bedding for chickens?

[Timothy Menezes]

My preference is to use wheat straw on the floor of the coop, and pine shavings in the nesting boxes.

I've also used rice straw, and oat hay. Both worked fine, just kinda think the wheat works the best for my setup.

I want to try that wood pellet horse stall bedding, just to see what it is like.

 

[Molpet]

wood pellet horse stall bedding

I use that in the brooder. It says to spray it with water first, so it starts to break apart. I figure it's too big for chicks to try to eat and they always spill... I put paper towels over it for the first week and by the second week it is starting to breakdown

 

[Spartan22]

I use pine shavings/sand combo in the coop and run and pdz, shaving and sand on poop boards. I compost and use them around my hedges (300 ft long) and trees I clean and top my beddings every morning and I totally clean the coop and run every month and I got no fly nor disease problem in 6 yrs. (knock on wood) especially had never lost a single precious chick.

 

[feathermania]

We use a lot of straw on the bottom of the coop and cover it with about 4 inches of pine shavings. And we use a few inches of pine shavings in the bottom of the nesting boxes and add a big layer of straw shaped into nests over the shavings. I clean the coop every other or every two days, fluffing up the "nests" in the nesting boxes when I do that. We compost all of it to use in our gardens.

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

I use pine shavings and hay in the coops/nesting boxes and construction grade sand and top soil in the run. I keep adding top soil from my seasoned horse manure pile for dust baths.

 

[CoChiChick]

First timer here, but I have been using pine pellets in the brooder for both chicks and ducklings. I really like them. I have been leaving them whole and letting the waste naturally moisturize and expand them, but I may try giving them a misting next time I change everything out fresh to see if that improves the clumpiness (is that a word?) of the waste.

The duckling poo kinda binds together and dries out, but it's a bit hard to scoop out the little clumps with the kitty litter scoop because some of the pellets are still whole. Wetting them may help with this.

I have also been using flock fresh for the sleeping area of the ducklings and plan to use that under the mama heating pad as well once I move the chicks out to the coop.

 

[CoChiChick]

My preference is to use wheat straw on the floor of the coop, and pine shavings in the nesting boxes.

I've also used rice straw, and oat hay. Both worked fine, just kinda think the wheat works the best for my setup.

I want to try that wood pellet horse stall bedding, just to see what it is like.

I like the wood pellets so far. Of course I don't have much to compare to, but they are absorbent and seem to help with odor. Add some sweet pdz/horse stall refresh, and I think it makes for a near perfect combo. Anxious to see how well it compost and mulches for the garden

 

[aart]

This is about 'cleaning', but bedding depends on how you manage your manure.

-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 on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.

-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 keep it 'clean', have not found any reason to clean 'deeper' in 5 years.