what kind of flooring do you use in your brooder?

[Marc]

i am going to keep my chicks in my garage throughout the winter since they wont be here until oct 5th and i was wondering what would be good to put over my concrete flooring?

 

[gritsar]

I used a kiddie pool as my brooder, but I think if I were going to put a brooder on a cold concrete floor I would consider putting a piece of insulation board between the floor and the bottom of the brooder; shiny side down.

 

[Marc]

thanks. should i also put something down like a beach towel over the board so it wont be so hard for the chics?

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

You want bedding to obsorb the poo.

For my first set, I started with peat moss as recommended by the feed store. Loved it until they started scratching around. I topped it with pine shavings then switched to aspin shavings. Less dusty and I like the smell better. The chicks love to take dust baths in peat moss.

For my second set and arriving chicks tomorrow from MPC's, I used wood pellets covered with puppy pads for 2-3 days until they learn what the food is.

LOVE the wood pellets. Dries the poo out within minutes, smells good, doesn't get kicked up in the food or waterer as bad.

 

[Marc]

would tsc have the wood pellets?

 

[nutmeg1980]

I used a kiddie pool surrounded by chicken wire for my Black Australorps. They were on concrete, so I put an old rug under the pool that I doubled over to create some insulation from the cold floor.

I used old bath towels as bedding for the first month or so - they worked really well for the chicks and were easy to launder when they got too dirty. The chicks really liked all landscape that the folds in the towel created - every time I gave them new towels they had a blast exploring the new terrain! After a month there was just too much poo to put the towels in the laundry, so I switched to pine shavings.