whats best straw,wood chips or what for bedding - Page 2

If you do decide on wood shavings use pine. Do not use cedar as it is toxic to many small animals including chickens.

I use hay, dirt, wood chips. Makes great compost for the garden.    As far as straw some people love it and some dont. There has been reports that straw can get wrapped around the chickens toes and cause discomfort.     Also I seen there is Indiana people on this thread.  We have a NEW ACTIVE thread just for us Indiana People. Come check it out lots of people from Indiana. Here is the link.   http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/730582/indiana-bycers-here     Just tell everyone about your self and that I sent you. lol  Hope to see you there!

I haven't tried straw, but I've tried hay and pine shavings.  I like the pine shavings by far the best, the hay just got soiled so quickly.  The wood shavings are nice and light and make it easy to spot poop, they cushion the eggs better because the hens can't seem to scratch it all out of the way (and thus can't lay directly on the nest box floor), they're thick, fluffy, probably hold heat better, and you can get it pretty affordably.

i always use 3/4 wood shavings to 1/4 straw as the wood shavings absorb loads of wet and poo and the smell where as the straw stays mainly dry which is nice if a hen is on the floor or sleeping there if they are old or getting bullied.

We made poop boards under the roosts to collect the poop and we used excerise floor panels (foam floor tiles) on the floor and they do just fine. No straw or bedding. Very easy to scrape the poop and no bedding to buy. Poop goes right into our compost dirt.

Interesting. I would love to be able to save some money and do the same. But, does it smell bad in your coop? How often do you have to scrape the tiles?

I use a mix of straw and pine shavings. If you use shavings, make sure it is kild-dried pine and not a mix of wood shavings that may contain cedar, etc. I like to mix because the straw goes a long way and provides good insulation to keep them warm in the winter. The pine helps absorb the wetness. In the actual little house, I stir up and change the bedding out more often. In the run, which is all uncovered, I just stir and add more as needed as I am doing the deep litter method there.
 

I am a newbie and haven't even built my coop yet. So, do I need to use litter in the run as well as the coop house? Is this because they will eventually tear up the grass in their enclosed run area? They will have a free range area when we are able to watch them. Thanks!

Yes they will scratch up all the grass.

When I read this I thought nest boxes. Sorry about that. For coop and house litter IM looking into the deep litter method. Otherwise I might do pine shavings.

Deep litter is constantly composting, which cuts down on odor and is self cleaning as limb as it isn't overcrowded. It also attracts bugs for the chickens to eat.

If the chickens are eating right and not stressed, their poop will be solid and not smell as bad :)

 

This is he best method to collect the poop for use in the garden. We let our poop sit for a year and apply it to the garden soil in the spring.

Edited by tish_matt - 1/29/13 at 7:33pm