I have 4 two week old chicks that are fond of pecking the ground and scraping it, and sleeping. Sometimes they will have the odd noise making break, but should I put something into the brooder with them? For example I was thinking of putting an old broom handle sawn off, in with them to perch on, but a quick search on duckduckgo suggests maybe to put in a branch and possibly a mirror and a small pile of dirt from the garden…
I am a little confused, as I thought that those sort of things (not including the mirror) might carry harmful things for them, do I need to clean the branches first? - I don’t even want to ask about the garden dirt…
Can I throw a branch in with 2 week old chicks, or do I need to clean it first - and how? Or am I possibly over thinking that I need to much more careful than I actually need to be.
My god. Lol I had not noticed what community this was and out of context I was like , excuse me?
Please use this title as a pickup line.
😁 Will have to now. Will let you know how I get on, whenever I eventually do.
I’m a little unsure what a brooder is (non native English), but:Edit: Looked up a brooder.
They live on the ground. Isn’t their enclosure floor already dirt? “Garden dirt” is just dirt from another area, no?Putting dirt in the brooder seems a little extra. Should be just fine with hay or sawdust or whatever you use at the moment. They might enjoy the mirror though!
Chickens are metal as fuck and not as dumb as people think.
Ontop of that they eat their young sometimes, they peck rats and mice to death and eat them, they eat bugs and frogs…
There’s not very much from “nature” you could give them (within reason) that’d be harmful to them.
The broom handle perch is a nice thing to give them and you absolutely do not need to “clean” a branch from nature before giving it to them.
I’d also like to see the chickens, please.
We were told not to use broom handles they’re to round and smooth and makes it harder for them to sit on.
Better off a regular stick
Sounds reasonable. Listen to this person!
Not a great quality, I will try to get photos tomorrow, but this video is from a few minutes ago, I came into check on them, turn off radio and turned on a lamp behind them, they are wide awake and (still) running crazy.
No more radio at night for them! /s
Yeah they’d love a branch. Looks like a high class chicken area. Appreciate the vid! 😃
another reason to put a branch in.
Just got a fright! I was glancing on them and one was asleep with it’s neck back looking up and it’s whole body was kinda tilted to the right.
Eyes looked half open. I got a fright, made ‘kissing’ noises and the other three reacted, that one didn’t… I thought I’m going to have to put my hand in and take this one out to see what’s going on.
when I stood up over them, the other three started scattering, and it woke up and looked up and around.
😪🥴
Thanks… I’ll post some pics later. Most of the pictures that I already have are with the red lamp on, so they come out terrible, very hard to see them.
I dunno about in the brooder, but chickens in general like music. There was some research done into it that I read when we first got birds, and it has held true so far.
Mine tend to favor smooth jazz, bluegrass, throat singing, and classical.
Thanks, good to know, I leave a radio on low beside them during the day, my intention was to get them used to a bit of noise/human voices.
When I raused young chicks (in a big cage, not a brooder), I just put an old towel on the floor and had a stick to sit on for them. And of course a heat plate, but I guess you don’t need that in a brooder.
Sorry, I’m brand new to this, mine is a big cage with a brooding lamp. I thought the whole thing was called a brooder.
Did you clean the stick?
I think I searched too much, now I’m back between not knowing, as people on Reddit (I could only view for a minute before a big advert to join blocks the forum) are saying that the sticks or branches need to be cleaned with warm water and soap, and thoroughly dried out.
is this overkill due to ‘influencers’ influence, or is it a genuine thing?
Lacking hens would be the main reason that I am using a brooding lamp etc. otherwise I’m firmly of the belief of caring things for as they would be reared or treated in nature, naturally…
I will try to add photos today.
I just used some piece of slat I had laying around, just make sure there are no splinters and the corners are somewhat rounded, use some sand paper to remove the sharp edges. It really doesn’t matter that much. Another comment mentioned saw dust or straw, but be careful with that because lice also like it.
Thanks… no Slat lying around, will get something later. was hoping a branch of something, but maybe safer to use a bit of cleaner wood.
I just looked up some old photos, I had a piece of a broom stick.
I don’t think it really matters that much, in the wild chickens will just sleep in trees. If you go for a branch, just make sure it’s clean, fresh cut or debarked without cracks.
