Bedding for chickens, a General discussion

[chickencheeper]

Bedding: what is safe and what is not.
A general discussion of bedding for chickens. I’ve been reading around and have received mixed opinions on what beddings are safe for chickens. I’m currently using(and always have)eastern white pine shavings. I’m also using them for brooding a new batch of chicks currently. Is eastern white pine safe? What kinds of sand do you use? What do you use? I’m asking this partly because we just finished our batch of shavings and will be buying some more soon. But should we buy more? Or should we switch?

 

[blackdog043]

I use pine shavings and some straw inside my coop and I also just raised my last chicks inside my coop brooder, on the same bedding. I never used sand and don't intend to inside my coop. It's 8 x 12, I wouldn't want to sift all that sand to remove poop. I do have a 2' x 12' poop board with Sweet PDZ in it, that I scoop, it takes a few minutes to do. I use deep litter in my run.

 

[aart]

I’ve been reading around and have received mixed opinions on what beddings are safe for chickens.

You're going to get mixed opinions here too

This is about cleaning, but covers bedding..so will just paste, too lazy to type it all out again.

-I use poop boards under roosts with thin(<1/2") layer of sand/PDZ mix, sifted daily(takes 5-10mins) into bucket going to friends compost.
-Scrape big or wet poops off roost and ramps as needed.
-Pine shavings on coop floor, add some occasionally, totally changed out once or twice a year, old shavings added to run.
-Runs have semi-deep litter, never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials.
-Nests are bedded with straw, add some occasionally, change out if needed(broken egg).
There is no odor, unless a fresh cecal has been dropped and when I open the bucket to add more poop.
That's how I 'clean', have not found any reason to clean 'deeper' in 4 years.

 

[igorsMistress]

I was pretty stuck on pine shavings until I got some hay.

I have a poop board that gets cleaned a couple times a week, then goes to my composter when the bucket is full.

The small yard my coop is in also has hay in it and my plan is to move what's in the coop to that yard and my big compost pile. Pine is allelopathic and I found the coop to be very dusty. Switching to hay was a win/win. I'm not particularly worried about weeds from the hay. The only things still green in the yard are protected from chickens.

 

[Wallerchickie]

This brings up a good question for me (total newbie)...do you have to put bedding in the run, or can you just leave it grass? If you leave it, how would you clean it?

 

[chickencheeper]

This brings up a good question for me (total newbie)...do you have to put bedding in the run, or can you just leave it grass? If you leave it, how would you clean it?

It’s fine either way. If you leave it as grass then I won’t be grass for long(chickens will destroy it)

 

[rosemarythyme]

This brings up a good question for me (total newbie)...do you have to put bedding in the run, or can you just leave it grass? If you leave it, how would you clean it?

Let the chickens enjoy the grass while it's there, but have a plan for what you want to put in when the grass is long gone.

As far as cleaning it while it's grass, I just poop scoop any big obvious poops and leave the rest.

 

[FlyWheel]

Coop Klean on the floor with granulated PDZ filled trays under their roosts (2ea. 6' long each for ten hens). 5 minutes each morning to scoop out the trays. A periodic scoop of what little falls on the floor. Since it is hay much of it gets kicked out as the hens scratch through it looking for seeds, so all I have to do is sweep out what remains every three months or so and scrape what poop has escaped my patrols and stuck to the floor. I then sprinkle a little DE on the floor and lay down another bale's worth of Coop Klean (Hay with PDZ added). The hens stir it all up and spread everything around.