What bedding do you use? - POLL

What type of bedding(s) do you use?

  • Straw

    Votes: 55 18.8%

  • Hay

    Votes: 32 10.9%

  • Deep Litter

    Votes: 52 17.7%

  • Sand

    Votes: 29 9.9%

  • Gravel

    Votes: 1 0.3%

  • Pine shavings

    Votes: 190 64.8%

  • Other

    Votes: 37 12.6%
  • Total voters
    293
Date sort Score sort
roxyblue

roxyblue

Songster
8 Years
Jul 6, 2011
525
1
111
pittsburgh, PA
Hey Everyone!
I have been expirimenting with different kinds of bedding and would like to know what all of you are useing, and/or what works best.
Hay and straw I find gets old pretty quickly and wood shavings also need to be changed pretty often, but that those are just my results. So please, after casting your vote, simply write down what bedding you use and why you like/dislike it. Hopefully this will help some newbies or just people who are expirementing (like me) in choosing what type of bedding to use!
big_smile.png

Thanks!
-Roxy

Also: I checked breifly to see if there was already a poll on this, and I didn't see any, but if there is one fell free to let me know!
 
Straw: I used in nest boxes, until I got a "dusty" batch. That stuff cost me a hen and nearly killed my rooster. Check your straw for mold!

Hay: Never tried, gets too slimy/moldy I hear.

Deep litter: Want to try this spring.

Sand: Have it in my run and LOVE it!

Gravel: It's what my driveway is. Good for grit, but I couldn't imagine it as bedding.

Pine shavings: I use it. I sprinkle DE in it from time to time to dry it out, but it still gets yucky after a month.
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Other: I'm trying out shredded corrugated cardboard (just in the nesting boxes). Super absorbent and still very compostable. Free if you are willing to waste a few hours sitting in front of a shredder. Can't say if I like it enough yet.

.... and shredded paper was awful. It wasn't absorbent, turned to a plaster like substance, and makes the run look like a mess because they drag it out of the coop and all over the place! I'm still picking it out of the nooks and crannies in their coop. Oh yeah, and they ate a bunch of it too.
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Last edited:
We have sand in the run, it works well. Pine shavings in the coop using the deep litter method which has worked really well so far this winter. I also use the smaller pine shavings from Kmart for the nests and for top fluff in the coop. It's softer and smells good.
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Shredded newspaper in the coop. Super dry and no odor ever.
Yard waste in the run. Easy and convenient- chickens turn it to compost.
I tried out sand and did not like it. Just dug out the mess today and I am very relieved to see the end of it.

Imp
 
I use pine shavings in the coop and sand in the run with pine shavings over the sand since we have drainage issues now after last year's 75 inches of rain. It's easy to scoop, not prone to mold like hay and straw, absorbent, and the birds like to scratch around in it.

I haven't scooped the coop out in AGES.. I grab the poo daily from under the roosts and any obvious droppings elsewhere... in the run too with a dog scooper. Pine shavings scoop really well. Barely any waste and I hardly ever add fresh.

The ducks also have pine bedding indoors, their run is pea gravel with pine straw (pine needles) since I don't want absorbency with how they throw water around out of their pool.
 
since I am a newbie and my chicks are just barley a week old, I can't really comment much on what works for me and what doesn't...but, I am using pine shavings in the run and under the roosts I have put sand and Sweet PDZ. It should be pretty easy to scoop the poop daily. Outside in the run is just dirt and some small gravel...actually it was just some really crappy top soil we got last year that has more gravel in it than is should have. The drainage is pretty good and it hardly gets muddy. I should know more how this will work out for me in a few months.
 
We use straw in the adult coops with deep litter method. Works great and we put old bedding in compost pile for using in the garden after composting time. Pine shavings in the nesting boxes, and in the chick pens.
 
We're planning on using pine shavings in the deep litter method with some sweet PDZ sprinkled in to mitigate smell. Also, going to do a poop board under the roost!
 

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