Anyone else use straw as bedding?

[RockyPhoenix]

Does anyone else use straw as bedding? What do you like about it ? What do you not like about it?

 

[Beekissed]

I've used hay and straw and found that it forms a cap easily and becomes more moist than pine bedding. Much harder to remove also, when the year is done.

 

[jeaucamom]

We used straw and one of the chickens ate it and I had to do crop surgery because it doesn't digest. I would NOT recommend it!

 

[Scoop]

I use it a lot. Some say it's dustier, but I see the dust from the expensive wood shavings, too. Just look in the sunlight coming into the coop some time. The chickens don't seem to care either way. I clean the poo poo out of the coop often and get my straw cheaper than the wood chips. I also have gone to my fields and cut weeds down myself, let them dry and use that.

By the way, when I clean the coop I use a respirator with replaceable cartridges so I don't got to breathe in all that dust. A general dust mask is useless for me.

 

[ChooksChick]

I prefer fresh, never-been-wet prairie hay.

The problem I find with straw that I don't find with hay is that the straw has a hollow shaft and mites can come in (or hide) in those.

I prefer the way hay breaks down in my compost, as well.

 

[RockyPhoenix]

people always say straw houses mites but ive been doing the DLM for 4 or 5 months now and the only time i ever had a mite problem was when i had a broody in the nest...we get straw free cause my dad harvests wheat and we bales straw...awesome....but anyway ive never had a problem with straw....its as good if not better than wood shavings...

 

[JanieMarie]

I've never used anything but straw in the coops. Never had any problems. With the poop boards under the roosts it doesnt' get that dirty and with some DE sprinkled on occasionally it doesn't get too moist. The chickens stir it up for me looking for treat tidbits and I've never found it to be difficult to clean out in the spring.

Edited to add in 20+ yrs with chickens I've never had a mite problem (knock on wood!)

 

[Slywoody]

Used straw my whole life and never had a problem. Nowadays, i use DE with it. I clean my coop once a month. Use it in the nests too. I'll keep using it. From the coop, it goes on the mulch pile and from there to my garden and flower beds.

 

[brandyb]

I have always used wood chips, but here recently it has been really wet and cold so i put some hay on top of the wood chips on the floor of the coop and in the nest. The day after putting the hay in the nest one of my hens went broody. She is now sitting on 7 eggs. I don't know if the hay had something to do with it or if it was just a coincidence. To me wood chips last longer than hay (as in you don't have to replace them in the nest or coop very often).

 

[cowman910]

I find that the shavings absorb water quicly and stay wet, as when the straw gets wet it just sinks to the bottom. I preferably think straw is easier to clean becaus ei can use a pitch fork and clean the whole coop with one lift

I also think the shavings get kicked around too much. But thats just my 2 cents, Don't spend it all in one place.