Transition Tips?

[AmyJane725]

Sorry, also... yes, they started going upstairs, like all the way up and in the nesting box a few days ago. They were nervous at first! It was really fun to watch them get braver and braver. (Is braver a word? Lol) They love the space! They all sleep downstairs together, same as in the indoor brooder.

Braver is indeed a word.

 

[AmyJane725]

They are now 4 and 5 weeks old, and I just put them in it last weekend. They have been in my sons room, in a large Rubbermaid tote. But they got very big and extra stinky, very quickly!

I wonder if I got extra lucky or something, because mine don’t stink. What smell they do have I actually find pleasant. A friend of mine came over and said she was surprised that they didn’t stink at all. Said I must be keeping up on cleaning really well, and I told her I’m not doing anything special. Just taking out really poopy shavings. And I only had to do that twice. And what I did remove didn’t even smell.

 

[Sarjeanp]

I wonder if I got extra lucky or something, because mine don’t stink. What smell they do have I actually find pleasant. A friend of mine came over and said she was surprised that they didn’t stink at all. Said I must be keeping up on cleaning really well, and I told her I’m not doing anything special. Just taking out really poopy shavings. And I only had to do that twice. And what I did remove didn’t even smell.

I think you are getting lucky, you have amazing ventilation or special girlies, I don't know. lol I would clean the brooder, and literally within 5 minutes, there would already be about 5 new droppings, and some of them, would be smelly droppings.. those could have come from the orpington, who are a week older than the rest. I definitely found that when I had paper towels down VS. pine shavings, it was worse. The paper towels did nothing to absorb the odors.

 

[AmyJane725]

I think you are getting lucky, you have amazing ventilation or special girlies, I don't know. lol I would clean the brooder, and literally within 5 minutes, there would already be about 5 new droppings, and some of them, would be smelly droppings.. those could have come from the orpington, who are a week older than the rest. I definitely found that when I had paper towels down VS. pine shavings, it was worse. The paper towels did nothing to absorb the odors.

Hm. I've been using pine shavings from day one. I guess in retrospect I should have used paper towels because that way you can check that the poop is healthy. I didn't know at the time though, and I thought I had read they would scratch up little paper towel bits and eat them so I was afraid to use them. Maybe it's the pine that makes the poop smell "good". I've had them poop on me several times, and only one of those poops ever actually smelled bad. The others had no odor. So weird.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I wonder if I got extra lucky or something, because mine don’t stink.

Maybe you're doing a great job keeping the bedding dry, because that's what contributes most to the stink. My first batch of chicks kept slamming into the waterer while playing and wet bedding + poop = horrible smell. By the time I moved them out at 5 weeks the smell was so bad the entire upstairs of my house smelled like the brooder.

... After that we agreed that brooding outside was the way to go!

 

[trumpeting_angel]

My girls’ poop doesn’t smell bad. The brooder is big (about 3’ x 7’) and I have 4 four-week olds. It does have a scent other than pine, but I threw in a little PDZ and keep adding shavings, and it’s great. The poop seems to shrink and filter down; I don’t see much (except in the waterer, food tray, and grit tray!).

They do keep growing, though, and the poops are getting bigger...