Bedding

[dandefrancis]

Pine shavings at Wal Mart are much higher priced than a farm store. Don't know here you live but I purchase mine at Tractor Supply or Rural King (Natural Wood Shavings Bedding). A large bale of pine flake cost around $4.99. Also, you could try lumber yards, ours here will give their wood shavings away for FREE but we have to load it our self into our pickup truck. Haven't actually got any yet because I don't need THAT much just for my 8 chickens, but will consider getting some later on for the horses (when our barn is finished building)
Has anyone tried using Corn Cob Bedding? Sound like this would make excellent bedding. Any opinions on this?

 

[rubie]

hay is great and bad...they can safely peck at the hay seeds  but its a job and a half to clean out the coop after its been down for a while...

Just to give you an idea... i have a wood floor in my coop but i use wheat straw in the winter on the floor. When spring comes and is time to clean out the coop i get a tarp and spread it out at the people door of the coop then rake it onto the tarp then i just drag the tarp around to my plants in the yard and distribute it as needed. Takes one trip. It makes that aweful chore quick and easy.

 

[LogCabinChicks]

I live in zone 4, and I use grass hay. They love it, it keeps the coop smelling fresh, and no problems if they nibble it.

We use that in our turkey coop. Sure does smell good in there...like a barn, not at all like it smelled in the summer. The turkey coop is a chicken tractor actually. But now that its snowing, we don't move it. We double tarped it, put hay bales all along the edges and leave the door with just the chicken wire, they sure do make a lot of humidity from breathing, the insides were dripping with dew when we closed off the door. And the door is wood on the bottom, wire for a "window". We use the grass hay on the coop "floor" and only have to freshen it up on the weekends. Works very well. And if it can keep those turkeys from stinking, then it should do wonders in a chicken coop. I use pine shavings in my chicken coop. Deep litter method.

 

[RezChamp]

I live in Central Manitoba. That's in the middle of Canada. It gets pretty cold here. Last winter we had a whole week straight of -50 to -56*C. That's suffering cold. My coop is off the ground almost 3 feet. I staple(T50) a few layers of plastic tarp to the perimeter of the coop all the way around with about a foot extra laying on the ground. I put a 40 to 60 watt light bulb inside a metal 5 gln pail under there. It warms the floor quite well. Poop don't freeze onto it anyway. I think this year I'm gona use wheat straw as opposed to shavings. The shavings smell nice but yeah, my birds ingest too much of it sometimes.
If it gets real cold I put my waterer on a 3X3' box and put a 60 watt bulb in the box. 2 birds, 1 stone. I get a heat radiator and a waterer heater. The small vent is at the bottom so CO2 and other gases just go out. The air above the vent is pretty good-n-warm. Of course the walls and roof are fully insulated, but the floor is just 3/4" pine plywood. Or maybe fir. I don't know but the lumber yard guy said it's way better than spruce because it dries better?? or something like that. Works for me anyway.
I hope this helps.

 

[Brookliner]

I use "Hi Fiber Gold" Lucerne ManaPro horse fodder which is basically chopped hay. It smell great. I sprinkle "Stall Fresh (Sweet PDZ) and some DE on it. I fork it over daily. I have it on my vinyl covered wood floor and keep it at 6 to 10 inches. I change it once a year in october. I ocassionally throw some scratch in and my hens turn it over for me. I also use stall fresh in my poop trays under the roosts. Most of the poop lands in the poop trays which I scoop out daily. I have 3 coops and spend 1/2 hour a day cleaning and feed/watering. There is no poop oder. Check out my profile for pictures of my coops. I also use sand in my runs which I also scoop weekly. The PDZ or "Stall Fresh is what keeps the ammonia down as it is a natural ammonia absorber. Good luck.

 

[Blooie]

I started my deep litter with large flake pine shavings from Tractor Supply. I usually buy a few bags ($4.99) because the closest TC to us was 100 miles away - one way! Now they've opened a brand new one in Cody, so it's only 50 miles one way now.

Through the summer I added more shavings as needed, which wasn't very often, and lawn and garden refuse, grass clippings - just about anything. The girls do a great job of mixing it all together. Then this fall I added leaves, and I have several places in the yard where I have additional leaves stored. I'll add them when the litter gets cold and a little packed down so they have a fresh surface to walk on and new "ground" to scratch through, which helps with boredom. I use DL in both my run and my coop. I also use large flake pine in my nest boxes. Once in awhile I'll have a bit of shaving stick to the wet bloom on an egg, but very rarely. I just pick it off.

 

[sevenchicks]

I have not seen anyone that uses cedar shavings in there coop and nest boxes. I've been using it and love it. It helps keep mites and other varmints at bay. Smells great too.

 

[TracyLovesDucks]

I don't know anything about it, but what about pine straw.

I use pine shavings, luckily my ducks don't eat it (much). I'd like to find more uses for regular straw, but whenever I buy a bale it's always really poor quality and sometimes has what appears to be little flecks of white mold. So I can't bring myself to use it. I have enough now to keep adding to my compost for probably five years!!! Don't know why I always get stiffed on straw... bad suppliers maybe?

 

[labradoodlemama]

I am new to chickens this year and I have been using pine shavings, but I am changing to Koop Clean this weekend. I plan on doing the deep litter method.

 

[Mshaed]

we have used sand in our coops for years. it lasts a long time, keeps the smell down, and absorbs really well.. it is also very easy to clean out! recently though we decided to use pine shavings. i hate it. it seems like the shavings never stay in the coop. i have seen them slipping around in it. I am also thinking this added to an injury my rooster has with his leg i think he jumped off a perch and landed weird because the shavings slip around. we have had sand through the winters and they have been fine with it. in fact. half of my chickens sleep on a perch in our covered pen even when it is freezing outside.if i pick them up and set them in the nice warm coop they still just run back to their perch outside. i would stick with the sand.