coop bedding- what do you prefer??

[RockyRose]

Great thread - the great bedding debate. I think a lot depends on your climate. When I lived in New England I used straw in coops that were raised 3 feet off the floor, never had a problem. Now in Georgia with a new set of birds (and half as as many) I didn't like the straw, thought it drew in more flies so went to sand and scooping poop after hearing other people say they liked it. I sure didn't - a cat litter scoop left lots of little bits of poop and it didn''t take long before the ammonia smell arrived. There was nothing I could do short of "washing" the sand, so went back to hay/straw. BTW, this coop has a floor that isn't raised, the humidity has been really high too. I happen to like the straw better, I throw a layer on every few days and after a few layers will clean it out for the compost heap.
I had a farm store tell me a long time ago that chickens could choke on straw - I've seen my play with it but not try to eat it. The baby silkies still in the brooder have shavings and play with that too. They'll have straw and shavings when they move to their coop, later today (hay in the nest boxes, shavings in the coop). Will see how that works for them.
The flies are always a problem living next to a cattle farm, so no bedding will change that. They land on my car as much as the coop lol.
No matter the bedding, cleaning has to happen

 

[holm25]

Every animal we own has straw .

 

[karenduke]

I think what you choose really does depend on your coop and run setup and your climate, plus the current weather, and add in the chickens' current mood. We have an old horse barn that's on a decent slope, and started with a dirt floor. We've used pine shavings, straw, pine needles, etc. We have gradually gotten the entire barn's floors - the stalls and the common areas, plus the attached runs - covered in gravel dust. It's MUCH larger grains than sand and drains reasonably well when it gets wet. The birds like to take dust baths in it, and the gravel floor stays cooler in the summer. What I'm doing now is leaving exposed gravel dust floor in most of the coop, but straw placed under the roosts so it's easy to rake up poop and throw straw & all into the compost. Our birds also like straw in the nest boxes as they like to rearrange it just so while they're sitting there waiting for the big moment. However, I'm taking clues from the bird's choices. The biggest hen house/horse stall has about 25 chickens and their choice of wicker baskets with straw in them, their original 5 gallon buckets laid on their side, a shelf 4' off the ground with a wooden box, and we just added a wooden locker box about 6" off the floor spaced with small cinder blocks with straw in it. Where are they choosing to lay? They've dug out a hole under that locker box - between the cinder blocks so they're save from a cave-in - and all try to crowd in at the same time to lay UNDER the box on the gravel dust floor. So what our chickens are liking THIS WEEK is most of the floor left in bare gravel, straw around the perimeter to poop on or gather into piles as they please. If I throw in some garden goodies or weeds on the bare gravel and they don't eat them in a few hours then it's easy to pick them up or rake them up off the gravel floor and throw into the compost. We are using diamataceous earth on top of the gravel and under the straw. And I am putting a considerable amount of mint leaves and other herbs in the coops for whatever natural protection this might offer against bugs, rodents and snakes and for the nice smell.

In the winter it's easy, we use the deep litter method using mostly straw and pine needles over the gravel dust for a nice smell. But this just doesn't work well for OUR barn in OUR climate in the warm months.

I wouldn't presume that what we do is the best choice for everyone, just thought I'd share what's working for us right now. I'm also taking some clues from what I learned keeping parrots for 25 years. I'm adding in extra things for them to play with and perch on like parrot swings and just plain old firewood logs. I move them around and change things up a bit. It's so funny to see a chicken playing on a parrot swing or chew toy!

 

[Redtractorranch]

I use rice hulls. They stay fluffy and easy to sift through even if they get wet but without some of the dust problems of peat moss. (I uses a 50/50 mix of rice hulls and peat moss in my horse stalls, though)

 

[vehve]

and the paper industry.
Imagine all the trees that would not need to be cut if people used hemp (stronger and more durable paper...I believe the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp parchment.

And that thing is virtually indestructible, just look at what Nick Cage put it through

Sure did good for Finnish industry though, trees we've got an overabundance of. Too bad converting to electronic format is cutting down on export... And cheap wood from developing countries is used too, at least here we do sustainable forest utilization.

 

[Oscarsgravett]

I just give mine fresh hay to lay there eggs in and clean it out after it rains or when it is very hot
and they have cool dirt in there coop to take baths in and they enjoy it!

your chickens are lucky to have you and what a lovely range of animals I just need to get goats and cats , then I'll have the same varieties of animals

 

[Michael OShay]

Hey they can also use ashes from a pit fire or something and it gets rid of lice and mites! And they do it all the time

That's what I do in my coop. I have a flat box with wood ash in it for the chickens to bath in and they love to do it.

 

[jalabtek]

We like the pine shavings. They absorb moisture and can be vaccumed out by the shop vac when the coop needs to be cleaned.

 

[LoveChickens123]

I'm pretty new at being a chicken mommy (first flock hatched early March) and I just started using granular sweet pdz in the coop. I must say it's AWESOME so far. Keeps the coop dry, not too dusty and best of all: limits the stink factor. I just use a kitty scooper one a week. The pdz is compostable too

welcome to byc glad you joined us!

your coops sounds very easy to take care of!

 

[vehve]

let the grass dry in a thin layer to prevent molding before adding it to your run.

I just dump it in there in a pile and throw some feed in there, they scatter it around. Although I have a covered run, and the bottom is well drained so the grass dries up in a few days even in rainy weather. I usually get about 5-10 gallons of the stuff. I do however use one of those silly push operated mowers and just rake up the stuff, a motorized mower with a collection bag might pack it more densely, it's been years since I've last used one so I don't remember anymore.