The dry dusty shavings you clean from your brooder is perfect fertilizer and mulch for your garden, shrubs, or lawn? I use the smallest grade of shavings (usually called “fine”) and then the used bedding sifts nicely into the grass.
Turkey and Peafowl both adore bread product. Don’t feed it in excess of course, but this is a great wayto hand tame them.
The weeds that start growing in late winter and early spring are terrific as a “spring tonic” for poultry. Chickweed is called that because it is beloved by chickens of all ages.
The best bulbs for brooding chicks are the old-fashioned incandescent bulbs. They are increasingly hard to find due to government regulations, but I have found them at the bigbox stores (Lowes, Home Depot, etc) and also at Dollar Tree. Please do not use the heat lamp bulbs sold at farm stores, those a fire hazard indoors. I have a friend who lost their house when a brooder in their garage overheated.
A very handy device to adjust the heat in a brooder (and absolutely essential if you insist on using a heat lamp) is a Tabletop Lamp Dimmer.
Are your chicks wasting feed in those round feeders that screw onto jars? Cut as small strip of 1/2 inch hardware cloth and form it into a circle. Put it into the feeder to partially block the feed as it drop from the jar to slow it down. Chicks still get plenty to eat, but don’t wast as much feed.