Hello,
Anyone have issues with hatching/brooding chicks on DACB (Deotized Animal Cage Board)?
We had our first 2013 hatch of Golden Sebrights last week and we decided to try DACB to line the hatcher floor. I know it typically goes in the brooder dropping pan, but it can also be used for flooring (according to the manufacture's item description). We decided to do this due to the fact the wire flooring squares in our "hatcher" are fairly large and we were afraid of the chicks feet not being large enough and the possibility of the chicks hurting themselves. We used a table top incubator w/o the tray as a "hatcher" instead of a cabinet hatcher as we did not have a large first clutch of eggs to hatch.
Anyway, three of the chicks got spraddle leg from what we believe was the DACB. They were the first three on their feet and it was obvious they had issues with "traction". We immediately switched over to cheap paper towls in the hatcher and the remaining hatch had no issues. We did the band-aid trick for spraddle leg on all three of them; two have expired and the third spraddle legged chick is gaining weight and is fairly mobile. That being said however, I will not be suprised if the chick does not make it. It is what it is...
We continued the cheap paper towls in the brooder floor (GQF model) for the first week due to the same large wire squares in the brooder floor and we will be transitioning from paper towls to the covered wire bottom today as the chicks feet are now large enough for them to comfortably walk/run on the brooder wire floor w/o injuring themselves. There was a smaller-squarred wire bottom floor insert offered at one time for the GQF brooder, but it is no longer available. I will be manufacturing a 1/4" x 1/4" square rubber-coated wire bottom insert for our brooders after this experience!
Anyone have a similar experience with DACB?
-jd
Author
