Alternative to pine shavings

Brie6895

Songster
6 Years
May 13, 2013
418
12
101
Magnolia Springs, AL
I was wondering if any of y'all use anything other than pine shavings in your brooder. I'm wasting so many shavings when I clean it out. Just thought about this when I saw someone with what looked like horse pellet feed in the bottom of their brooder! anyone have any good ideas? :)
 
I know people who use hay/straw for brooders. I have even heard of sand. I hope this has helped!
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They are in my large dog crate at the moment. I was thinking about sand, is there a certain kind? But I also have a large tubbawear I will be putting my 2 new baby chicks in this week. Have y'all heard of the horse pellet being used? That seemed a little neater than sand.
 
I have used the horse pellet bedding, both the pine and the corn cob. It is very absorbent and fluffs up a LOT, so you only need a little. My problem with it is it seems to hold too much moisture and packs hard as a rock, so clean out is a chore. I now use a little of it under my pine shavings to help absorb moisture.

For a small area like a dog crate, you might want to try Sweet PDZ (generic is zeolite), a horse stall refresher. If you can put 2-3" sides on the bottom liner of the crate to hold it in, it works a lot like clumping cat litter. I use a sand scoop (I found it in the reptile area of the pet store) to sift out the droppings each day. It costs about $10 for a 25 lb. bag here at our TSC, but a little goes a long way. It is very good at absorbing odors. I use it on the poop boards in my coop. You can read a lot more about it here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/621363/poop-board-convert-warning-graphic-gross-poop-pictures/510#post_9583562
 
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I found the sand to be the cleanest for the brooder and the coop. I switched from shavings a couple of weeks in. It just got too nasty and held the moisture. I use washed construction sand with Sweet PDZ mixed in it. There was alot of dust, but as long as I scooped the poop (like kitty litter) every day there was absolutely no smell. Now they are out in their coop, I use the same in coop and run. I also sprinkle the PDZ right on their poop board (in the coop) so when I scrape off the nights leavings it doesn't stick.
 
This is my first batch of chicks, so I have no comparison, but I'm really happy using sand. It's cheap and easy to scoop and there is no almost smell. I'm using play sand, but I think next time I brood chicks I might use construction sand. The play sand is so fine that I don't know if it's chunky enough to function as grit as my babies grow up.
 

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