Switched to sand in brooder...

[MontanaDolphin]

...and you'd think my chicks just won the lottery! I am a first time chick mom. I started my 1 day-old babies on newspaper. That worked fine. I just replaced the newspaper every day. At two weeks I switched to pine shavings. It smelled wonderful...for about 6 hours. Then the chicky poo poo smell began. I found no real way to clean it...except wear a glove and pick the poo poo out piece by piece. That didn't last long. With 6 chicks, it was very time consuming. So I started changing the shavings. With the size of their brooder, that bag of pine shavings didn't last long. I got a little lazy towards the last of the pine shavings...and didn't change it every two days like I was...and my house STUNK!

I saw a thread on hear about sand in the brooder...it's worth it! I had hubby pick up two bags of play sand on his way home from work Friday. Unfortunately, I didn't specify that the sand should be dry. It was wet. So over the past two days I've had it spread outside in sleds and cookie sheets to dry it out. I was finally able to put about half of the sand in their brooder last night (the other half is still wet).

At first they fussed. LOUDLY. Then about ten minutes later I heard cooing and trilling...and walked over to the brooder and started laughing immediately! It was like they hit the jackpot! They were rolling around in it, dust bathing themselves, flinging sand everywhere...it was hilarious!!!! I am so glad I found that thread and switched to sand!!!

I took a 1 minute video of them and some pics...enjoy!

Here's the link to the video (on my photobucket): http://s202.photobucket.com/user/montanadolphin/media/102_0224_zps76d46d06.mp4.html

 

[QuirkySue]

"Mom, what's for dinner?" lol My kids ask me that too, but in my case it's usually getting past dinnertime already and I'm still glued to the incubator or chick brooder. Cute pics and video. I'm still doing the pine shavings but am considering switching too.

 

[mommyoftwo]

How old are the those chicken? I have chicks that are less then a week old.... can I change them to sand?

 

[MamaAB]

I dont know if I am "right" but my new babies will be going to sand before long. I put them on newspaper although I know many say its not the best choice. I will make sure they are eating for a day maybe two and then I am going to slowly start pealing back the paper until they are on sand with a scoop of sweet pdz mixed into it to help with the smell

 

[nova022]

I dont know if I am "right" but my new babies will be going to sand before long. I put them on newspaper although I know many say its not the best choice. I will make sure they are eating for a day maybe two and then I am going to slowly start pealing back the paper until they are on sand with a scoop of sweet pdz mixed into it to help with the smell

I have used PDZ with pine shavings, but never sand. Interesting idea.

 

[MamaAB]

Well my theory is, if I put it in with pine shavings how is it going to work because the pine is also going to soak up poo...this way I am HOPING I can just scoop it right out every day or so and the pdz will keep the smell out. We will see how it actually works though haha

 

[nova022]

Well my theory is, if I put it in with pine shavings how is it going to work because the pine is also going to soak up poo...this way I am HOPING I can just scoop it right out every day or so and the pdz will keep the smell out. We will see how it actually works though haha

I use the PDZ more as a deodorizer. I use a big litter scooper to remove the pine shaving and any clumps of poo in the PDZ. I do this in my coop too. I have PDZ on my poop boards and mixed with the pine shavings in the rest of the coop. It really cuts down on the smell.

 

[LemonberryMoon]

This is my first time so I could totally be doing it wrong, but my seven babies (about a week old) seem happy. I have been using sand with a little bit of baking soda sprinkled in. We got a reptile scooper (like a kitty litter scooper, but with smaller mesh) and it works awesome! It's dusty when cleaning it out, but it doesn't stink. I scoop it out once or twice a day and refresh the baking soda. Make sure to remove the chicks before cleaning or they just chase the scoop around making cleaning impossible


*Edit to add - I also keep the food and water up on a piece of wood or else they fill it with sand instantly.

 

[rookiechk]

Stupid question from a newbie. What is PDZ? This sounds like a good idea. My utility room is starting to smell like a barn. I may ask the hubby to go get me some sand.

 

[MamaAB]

PDZ is actually a horse stall deodorizer. I got mine off amazon, its kind of sand like and from what I can gather it works sort of like kitty litter. I just started using it so I will have to get back to you on how it really works haha