[KahlanA]

Our pekin bantam chicks constantly have filthy feet - theyre still in a little cage with wood shavings, they poop and stand straight in it. As such they've now had a daily foot wash each but straight away they do it again. I was worried the wood shavings weren't helping (they stick to the poop and get dragged along too) but food, anything gets stuck.

Also, one of the boys eyes doesn't look great. A day or two after hatching he got a piece of sawdust stuck to it so we wet it and gently removed it. It's been fine since but now looks like this

Any advice please?

[Clarebelle]

I'm afraid there isn't really anything you can do about them getting mucky feet except make sure you replace the shavings regularly. They will stand straight back in the poop so I really wouldn't bother washing their feet everyday. I find that they tend to get 'plugs' of poop crust to the end of the claws but these dry out and drop off with it being warm in the brooder.

The only time you need to worry is if they get big round balls of poop stuck to the bottom of their feet which inhibit their walking etc. But if the brooder is cleaned out regularly I can't see this being a problem, I've never had it anyway.

As for your little chick who's looks a bit down, do you think it is because he had this bit of sawdust stuck to his foot? Is his foot cut and possibly infected?

How old were they when they went onto wood shavings? I keep mine on a towel for the first week or two

[Eve]

I have a small batch of 6 that are a week old now, kept with an ecoglow brooder in plastic box, and I'm getting through a whole roll of kitchen paper a day. I'm constantly topping it up to cover pooh and then taking the thick layers out just to start again. I was going to put them on wood shavings like I normally do but might keep on using paper for another week instead. I wipe their feet with baby wipes every evening.


We did buy in week old chicks once that had balls of muck on their feet - they all needed a foot bath to soak them off, and one of them had a toe stuck at an angle. They had been in a cardboard box for a week without the bedding being changed (long story).



Their eyes aren't always perfect size or shape. Does his sight out of that eye seem fine?

[KahlanA]

Thanks for the replies! I might change back to kitchen towel for a bit. They've been so much fun, they are such pains in the bum though! They kick the wood shavings into the waterbowl (has pebbles in it) and jump in and out squawking loudly because there's no more water. Then they all dust bath in the food bowl! Topping it up about 8 times a day as soon as I move them to the big cage I can put the proper feeder and drinker in, but there was no room in this little cage.

It's the kind of 'pecked' look his eye has, like its lost feathers. None of the others look like it, just this one eye that previous had a bit of wood shaving stuck to it. He's not being pecked that we've seen, but I just wanted to check.

The two pekins we thought are girls now have massive wings (a week and a day old today). They're all jumping off the ecoglow trying to fly!

[nutterly_uts]

I found Megazorb really good with silky chicks as it didn't cling to them or their feet but also seemed to cut down on the poo problems too - when they moved and flapped they covered the poo over with a clean layer

[Steph Hen]

More space may help with pooy feet.
I see what you mean about the chicks eye, but it doesn't look bad at all, and to be honest, there's not a lot that you could do.
They can drink out of a bottle drinker to save changing water all the time (I offer both bowl and drinker till im happy most know how to use drinker.

[Clarebelle]

I don't know what sort of cage you have yours in but I use a hamster cage for the first 2 weeks or so. I use a hamster water bottle which they use no problem and it eliminates the mess they make with water and there's no chance they can drown. I also use a little plastic hamster sleeping house for the food. It's all enclosed apart from a round hole at the front, this means they can get their head in to feed but not actually climb into the food, this cuts down on mess wastage and usually means they can't poop in their food.

[in the hills]

A larger cage may help. Usually put ours onto shavings at about a week old and use old bath towels before that. If the cage is too small they will get mucky very quickly. If there is enough space you can usually just put a top sprinkling of shavings over each day to keep them dry and clean. Mucky feet can cause deformed toes etc. when it dries solid so worth keeping clean. We use a big cardboard box covered with a piece of wire. Box can be thrown away afterwards and no germs to transfer to future hatches.

By a week old we give ours a small water hopper ..... you can get really small ones that easily fit into a brood box and are designed for chicks or quail .... if your box is big enough. Same for the food. These can be raised from floor level by placing on a block of wood .... helps prevent sawdust contamination and they won't be able to dust bathe in it. They can be placed at far end of brood box away from the heat and stay cooler and fresher.

Might be a good idea to consider size of your box. Things might be much easier for you if you can get proper small hoppers in now and better for the chicks.

HTH.

[Stereo]

It's always a bit intense for the first couple days but generally once they know where food and water are, I put the drinker on a bit of wood that they can hop up onto to stop shavings getting in so much and hang the feeder at an appropriate height, raising it as they grow. As for bedding, I just keep adding shavings. Bad smell is an indicator that you don't have enough carbon to absorb the moisture in their outputs. You can either clean it out or just add more.  I built nice deep brooders out of pallet boxes so just keep whacking it in to keep it all dry and it also means they get to start digging about a bit.

I've seen lots of vids from the US where they deep bed the brooders and rarely clean them out, just keep adding carbon such as straw, chip, shavings or leaves. Results would suggest that this gives the chicks some good immunity from an early age.

As with anything chickeny, damp is the enemy.

[mojocafa]

My box is lined with puppy training pads from home bargains, makes life easy and they are cheap as chips

[Kimbo]

it looks to me like his eye is watering and making the down round it spiky. Prob just a bit of irritation after the shaving debacle. Bathing with a drop of cold tea might be enough. It doesn't look gunky so  I wouldn't be over concerned