days then switch to regular woodshavings. I dont like that cotton idea doesn't sound safe for them. I've lost a couple that got smashed down into to thick a bedding and died.

 

[mamabigbird]

I agree about the pine shavings. And I used some old bath towels over the shavings for about three days so they wouldn't try eating the shavings. The cloth towels are washable and stay in place better than the paper towels. Our brooder box is chicken wire on the bottom so when it's time to changs the shavings we just pick up the cage and everything falls through to a plastic sheet below, Easy-peasy clean-up.