What do you put in the bottom of your brooder?

[devora]

I put down newspaper in the Rubbermaid box and covered it w/ paper towels (Paper towels so they won’t slip). I changed the paper towels every day and the newspaper twice a week for three weeks. It was easy to change, ya just pull it up; takes about a minute. They don’t eat it and the daily changing keeps the smell down. Boy, they DO poop a lot!

I only have six chicks so maybe it wouldn’t work if you had, say, 25.
How many do you have?

 

[bayouchica]

Hi there, I cut up old feed bags on the bottom of the brooder & use shelf liners on the top .Easy clean up, all I do is take the liners out & spray them off & clean with some Simple green.Remove & replace the old feed bags when needed.

Miriam

 

[Keisha]

Well i used pine shaving w/ paper towels on it for the first three days. Then we used just the shavings, which they had no problems with at all. But they pooped so much that I was having to clean their brooder everyother day, I used a dustpan to clean it all out. Everyday I refreshed it with new shavings also. This time around, when I get my chicks in June, I would like to try soemthign different. We have a MUCH larger box thanks to my friend, that is from a whirlpool bathtub, so you can guess that its absolutely HUGE! I love it, and its very sturdy too, the cardboard is very thick. Using shaving for that, would be quite expensive, a pain in a butt to clean alot, and I wouldnt really want to. So I am looking into other stuff, I have heard about using paper shreaded, does anyone do that?

 

[iopele]

Right now I'm using an old dog crate that I've modified for chicks. Pictures:

Not sure if it shows up very well, but I've got 1/4" hardware cloth around the sides and on the floor, and under neath it the crate came with a plastic tray that slides out. (The cardboard on the back is a draft shield.) With the hardware cloth about 1.5" above it, the droppings and scattered crumbles fall down into the tray. I've covered the tray with paper towels, just one layer, and change it every day. Only think I wish I could change is that the hardware cloth "floor" isn't very even. I need to brace it up somehow--that's the next project, lol.

They've also got a couple "pads" of 4-thick paper towels on the end under the light, so they won't be sleeping on the wire and have plenty of space to walk around not on the wire. I change that either daily or a bit more often--whenever it looks gross, basically.

It's working really, really well. This crate was for our little dog, but I'm going to also modify my German Shepherd's crate (she doesn't use it anymore now that she's housetrained) for when the babies get a little older and bigger. For an experiment of just using what I had around to make a brooder, I think this worked really well!

 

[domromer]

wood pellets. too big for the chicks to eat, soak up the mess nicely, easy to scoop out with a kitty litter brush. I also think they help to regulate the heat better as they have more mass than newspapers or shaving and will hold heat better making a more stable enviroment for the chicks.

 

[pueawjapygrta]

the pellets like you would burn in a pellet stove?

 

[Juliechickens]

The first week or two I put down newspaper with paper towels on top of that. Then I switched to wood shavings. It's easier for newborns to find the new granual food you put down on the paper towels. I place food all around the food bowl on the paper towels and in the bowl for them. It's a fun treat to watch them after 2 weeks recieve the new wood chips. They enjoy scratching and showing off in them. It's like every body now has a new job to search for bugs, scratch, dig, peck,,,even though they never find anything,,,they sure like to hunt.
Everynow and then a moskito hawk will fly into my red light and boy oh boy what fun that is! I pity the fool moskito who dares to come into my brood pen! It is a sight to behold! If you can catch one for your 2-3-4 week old chickens,,,try it and place one in their pen. It gets real intense as the thing lands on the ground. All chickens hover staring until someone strikes it,,,snatches it up and makes a couple of circles around the brood pen running and chirping with all other chickens following and chirping behind. It's the big prize,,the trophie,,,the skeeter of all skeeters and everyone wants it bad!!! Finally, the prize winner will swallow it and the excitement is over. It is so much fun to watch. Amazing how they instinctively know this so young without a moma hen at my house to show them. I showed my husband and daughter and they both laughed!
Good luck with your babies!

 

[Juliechickens]

Nooooooooooo, the PINE WOOD shavings you get at a PET STORE or even WALMART has them in an enormous bag for cheap! Anyway wood shavings that are made for small animals are fine. Like I said,,,i waited till mine were a few weeks old until I introduced the wood shavings. Better to use paper towels over newspaper I think at first. Easy for babies to walk on and find food on the floor. Julie
They are in the Pet section of Walmart,,,,,wood shavings

 

[domromer]

Quote:
Thats what i'm using and all the feed stores around here use it for there chicks as well. It's cheap and non toxic. No chemicals added. Just pressed saw dust.

 

[BigMama]

When I picked up my chicks from the hatchery they were packed in shredded paper. We transferred the shredded paper and chicks to a large rubbermaid container. Added our own shredded newspapers and covered this with papertowels.

A week later, our coop was ready so we moved the chicks out there. We now use hay and deep litter with it. Once a week I empty everything out of the coop and rake and stir the hay and throw a layer of fresh hay on top.

I was having problems with hay and poop getting into the waterers so I raised them up by putting 2x4's under them. The chicks did tip one of the waterers over last week so I scooped out all of the hay that was wet and threw it in our burn barrel.