Trying different chick rearing methods

[Herdsman01]

Hello all, I wasn't really sure what to title this thread and if this would be the appropriate area to ask all my questions but here it goes. I understand it was common years ago to supply chicks/chickens with crushed charcoal. I had never heard of such a thing but through more research and reading some very old poultry books online it turns out it was a fairly common practice. I am interested in doing this so I guess my first question is does anyone do this anymore and is it worth it? I would supply charcoal in a small pan for the chicks just like I would grit. Speaking of grit, my second question is if I am using constriction sand as litter for my chicks do I need to supply grit or will the chicks pick up enough sand that it could substitute for the grit? Common sense tells me yes but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. I am also new to using sand for litter in the brooder as well. In the past I always uses pine shavings but never liked them. My final question is for those of you that use sand in your brooders, do you just use plain sand by itself or do you put any other bedding on top like small pieces of straw, shavings, etc.? Also my main concern with the sand is it getting to hot for the chicks since they will be under heat lamps. Does this happen? Sorry for such a lengthy post hopefully all my questions are clear enough. Thank you ahead of time for your thoughts and any feed back!

 

[WildWestChick]

I used sand before, it works great! No extra grit is needed...and it shouldn't get too hot(if they won't sit under the lamp raise it a little bit) as far as charcoal goes I've never heard of that. Although I've heard of giving lump charcoal to pigs. It suposedly helped them grow faster and helped get rid of parasites. I've been wanting to try it once I can get some pigs of course. I don't see why it would hurt to try it...do keep us updated though!

 

[Herdsman01]

Thanks so much for the reply! I feel better about the sand. We will just give it a try and i guess if it doesn't work out I can always try something different. As for the charcoal, I think the benefit of it as far as I know is to get rid of parasites and keep them healthier, so I imagine it is the same concept with pigs. I have actually never heard of giving pigs charcoal but it makes sense since they are prone to to picking up various parasites and such.