No smell in my Coop - Page 4

I have used both in my coop with success. I have also used combination. As long as they are wood pelletts I dont think you can go wrong. They should all act the same way.

 Here is a run down of what the pellets did after having them in the coop fom June 2011 until April 2012. No smell.......I did not change any pellets although in February I did shovel about 4 five gallon pails of broken down material out as it was piling up pretty good and getting into their water. As the pellets break down they expand so I am going to guess you will wind up with about 15% more material then you started with. A friend of mine tried this method but didnt lay pellets in deep enough ( I had about 8+ inches, she had about 3 inches) and she did get an amonia odor which I never had. 

Pellet pros - Inexpensive to use, stays clean, no stink, chickens seem to like it and they can scratch in it easily. It also acts as a good insulater and is very absorbant. I had no damp or wet bedding at any time.

Pellet Cons- Dusty when they break down.

 When I cleaned the pellets out this wekend I found they were dry, easy to shovel with no mess at all. After I shoveled them out into my wheel barrow I used a shop vac to vac down the coop. I had no wet or damp material anywhere in the coop. Not all of the pellets were broke down, many were just swelled up in the corners.

 On another note I do believe that a daily rake back and forth is well worth the effort and became part of my daily regiment in about Decemeber. I always raked what was left for droppings under the roost under each morning. Nothing too tough just a little raking to turn it over, the girls did the rest. I have 10 girls in case anyone is wondering.

 I am going to switch to Pine shaving and see how that works. If it fails I will go back to pellets as I know they work. I am going to try the shavings with the same guidelines under which I used the pellets and see if the material has an effect on things or not. My guess is the pellets will turn out to be a better performer but I am going to find out......... I learn so much from this site I thought I would report my results so that others could see how deep litter and wood pellets worked for me.......

From Northern NH   

 One observation that I have already seen with the shavings. They are light so whenever the girls fly down from their perch in the morning the shavings fly all over the place ! Im hoping this calms down a little once they ( the shavings ) are "aged". On a plus note the shavings dont foul the water like pellets do if the pellets get into the waterer......That part I like !

NH is an awesome state. We moved back in 2005 after 13 years of being gone to the mid west. One thing I will tell you no matter what you use for bedding in your coop is that you need to make sure you vent it well. Good airflow will make a huge difference. I have 2 large gable vents and then I also have a ridge vent at the top of the roofs peak and the soffits are vented the entire length . When my small coop door that leads to the run is opened you can actually feel the airflow go through the coop even on a calm day. My pellets after all of those months were dry as a bone even with all of the bird droppings. I was amazed to say the least. Moisture needs to be considered during your design and make sure you vent things well. I do close off the soffit vents in the winter with plastic pellet bags ( I like to recycle ) when it starts to get into the single digits and below.............. I will report later on how the pine shavings do once I give them a few months so I have a good comparison. All my friends tell me ( all have switched now to pellets ) that Im crazy and that I will go back to pellets. Time will tell....lol