When do I take away the paper towel?

[chwoey]

My chicks are 5 days old now, they are pretty big. They have half their wings filled in with feathers so I am very proud of them.

There is one problem though, they keep kicking all their food out of the food dish.

Hell, the SLEEP in the food dish. I am constantly picking poop out of it. I'm assuming that they think the food is more comfortable then the paper towels.
When should I take away the paper towel and let them sleep in the shavings?

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

3 days ago...

 

[chwoey]

They can loose the paper towel now?
YAY. XD

 

[gritsar]

I agree with Poulets De Cajun, a couple of days ago. Don't be worried if you see them picking at the shavings. They are just investigating whether it's edible or not.

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

Yup!

 

[chwoey]

Haha, thanks guys. I bet they will LOVE the comfortable shavings.

 

[blueheaven]

i only had paper towel for 1.5 days.

they kept finding the shavings and playing with them.

mine are 6 days old now...they are feathering out too. i bet they have grown half the size they were...it is amazing.

keep me posted on them.

 

[kyliesmommax5]

I didnt know that you were even supposed to put a paper towel down! mine have been on shavings since day one! And they seem to be doing just fine! Needing a bigger brooder already! Cant believe how fast they grow!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Actually I didn't put paper towels down with mine and they did just fine. As my SO pointed out, in the commercial houses they get thousands of chicks at a time and they go straight on the shavings. If they had big losses from this practice you can bet the poultry companies would be demanding that their growers cover their chicken house floors with something other than shavings.

 

[xadika]

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