bedding on the coop floor is straw better than hay

[blueseal]

i am getting ready for winter i put pine shaveings on the coop floor and usually hay . this year i might try straw on top of the shaveings. will straw last longer than hay. iv noticed when usuing hay it get matted down alot quicker. any info on your thoughts thanks.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

I personally prefer to use hay. The reasons are that straw will tend to be more slick to walk on and the straw also takes a long time to compost. Also because I have plenty of loose hay in the barn and can also get lots more from the stables. If I was to use straw I would have to buy it since we no longer have any need to keep it on hand. Also with straw since it tends to be larger and hollow it may allow undesired pest to seek refuge in it.

 

[cw]

Quote:
i dont know about there but clean grass hay is $2.00 dollars a bale where straw is upwards to $4.00 a bale i aint paying a n xtra $2.00 a bale for them to poop on

 

[blueseal]

Quote:
i dont know about there but clean grass hay is $2.00 dollars a bale where straw is upwards to $4.00 a bale i aint paying a n xtra $2.00 a bale for them to poop on

i called a local farm supply store today and they said $ 6.25 a bale for straw. mulch hay 3 or 4 dollars

 

[cw]

yea i believe it, the person who posted was worried about they hay matting, but i would tke a pitch fork and fluff it back up, it seems once straw finally mats, there is now fluffling, we bed everything down in hay, aint bought a bale of straw in years, the only good reason i see to by straw would be to fix the yard, cause the weed seeds found in hay, but that its self is still iffy, cause i would rather use good fescue hay to spread on the yard to fix the bare spots then straw, i guess to each is there own

 

[blueseal]

i will stick with hay its cheaper and probably easier to fluff up than straw.

 

[ArizonaNessa]

If you live where there is a lot of moisture, straw and/or hay can hold the moisture underneath (it can look just great on top and be horrid underneath) and create mold conditions that can make the birds sick. I use pine shavings for coop floor and hay in their laying boxes. Also pine shavings absorb the moisture from the poop and dry quickly leaving you with fairly clean shavings on top all the time plus pine is a great odor controller. Straw as far as I know absorbs nothing and deodorizes nothing. I might also add to be careful with hay because they eat it which is fine but it can cause impacted and sour crops if it gets tangled and they can't pass it properly.

 

[cw]

we do have a layer of sawdust underneth as it is free down the road (local sawmill)
and you defintly dont want to leave it there to long, and dont make the mistake of by crappy hay and or straw that could contain briars, wild rose or what have ya or youll start to see bumble foot a whole lot more in your flock

 

[blueseal]

i was thinking hay on top of the shaveings would keep the coop warmer at floor level. so should i just put xtra shaveings down instead of the hay or straw method.

 

[Laney]

I use straw instead of hay because the goats will go in and eat the hay if it's there. They leave the straw alone once they realize it's straw. If we put pine shavings down under straw it gets ugly.

The pine shavings compost under the straw because the straw will hold the moisture in underneath. Then they glue themselves to the flooring. In the end, in order to get the pine shavings AND straw out when it's time to clean you need a rake to fluff up the hay and pull it out, then a hoe to scrape the inch of pine shaving yuck off the floor.

With the straw you just go in and rake rake done.

I'm not talking about leaving those pine shavings in there for a month or two either. I mean a month or so ago when we had all that rain? They were cooped up in there for a week or so? I had cleaned it out about a week before they went in, it was just pine shavings. When the weather started, I threw in the straw to help with the cold...when the rain let up I went out and there it all was. YUCK and MUCK.

Now, we use just the straw.

Laney