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

[SunnyCalifornia]

Oooh! I like the sand idea!! I might try that with my next batch.

In the past, I've used paper towels on the bottom of the brooder for the first couple weeks. You have to change it often, but I didn't have very many chicks in there, 2-3 only, so it wasn't too cumbersome.

 

[Ceilismom]

I used the long reel-top feeders in the brooder, and as the chicks got bigger, DH screwed a 2x4 onto the bottom of it. This raised it up enough to keep the shavings out, for the most part, and made it much less likely to tip over during Take-off Practice. When they got big enough that the feeder started filling up with shavings, they were also big enough to use a 5-gallon bucket feeder on a cinder block. For the waterer, I was using the kind that screws onto a quart jar, and at first, I just set it on an aluminum pizza pan. When that stopped working, I moved up to a couple of bricks under it. When that stopped working, I moved up to a larger waterer on a cinder block. I'd have much preferred being able to hang the waterer from the ceiling.

 

[Donna in Montana]

For 'new hatched' chicks I have a (really inexpensive) little metal container that has a number of openings around the sides for individual birds. The top is flat.. a bad design/I have now seen tops that are pointed which takes care of the perching babies.

What I did was take a glass ball I had bought at the dollar store (solid glass with 'stuff' inside to look like a mountain with snow on it, I guess) and put the ball on top of the feeder. Birdies can't stand on it and it 100% took care of the pooping in the food.

 

[Tomhusker]

I figured a way to hang a bottle with a watering nipple on it. Any small bottle will work, and the chicks learn how to use it pretty quick like. No mess and easy, clean access.