Brooder bedding

[SandyRiverChick]

I want to reign myself in a little this year. In years gone by with new baby chicks I find myself sometimes using nothing short of 5 different bedding types: Combo's of: papertowels, old cotton t-shirts, pine shavings, flock fresh, timothy hay, hemp. I swear I can't seem to standardize on any one thing mostly because I'm not confident about anything but papertowels and tshirts. Flock fresh has Zeolite and I don't know if that's okay for babies. - ?? Pine shavings they can eat which is no good; timothy/hay in general nothing wrong that I know of but I can't see all that is going on well enough (aka chick poo) and hemp, I just haven't embraced it fully so it's sort of scattered in there with all of the other stuff. Good grief, at least I'm good at multi tasking, LOL. SO, can anybody help me with concerns over flock fresh? And/or endorse hemp? Babies coming next week As always, TIA you awesome BYC ers!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Never have used Flock Fresh nor Hemp.

For brooder babies, I usually use puppy pads along with pine shavings. Puppy pads are easy to layer or even cut to size if needed. They are good to go under the water station to soak up inevitable spills.
Puppy pads for the first week usually, but I do put some shavings in there so they get used to them.

Imho, giving chick grit is essential regardless of what you feed or what you keep the chicks on. They will pick up a piece or two when just hatched. If I have broody raised chicks, Mama shows them grit, food and water when she comes off the nest.

 

[nuthatched]

Man, I just use puppy pads.

 

[jreardon1918]

I use paper towels in a cardboard box for just a couple days. Then the chicks and their MHP (Momma Heating Pad) go to the outdoor brooder. Where the bedding is the same shavings, leaves, pine needles, dirt that is the floor of their run. It works great.

 

[StinkyAcres]

I use paper towels and/or newspaper.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Never have used Flock Fresh nor Hemp.

For brooder babies, I usually use puppy pads along with pine shavings. Puppy pads are easy to layer or even cut to size if needed. They are good to go under the water station to soak up inevitable spills.
Puppy pads for the first week usually, but I do put some shavings in there so they get used to them.

Imho, giving chick grit is essential regardless of what you feed or what you keep the chicks on. They will pick up a piece or two when just hatched. If I have broody raised chicks, Mama shows them grit, food and water when she comes off the nest.

Oh I actually forgot to put that on my list, I do use Puppy Pads too! Very good point about grit, maybe that's why I've never had problems with them eating pine. Thanks!

 

[Huntmaster]

I see a lot of folks use newspaper do any of you have problems with slip tendons or leg problems? I have tried it once and it was way to slippery for hatchlings in my opinion. I have had good luck with old towels, puppy pads, shop paper towels as they don't fall apart like cheap paper towels for first few days or until all are eating and drinking and know what their feed is. Then pine shavings until introduced into coop/pen. I also agree with correct sized grit introduced in brooder from day one, especially before introduced to any type bedding that can be consumed.

 

[MamaPoult]

I use staw they like it!

 

[fluffycrow]

The first time I had chicks that needed consistent brooding, I used newspaper; didn't find any issues with that, other than it needed to be cleaned way too often. The second time I used this cardboard that has these little ripples, and it worked great, didn't need much cleaning too

. The other side is completely flat, and I found that way too slippery. The side with the ripples worked great. I started them off on that, and put a considerable amount of straw in as well. Quickly found out that the straw is more work to keep clean than it's worth. However, I usually get chicks that are around three weeks old, and those do not seem to need brooding of any kind in the hot Greek summer, so they go directly into the chick pen inside the coop. I don't do anything extra for them bedding wise

 

[StinkyAcres]

I see a lot of folks use newspaper do any of you have problems with slip tendons or leg problems? I have tried it once and it was way to slippery for hatchlings in my opinion. I have had good luck with old towels, puppy pads, shop paper towels as they don't fall apart like cheap paper towels for first few days or until all are eating and drinking and know what their feed is. Then pine shavings until introduced into coop/pen. I also agree with correct sized grit introduced in brooder from day one, especially before introduced to any type bedding that can be consumed.

I put paper towels on top of the newspaper and sometimes also crumple the newspaper when they're very young. When they are older they do fine with just plain newspaper. My chicks have never had leg issues.