Brooder

[smart]

Can anyone tell me what are the safe things to fill up the brooder?
does it depends on the age of babies?

[amanda143]

We used kaytee aspen shaving.

[Abby]

I use chicken crumbles for the baby containers in the brooder nowadays. I have used shavings in the past but had an incident where a babe swallowed one and ended up with a blockage. Very uncommon for this to happen but I lost the babe and it was pretty traumatic. I figure now that if they nibble at the chicken crumbles it's not a huge deal.

Shavings are the most common substrate used, but you can use chicken crumbles or I know of some breeders that use paper based kitty litter pellets. There was one species that it was recommended not to use the paper pellets and I'm thinking it was lorikeets/lories but for the life of me I can't remember.

[odhinn]

The lady we got Handsome from uses shredded paper. We use aspen, like Amanda said. Some breeders let the birds decided by giving them options and letting them build their own nest. The "carefresh pet bedding" is also suppose to be good stuff.

[Jan]

I have used pine shavings before and I also use the CareFresh bedding when I have younger chicks. I certainly will NOT use Kaytee's pine shavings anymore, so full of splintered wood, it's the worst I've seen.

[jperkins]

Originally Posted by Abby

I use chicken crumbles for the baby containers in the brooder nowadays.

WoW! That is such a great idea. I never thought about using that before! I may have to try that. Now, can you use those in the nestbox too or will the parents eat them?
I have always used aspen or pine shavings, but this is giving me ideas! :)

[Abby]

I use shavings in the box. I think from the point of view of cost effectiveness shavings are better for the nest box. Chances are the parents may eat them if they're familiar with pellets and lets face it, nest boxes aren't the cleanest of places.

With the crumbles in the brooder container it can get expensive and they need to be changed at least once a day, more if there's a few babes in the container and as they're getting bigger. Bigger babes = bigger poop.

[TooDusty]

Pine Shavings give off oils which can irritate hatchling's skin and they are often quite dusty. I use carefresh bedding with some aspen shavings at the bottom.