What bedding for our babies at 2 wks old?

[lynnolekas]

Hi BYC'ers! I know that every question I have can be answered by looking in the archive
but that's no fun...

What type of bedding to use in our brooder full of 2 week old chicks? I read ( I thought) that
Wal-Mart had a larger pine shaving, so I went there. We added it to our very luxurious huge
box brooder and now we have scratched shavings in everything - the waterer and the feed
tray. What to do? Maybe use a brick to raise the waterer? And the feed as well?

Thank you for all of your tips!

Lynn

 

[teach1rusl]

Yeah...most folks just use the pine (or similar - anything but cedar) shavings. If you have a farm type store, you'll find them a lot cheaper I'm sure. And yes, you'll need to raise your feeder and waterer up (and they'll STILL end up with some bedding in them

- but not as much) on bricks, or pieces of 2x4, something along those lines. Try to put them at about back level with your chicks...

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

I use wood shavings. I am not sure what type. The bag just says wood shavings! I line my brooder with newspaper and then put 2-3 inches of woodshavings on top of it.

 

[carladababe]

I originally bought the large shavings from WalMart and will save it for when my chicks are chickens, the shavings I buy now come from Kmart, the shavings are smaller, smell nice (not alot of sneezing at like the WalMart stuff,) and is softer. I really enjoy when they snuggle down into it. It cost a little over $7.00 a bag but worth it and lasts a while.

 

[felidaet]

Be careful with bags marked "wood shavings". They could contain ceder. I would not use them. I mistakenly bought a bag of these a couple of years ago. When I noticed they were not marked as pine I removed them from the brooder and dumped them in the compost pile along with the unused portion of the bag.

As some else mentioned, pine shavings are much cheaper at a feed store.

I used pine shavings the first year. Last year I used pine bedding pellets. I bought these at a feed store. They look a lot like wood stove pellets but they are less dense and are made of pine. I really liked these. They were much nicer than shavings. I will definitely use these again in the future when I raise chicks again. I did find though that they had a strong "woody" aroma. But sometimes the pine shavings also have a strong aroma... I dumped the bags into open boxes and let them air out or about a week before putting them in the brooder. I bought one bag of wood stove pellets but as soon as I saw them I decided not to use them. They were compressed much tighter. They are sometimes also made from hardwood. They are not as good at absorbing moisture as pine.

 

[spotstealer]

I experienced the same thing. My peepers are about the same age. What I did, was put my birds on wire. I made two wood frames (2X4's), stretched chicken wire across then. I then put shavings in the brooder like normal, then set the frames on top (I made two sections rather than a single one to make it easier to lift out). This help tremendously in keeping shavings everywhere including the water. Another good thing, it cuts down the chances of them catching cocci. They adapted immediately and have no problem walking on it. I put two roosting boards and branches in the brooder also. They took to roosting alsmost immediately. Less mess, and so far no poop in hte water!

 

[lynnolekas]

Thanks chicken lovers! So we woke up this morning to lots of cuddly chicks in their newly scratched
shavings and I am on the hunt for a brick or two to raise things up. Our babies are perching too and it is
so funny watching them get the hang of that! No one has mentioned any concerns about them eating the
pine shavings - I mean they are chickens and put almost anything in their little mouths - any worries about that?

I have successfully birthed two beautiful girls and got through the whole baby phase without much worry
but these chicks have had me on my ear with worries....silly huh?

 

[chicmom]

I also prefer the pine shavings......They also help keep the brooder smelling fresh. I personally don't like the wire idea......The chicks enjoy "dust bathing" in the pine shavings...(Even if there's no dirt or sand or dust to bathe in....) I just think wire is so darned harsh. I

I raise the feeder and waterer with a brick, and that helps immensely with them getting the shavings in it.....but they still get some in there......

To keep things interesting, I will change things around when I clean the brooder....Adding a smaller tree branch for them to roost and climb on, or even a clump of grass with the dirt and roots still attached.....They get sooo excited when they see the grass clump! They literally attack it and I'm sure they eat the dirt. That is OK because they would do this naturally when mama hen takes them outside.... and it keeps them from getting pasty butt.....I got this hint from a friend, who got it from a website........It works too!

Well, good luck with your chicks,
Sharon

 

[lynnolekas]

Sharon ~ Thanks for the grass clump idea! I love it! Is there any worry about their age or shall I just go
out to the yard now? We aren't in any way worried about pesticides etc but I was wondering when I could
take them out - this is better - I'll bring what's outside to them! They loved the scrambled egg I gave them
(my parrots do too) but I decided that was going to be too messy in the brooder now that we put the shavings
in there. Any other treats for my almost 3 week olds?

It has helped me tremendously to find that there are other folks that are delighted to have their birds in the
house but my 'real' farmer friends are making great fun of me! They don't know what they are missing!