Who has a wire floor in their brooders?

[EweSheep]

I raised all my chicks on wire brooders and the only thing is if you let it go too long like when I had the bad flu for five days, its hard to clean and it stinks!

Other than that, its easy to use.

With draft protection, I cover up the walls with cardboard and extend it pass the tray section and top half of the cage covered as well. I put the light inside of the cage as well and use a S clip to hold the heat lamp in its place so it would not fall.

 

[northerncaliforniachick]

I'm so happy with my brooder situation now! After reading this post and thinking about my issues, I went and put a box in my wire floored brooder so that I can have half with pine shavings for them to hang out in, and then the food/water is on the wire where it stays fairly clean. The box also helps when trying to feed worms (as I learned lastnight)- they dont do well trying to eat treats over the wire floor.
I'm glad I had the babies in the pine shavings when they were young, because it seems so much more snuggely- but now that they are 4 weeks old, they are so much more messy! This brooder will keep us all happy until they are ready to fly the coop

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

I wouldn't use a wire floor. Chickens need to scratch. That's what they do.

I LOVE using the wood pellets in the brooder for my banties. Smells good, dries out the poo in a few minutes, not dusty, and doesn't get kicked up in the water/food as easily. The chicks like to scratch in it for food that got kicked out and they take little dust baths in it when it starts to break down.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I would not use wire bottom for brooders as they chicks feet have a lot of growing to do and I have seen some chicks that have grow up on wire floors. Some are ok but most have issues with their feet. It's just sad for them not to have stuff to scratch in and dust bathe in IMO

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[astylishgirl]

Our 1 - 2 week run is in plastic box. I put doggie liners on the bottom. Makes keeping things clean a snap.

Then they move into the outside brooder. It has a wire bottom, but we cover it with some kind of cloth(?) or something that my husband found. It is thin and black and not really cloth, but I can't tell you what it is. It is a liner of some sort. Over that I put shavings and DE. After a week, I add more shavings and DE etc. I keep their food and water on top of a short wooden block. They scratch around and lots of shavings go through the bottom, because they scratch up the liner. But it works and oder is low.

 

[Mahlzeit]

~*Sweet Cheeks*~ :

I wouldn't use a wire floor. Chickens need to scratch. That's what they do.

I LOVE using the wood pellets in the brooder for my banties. Smells good, dries out the poo in a few minutes, not dusty, and doesn't get kicked up in the water/food as easily. The chicks like to scratch in it for food that got kicked out and they take little dust baths in it when it starts to break down.

Not all of us have the luxury of the wood pellets. I know I can't get them here and the pine shavings create soo much dust and get so messy in the food and water so much of a pain. I'd clean out the waterer in the morning and by the time I came home from work it was stuffed full of shavings again.​

 

[ThIsafricanhome]

Things to worry about wire floors in brooders.


Drafts - chicks don't do well in drafts.  You can solve this with a draft guard all the way to the ground all around the brooder.


Cocci - I'll give a short version.  Chicks need to eat a little of each other's day old poo to give each other immunity to any cocci protazoa any one of them might have.  Chicks raised on wire often don't get this immunity.  You can solve this by having areas that collects some of their poo so they can get to it.  They don't need much.  I put in a piece of window screen, thinking it would be easy to wash off if it got too dirty.  I didn't need to.  The wooden supports holding up the wire brooder collects enough. 


Food goes on down.  Any spilled food is gone.


Hard to give them some treats, especially bugs.  They drop them through the wire. 


Bedding does help them stay warm.  You worry more about keeping the brooder at the right temperature.


They can't scratch and they like to scratch.  I put a piece of cardboard about 12" x 12" in there for them to play with.  They do like to stand on it and scratch.

Good things about wire floors.


Easy to clean. 


Spilled water goes right on down.  It does not get the bedding wet.


No bedding to worry about.


Almost pure poo for the compost heap if you put a container under the brooder to catch it.  See the comment about food going on through to understand what is there besides poo.  That could attract vermin to your compost heap.


All I can think of right now.  I do like my wire floored brooder.  It will be my broody buster when they grow up.

I thought the point of a wire floor was to keep chicks away from their poop to prevent cocci?

 

[lazy gardener]

They need exposure to cocci to build their immunity. Cocci are everywhere, including in a healthy chicken's gut. I will not use a wire floor b/c IMO it does not let them act like chickens. But, there are just as many ways to raise chickens as there are breeds of chickens. There is no one right or wrong way, and I would not say that using a wire floor is wrong. Just not right for me.