coop bedding- what do you prefer??

[PlaidBattleAxe]

My coop is raised up on a cement slab foundation and the nesting boxes are off the ground. Should I be putting anything on the ground of it for my chickens? I use pine shavings in the nesting boxes. I'm in the process of building a ladder type plank for my chickens to be able to reach both levels of the boxes. Does this sound ideal?

Gorgeous set up! I love your nesting boxes. I use deep litter method for my coop (I have linoleum over 3/4" plywood floors). You can find a lot of info on it here at BYC, but everyone seems to have their own twist to it. What I do (I have buff orpingtons so they are heavier birds and I was worried about them landing on a hard ground from their roosts) is I threw a few nice sized handfuls of pine shavings on the floor but I covered the inside of the nesting boxes with the shavings (they'll rearrange them and scratch them out as they lay and make their nests "customized"). Once a week I put in a shovelful of garden soil on the floor and they scratch it around through the shavings and it mulches nicely with their droppings. I've got no smell and they have fun scratching around looking for whatever may have hitchhiked in on the soil. I add a few handfuls of the pine shavings each week. It apparently helps with insulating the coop in colder months (the combo of mulched poo/shavings). I've only got a single-story nesting box set up but my hens came from a farm that had higher ones like yours and the man said they just flew up to the higher boxes, but I'm sure they'd love your ladder method to use and or roost on.

 

[witchwriter]

we use cedar shavings as its a natural bug repellant. all the posts i've been reading say pine shavings. is there a reason i shouldn't be using cedar?

 

[subhanalah]

we use cedar shavings as its a natural bug repellant.  all the posts i've been reading say pine shavings.  is there a reason i shouldn't be using cedar?

it can cause organ failure (can't remember if it's live or kidneys or???

 

[tryingmyluck]

in regrards to the credar post can use mluch im i know my spelling is bad so try to bear with me

 

[witchwriter]

cedar shavings will be gone today. i did not know that.

 

[Coach P]

I'm also new, but a friend told me not to use straw. She said since straw is hollow, it's a breeding place for mites (or something to that effect). I use pine shavings for my nests.

 

[DGuy]

II use a mixture 2/3 sand 1/3 stall dry and scoop like cat litter. Works great here in FL for my 8 birds.

 

[greggking]

As a former hardwood milling employee, cedar, juniper, walnut, can be toxic to critters,also we were warned about oak dust inhalation as a carcinogen.Hope this helps. GK

 

[aatx]

I use pine shavings and dried leaves in the coop. Have never cleaned it out. I started out with a layer of dried leaves on bottom a few inches thick and then added in a full bag of pine shavings (4x8 coop). Chickens scratched to mix them up together. They were confined to the coop the first week, so lots of mixing happened then. Since then, occasionally I throw in a few handfuls of fresh shavings, and this past weekend I brought over another packed wheel barrow full of dried leaves. Added all the leaves and they were scratched in within a few days. Will continue to add shavings or leaves as they get packed down/decompose. After next winter, I'll remove build up and only keep the bottom few inches of litter to start all over.

I have a water bucket with nipples in the coop, but no food now. If bad weather, I'll just add a tray.

Run is 1200 sq foot of grass/pasture.

 

[LindaB220]

I use pine shavings and dried leaves in the coop. Have never cleaned it out. I started out with a layer of dried leaves on bottom a few inches thick and then added in a full bag of pine shavings (4x8 coop). Chickens scratched to mix them up together. They were confined to the coop the first week, so lots of mixing happened then. Since then, occasionally I throw in a few handfuls of fresh shavings, and this past weekend I brought over another packed wheel barrow full of dried leaves. Added all the leaves and they were scratched in within a few days. Will continue to add shavings or leaves as they get packed down/decompose. After next winter, I'll remove build up and only keep the bottom few inches of litter to start all over.

I have a water bucket with nipples in the coop, but no food now. If bad weather, I'll just add a tray.

Run is 1200 sq foot of grass/pasture.

It gets so hot in La that I've been spraying down the litter to cool it off. Also spraying the girls. They make a racket but it does cool them down so much. I started with the same leaves and shavings. Ever so often I'll add more. It just seems to go right down. I use fermented feed so I never have a poop smell. I haven't got my run up and going yet but one step at a time.