TIPS/HINTS FOR A CLEANER BROODER BOX and A BETTER TOMORROW

[Steph Martin]

I am hatching out my second batch of chicks (three out already). Before I move them into the brooder box, which is a "rubber maid" bin, does anyone out there have any suggestions for keeping the little critters from messing up the waterer; from tipping over the waterer; from pooping on top of the chick feeder; etc.? My first batch drove me crazy with these issues. I use wood shavings which clog up the waterer immediately when they scratch and soaks the shavings when they play in it -- but I have no other materials available for bedding. I thought of using a small animal/bird waterer -- the kind with the little metal spout and bottle attached which hangs off the cage side. Has anyone tried this? If so, how do you encourage them to drink without hovering over them 24/7? With regards to the feeder, is there anyway to keep them from pooping on it...I end up cleaning it at least twice daily -- gross and a waste of crumble. I am sure there is an enterprising person out there with the answers to these questions and I thank you in advance.

 

[scoopy82]

I have discovered that with 22 chicks the best way to do water is have it hanging from the roof, about 2 inches off the ground. Once they get the hang of drinking (I dipped all the chicks beaks only once and all were drinking on their own straight away, clever little cookies

) I suspended it from the roof of the brooder with some string and it allows them to scratch and kick bedding underneith it with minimal ending up in the drinker. If your brooder doesn't have a lid you could find a piece of wood long enough to reach from one side of the top of the brooder to the other and just tie the string onto that. Or if it has a solid lid just drill a hole and poke the string through and use wood as said before. I had tried putting it on bricks, but they still managed to kick stuff into it pretty quickly.
I haven't come up with a solution for the feed yet though so i will be watching this thread hoping someone has a good suggestion!

 

[Steph Martin]

Thanks, I don't know why I didn't think of that (duh).

 

[chickenjoefan]

Hi

For the first few days I used a towel as its easier to walk on for their developing legs but then I used shredded paper for my last hatch. i asked at our local council and they happily handed over bags of the stuff. It had to be long shreds but i found the poop just fell through the paper and it kept it off their feet. Mind you i did still have to change the paper once a day but it just went straight in the compost. put a full sheet of paper or cardboard underneath and its easier to clean out. With the food and water i had similar problems. try hanging the feeder above the ground so they can't stand it in, that helped a bit, but the water was a never-ending battle for me as my container wasn't designed to hang. I have heard people teaching chicks to use a hamster bottle so you might try that.


Good luck, I'll be interested to see what other people suggest.

edit; just posted and then saw comment above posted at same time. great minds think alike.

 

[scoopy82]

Its not a perfect fix but it certainly reduced me from changing the water 3 times a day to only once

Cant wait to hear if someone can help with the feed issue. I tried to mount my feeder off the ground but the higher it was the more they liked to perch on it, wouldn't use the real perches I had put in there for them though

 

[dwegg]

I still used the regular plastic small chick waterer and I elevated it off the floor just enough using two bricks half buried in the shavings then I put a small square piece of plywood over them to form a shelf. The chicks would hop up on it to drink and didn't end up kicking stuff into it.

I experimented with my brooder bedding and I used sand for half the brooder and shavings for the other half. I had an x-large airline dog crate that I took the top half off and joined them face to face sort off. The chicks LOVED the sand. The immediately started to bust bathe and peck at/eat. It looked neat and tidy all the time and was easy to clean with a cat pooper scooper....the sand also stayed nice and warm from the heat lamps and they would snuggle down in it. I think I would definitely use it again.

 

[ninabeast]

I found raising the feeder and waterer over and over to back height as they grew went a long way to keeping everything clean, and the feed in the feeder! When they got big enough fly on top of the waterer (knocking it over on several occasions, leaving them without water overnight), I put 4" squares of 2x4 on top of the waterer to keep them off. Worked like a charm.

 

[alaina]

there was an advertiser on here that was selling the hanging waterers, (like a hampster bottle) they sell the kits to make em yourself! And I think some places sell chick feeders that have a twirling metal piece mounted on the top of the feeder that flips the chicks off when they try to perch on it, more expensive, but a good idea. I like the sand idea too, will try that next time. Lately, I have been using straw, which gets in feed and water less, but still does some.

 

[Steph Martin]

The sand idea is a great suggestion...makes me think of a day at the beach when you described how they snuggled in it under the heat lamp but I'll probably have a hard time keeping hubby out of there (LOL).

 

[NASIR]

I am using three 3.5 gallon plastic buckets with 4 nipples on each. I have total 51 chicks bought from Murray McMurray hatchery on June 21, 2011 .All are drinking from
the nipples also I put lids on the bucketts .They sell at Lowes these bucketts with lids about $4-$5. each. the nipples I bought from Ebay for $1.80 each with free shipping.
Water is very clean I added Quick Chick Vitamin come with the chicks in the buckets for 1st three days. Water stay always clean and last at least 2 days without refilling
one less thing to worry. All of my chicks 20 Red Star,20 Black star and 11 Black Australorps and special chick are very healthy.

I am new to the forum I am not yet allowed to post pics .