bedding alternative to straw

alternative bedding ( cant use straw-am allergic )

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Hi @lorienlouise Welcome To BYC:frow
Adding your location to your profile is very helpful when asking for suggestions.

How old is your chicken, is it only one?
Do you have a coop/housing outdoors that you can put your chicken in?

Since you don't have pine shavings available, you can use puppy pads to line your cage.
You mention there is sand?
Hi, I have 1 chicken whose been with me for 12yrs, love her to bits!..im in cornwall so live by the sea-she lives in a little house with a run-not huge but ample for her, although she's a fat little thing!, although house is off the floor it is a small house ( no perch).so she kicks everything out when I put fresh straw in!..Ive put some shredded paper in for now, but dont want her to get a paper mâchéd house!..is very wet here so put some plastic covering on top of run to protect her, I go and sit with her as dont like her being on her own but she ran some rescue chickens out of town! so more chicken company is not an option! she's very happy talking to me and lets me stroke her, even sits on my lap bless her, so she wont have long to go now she's nearly 13, wanna make her home happy-think play ground sand may be the answer-thank you so much for advice
 
Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you found us!

I'm a bit confused why your mum is sleeping on straw? Do you mean you have an adult house chicken or maybe baby chicks in a brooder in your house? I'll assume you have chickens in your house and your mum is going to visit. If I am wrong please correct me.

Chickens and chicks give off dander. That is bits of skin and down that break off and float away. Some people are allergic to dander. Chickens scratch a lot. They can shred most bedding into dust with their scratching. When chicken poop dries out chickens can turn it into dust with their scratching. These are the things you are dealing with.

We use all kinds of things for bedding in brooders, cops, runs, or nests. Wood shavings, wood chips, hay, straw, sand, dirt, Spanish moss, shredded paper, carpet, the list goes on and on. Someone can always come up with a reason any one of these won't work but others use them successfully. We are all unique, different things work better for different ones of us.

I don't know what is unique about you or what situation you are dealing with. I'd guess chicks in a brooder in your house but that's only a guess. Can you lock that brooder in a room and seal it up as best you can to keep dust in there? Can you brood outside, many of us do even in below freezing weather. You may need to change bedding really often. Without knowing what is going on and what you are working with it's hard for me to make specific suggestions that apply to your unique situation.
Ha-no mum not in the chicken house! her bedroom is very close to window where the spores from the straw floats up-do I get rid ov mum or the chicken!!
 
Hi, I have 1 chicken whose been with me for 12yrs, love her to bits!..im in cornwall so live by the sea-she lives in a little house with a run-not huge but ample for her, although she's a fat little thing!, although house is off the floor it is a small house ( no perch).so she kicks everything out when I put fresh straw in!..Ive put some shredded paper in for now, but dont want her to get a paper mâchéd house!..is very wet here so put some plastic covering on top of run to protect her, I go and sit with her as dont like her being on her own but she ran some rescue chickens out of town! so more chicken company is not an option! she's very happy talking to me and lets me stroke her, even sits on my lap bless her, so she wont have long to go now she's nearly 13, wanna make her home happy-think play ground sand may be the answer-thank you so much for advice
Thank you for the information. She sounds like a lovely girl! If you have photos of her that you would like to share that would be great. (we love chicken photos:))

Hens do like to scratch and scatter so I wouldn't be surprised that you have paper mache soon LOL If you have access to sand try that in your run to see if that cuts down on dust. For the housing lets us know how the shredded paper goes.

We have quite a few members from the UK and Europe they may also be able to offer suggestions for your unique situation and environment.
You can find those folks on these 2 threads:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/peeps-in-europe.1288348/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/anyone-in-england.2199/page-75
 
I have astro-turf in my nesting boxes and they do fine - totally non-allergenic ; ooops confused, where they sleep is no straw just a 2x4 - they eat straw, lol
 

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