Throw Crumble on Brooder Floor ?

[MTopPA_18707]

Hi All,

Twice a day I change the water / crumble feeders in the brooder.
[Note, lot's of wasted crumbles.]

I also noticed that the chicks really like to scratch around for their food.
Some times they will scratch and ignore the crumbles feeder !

So rather than discard the "old" crumbles, I dump them on the brooder floor.
That way the chicks get to scratch around in the pine shavings and find something to eat.
[ I still refill the crumbles feeder - and they do use it too. ]

I've been doing this for about a week.
The chicks are only two weeks old now.

What do you guys think, is this okay ?

Kevin & Kids

 

[xyresicchick]

if you are using a fine/dusty wood shaving bedding then i would say no, simply because if they get used to eating too much of the bedding then they could get sick from that. but if you use sand/dirt for bedding, or even paper bedding its not a big deal....

my question is, why are you dumping the food out? i never dump my chicks food out. if anything, i move the older food to one side of the feeder and add fresh food to the other side. then when both sides are lower, i move the older feed from the first side over on top of the newer older food, and add fresh food to the empty side again. top filling hanging feeders are great too. because you never have to worry about the old food getting buried as it gets eaten first. i like these because wood chips get in them less. i just hang mine so it is shoulder level for the chicks. they like to squeeze their bodies under it too, its a fun thing to hide under for them.

 

[MTopPA_18707]

Thanks for the reply . . .

I'm new at this, but had read to clean and provide fresh food and water twice a day.

So that's why I was doing it.

I minimize the waste by only giving then a little more crumbles than they would eat in 12 hours.

Comments welcome,

Kevin

 

[xyresicchick]

i tell my chicks to eat all their dinner. as long as there is no poop in the food its fine to leave it in. i would check/refill the food daily, but not dump it out. that is just so wasteful.

water should be replaced daily, but i sometimes go a few days without replacing it if it doesn't get dirty or dry. i use apple cider vinegar in the water to help to kill any bacteria that may begin growing in the water. i usually change the water 2-3 times a week for the first week, after that it gets harder because the chicks get really active. I found that if you put the waterer up higher it gets soiled less.

i also give the chicks plenty of other things to climb on so they wont be as likely to climb on their feeders.

my chicks like rocks. i take rocks from outside and clean them with antibacterial soap and then put them in the brooder off to the side of the lamp, this allows the rocks to get warm and the chicks get to climb on it and snuggle up to it. mine love it because the rock can get nice and warm but not too hot since it is off to the side. mine like to sleep on top of it. i think this is good because it encourages roosting (sleeping off of the ground) earlier on. they just like it because it keeps their feet warm

ETA: bricks work good too.

 

[catdaddy66]

Because of a small gap at the corner of my brooder floor, my chicks kick out all of the pine shavings and basically have a bare floor. I also put the remaining crumbles on the floor for something to scratch for though I don't think they always realize it is there for them.

 

[Unit505]

Quote:
Not to steal the thread, but I like the rock idea! I've got a bunch of cinder blocks waiting for a purpose. I think I'll place a few in the coop for the chicks to climb around on. I just wonder if it will be okay for them to get inside the blocks. I might have to place a heat lamp close by to warm up the blocks in case they do get in there and go to sleep. Opinions Please!

 

[onthespot]

I bed my baby chicks completely in Start N Grow feed. For the first couple weeks, I grind it finer, like cornmeal, in a food processor. For the tiny babies, I put them in a cardboard box, cut linoleum scrap to cover the floor, cover that with a hand towel, and completely spread a small layer of ground feed all over the floor. It helps them to scratch, stay engaged, not peck each other, and trains them to look down for food. They seem to be much better off socially when they grow out, almost zero feather picking or canibalism when I start them that way. I figure at the cost of feed, versus the cost of losing expensive chicks, tossing scoops of feed for them to scratch around in is a cheap tradeoff for healthy, active, socially agreeable chicks. I do keep their water cleaned and replaced often. I also put a low one quart crock (about an inch tall, maybe nine inhes across) upside down under the brooder light. It absorbs heat and if the chicks want a quick warmup, they hop up on there and bask for a few, warming from above and below, and get back out scratching and pecking. It helps them to grow faster, healthier, and happier. To me, wasting half my feed for a couple weeks is worth it to give them a best possible start. Honestly, I figure I waste about ten dollars of feed for every batch of hatchlings, say, thirty to fifty chicks. TOTALLY worth it to me. When they start to feather out, I wean them to eating out of feeders, and tackling the larger crumbles.

 

[xyresicchick]

Quote:
to reply to your comment. i only use smooth rocks so they don't get hurt on sharp edges. i think cinder blocks are a little to rough/coarse and may scrape the chicks feet. they are also a big big and they probably will not warm up as readily as a rock will, as they are made of crushed stone/concrete.

something you can do with cinder blocks is make a hot compost pile to decompose chicken manure. then use the compost in a garden growing your chickens some treats. google "cinder block compost" or subsitute the word "cinder" with concrete or cement.

i know off topic

so i will shut up now