Hi,
I'm new here, like so many others, and just got my baby chicks on Monday. It's been a long time since I had chickens and this has really been fun! My question is about the litter in their brood box. I've kept a base of pine shavings covered with newspaper down and have been changing the paper a gagillion times a day, but today I took the paper out so they could be on the shavings and now you'd think the chicks were at an all-you-can-eat buffet! They're enchanted by the stuff and are picking away at it, chirping gleefully. My fear is that they haven't got the good sense not to eat it, and indeed, I've seen a few ingest some. Is this going to hurt them or am I just being over-protective?
I'm new here, like so many others, and just got my baby chicks on Monday. It's been a long time since I had chickens and this has really been fun! My question is about the litter in their brood box. I've kept a base of pine shavings covered with newspaper down and have been changing the paper a gagillion times a day, but today I took the paper out so they could be on the shavings and now you'd think the chicks were at an all-you-can-eat buffet! They're enchanted by the stuff and are picking away at it, chirping gleefully. My fear is that they haven't got the good sense not to eat it, and indeed, I've seen a few ingest some. Is this going to hurt them or am I just being over-protective?