Bedding - Pro’s & Cons

[Mosey2003]

Some horse people have used wood chippers to chop hay. I guess it can work, but I really don't know the specifics of how you'd go about it.

 

[Kat2141]

check with different farmers in your area. there are different kinds of machines for cutting the hay and some chop it smaller to start with than the old sickle bar type mowers. Also, "second cut" hay is typically a shorter grass than first cut timothy, it is finer and usually softer.

 

[sassysarah]

Do your chickens sleep on the floor, or do they sleep on roost bars?
If they do sleep on roost bars why do you want to put bedding on the floor?

When the chickens are on their roosting bar and they poop, the poop will fall onto the floor and if the coop floor has bedding on it, the floor will be a lot easier to clean and you wont ruin your coop..

 

[Shadrach]

I did wonder if the reason was something like that. I suppose a lot depends on the coop setup. I leave all the coop floors bare. I find it's easier to see who pooped what on the morning inspection if the floor is bare. My other concern is the straw bedding I can get here has mites in it and when it's a bit damp becomes a breeding ground for pathogens.
Given an average floor is 4x4 and I have six in operation that's a lot of bedding to chuck out once a week. Given the floors are plywood they are very easy to scrape.

 

[sweetgumkingdom]

I’m a noob and just finishing up building my first coop. I’ve been researching and browsing a bunch, but still undecided on what bedding I’ll use. My coop has a pull out floor which I plan to spot clean frequently with a pooper scooper, and then change out the entire lot of bedding as needed. Anyways, today I found this 30lb bag of corncob bedding at Rural King today for 3.99 a bag, that seemed super cheap ? I don’t have any other sources to compare it to though.

Anyone had any negative experiences with corn cob bedding ?

 

[paneubert]

For the price it seems like a pretty good deal.

 

[aart]

Not a bad price.
How well it will work, not sure haven't heard of using this as chicken bedding.
Pics of bedding on your pullout floor would be cool.

 

[be4morgan]

I think it is a good deal considering its price. You can give it a try to see if it will work.

 

[paneubert]

I saw on their website that they warn to keep it indoors and dry to avoid molding. So that could be a little concerning. I know other products will have the same "keep dry" warning, but it is usually not specifically in reference to mold. Or at least the manufacturer usually does not utter such a controversial word unless forced to. Haha.

 

[sweetgumkingdom]

Not a bad price.
How well it will work, not sure haven't heard of using this as chicken bedding.
Pics of bedding on your pullout floor would be cool.

I haven’t tried any bedding in it yet, we should be done building in a few days though.
The floor slides in on grooves though, you can just pull the entire floor of the coop out by handles on the outside. Hoping this system works for us and simplifies cleaning!

I think for the price I’m going to buy some and try it out once I have my flock here. I’ll let you know what I think of the stuff. They have similar stuff on amazon marketed towards birds and small animals, but for a lot more per pound.