Bedding

[evemfoster]

What do people in the western states do to keep their chickens from living in and around sand? I always wonder this when i see people write articles talking about how terrible sand is for chickens to be around. Do the people in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and the likes just not care about their chickens as much as everyone else?

Sand? Now that would be an upgrade. I'm in the mountains my soil is broken rock. It gets so cold here during the winter that sheets of rock break off exposed bolder's and the rocks down 6" into the ground turn into gravel. And the next winter the gravel will become sand and the sand will break down into rock dust. Every spring the thaw washes away the sand and rock dust exposing a new collection on broken rocks for the summer. I'd love to have a nice easy to walk on sand-scape yard instead of the broken rocks brought up every spring.


I read in a local magazine that we should keep chickens from walking on the local broken rock soil. But, my chickens are doing fine and have never had any problems. I have decided all those recommendations are geared toward selling something to the chicken owner.

I live in the mountains winters here averages -30 January through the end of February and it blows nearly all the time. Some days that is the highs. It has also snowed as much as 5 feet overnight.

My coop is a small 4X4 coop that is 2 1/2 feet off the ground. It was made with leftover pieces of metal siding patched together like a jigsaw puzzle. Its vented and insulated with 1 1/2 inch foam sheets covered with cardboard. Then greenhouse plastic was used as a vapor barrier, and to keep the chickens away from the foam. The floor is 1/2" plywood covered with a sheet of foam wrapped in greenhouse plastic and covered with 6" of pine shavings. I have noticed that the chickens eat the shavings but i have never seen them get sick from it. I just top off the shavings every couple months.

The coop was designed for 6 chickens and i am down to 3. While i hope to find a couple more chickens for the winter i am not too worried about them. Inside the coop has remained above freezing while outside temperatures have been in the single digits during the latest cold snap. However when it gets colder the chickens will stay inside all day and can dig nest holes into the shavings to keep warm. If it gets extra cold they'll dig all the way to the bottom and sit on the foam to keep warm.

I don't believe there is anything wrong with sand (or rock) but i don't believe it insulates all that well. If i lived in a climate that was a lot warmer i would consider sand. But i believe it would be a extremely poor choice for my climate.

 

[Mogli]

This is True my Hens eat Big Pine shavings too so now i know not to use wood shavings for Coop floor beding or nesting box beding they eat tons of it witch isnt good for them could cause Impacted crop someone told me that on BYC

 

[Homie Ducks]

my hen is also eating .... is it dangerous for her or not ?

 

[Blooie]

Boy, I am stumped. I've never had a chicken eat the pine shavings...they glean it for bugs and missed bits of scratch, but never eat it. And yet so many of you have said yours do. I wonder why some can't leave it alone and others don't even notice it. Silly chickens!

 

[DianaMallory]

I have used both, the sand is colder but if you put heat in your coop once the sand gets warmed up it will hold the heat. And once the sand gets wet with ammonia you need to lots of ventilation. I like the poo board with sweet PDZ on it. and pine chips myself. The sand is to heavy for me. Since I got my poo boards, I don't think I will ever go back to sand. I like the sand until it got wet, Then I wanted it gone! The smell was more than I could handle.

 

[Back2Roots]

I use flax bedding in my coop. I used to use wood shavings, and I still use some in the nest boxes if I'm running low on flax bedding. It's a bit more expensive than wood shavings, but I find it goes further, and it does a much better job of keeping the coop smelling fresh and absorbing moisture from the poop.

I have been throwing leaves and pine straw in the run, and I bought some straw to throw down in the covered part, now that the snow has started to fly here.

I have a poop tray-style board with a layer of Stable Boy and DE (odour-free night-time poops, easy peasy cleanout every other day) and I muck out the poop from the coop floor weekly. I find the flax bedding much easier to manage than shavings. The girls like scratching around in it too.


Key benefits:
•Highly Absorbent – using less bedding and produces less wastage
•Healthy and Hygienic – less dust produces a healthier environment
•100% Natural Organic – Flax is organically cultivated
•Very Easy to Use – Reduces "Mucking Out" time - smaller muck heaps
•It's Bio-degradeable – Rots down very quickly to produce great compost
•It's supposed to be cool in summer and warm in winter


www.flaxbed.ca

 

[Buckhowdy]

After having a brooder filled with pine shavings in my garage for 7 weeks, everything in there is covered with a thick layer of dust. My wife thinks it is caused by the pine shavings. Are pine shavings causing all the dust or is dust just part of having chickens?

 

[Blooie]

As chickens feather out the shafts of the feathers dry out, contributing huge amounts of dander to the dust from the pine shavings. We had such a mess in Ken's office after 5.5 weeks of 22 chicks in the brooder we swore we'd never brood chicks indoors again! So it's a combination, I think.

 

[ampho]

No expert here, but there are multiple experienced chicken people that said never to use Cedar, maybe research that further.

 

[Houdi]

They really can't eat the larger flaked pine bedding. They may peck at it and pick it up, but it's too big for them. I started with the smaller shavings when they were babies, but saw that they could eat. I also use straw for the outer area of my enclosure. I moved my chickens to our sun porch for the winter and use the straw on the floor. We live in WI and it's already dipped down to about 10 degrees at night.