Bedding

[Houdi]

The only bad part about using heat in the coop is a power outage. That's why I use the larger flaked pine instead of sand-it's too cold here (10 degrees last night). A number of articles I read stated that if you're going to use a heat source, you should have a generator for back-up...otherwise you'll loose your birds, as they won't be acclimated to the drop in temperature. As I stated above; I've moved mine to the porch off the garage. They have a plywood box coop with perches and nesting boxes and pine shavings inside, but there's no heat source. There's also no wind. The cement floor outside the coop is covered in straw. It's been below freezing for over a week, and the birds are fine. I do have a heated water bowl, but even if the power goes out, I can keep fresh unfrozen water during the day by continuing to change it out.

 

[JackE]

The only bad part about using heat in the coop is a power outage.

No, that isn't the only bad thing. Totally burning your coop, and everything in it, is probably the worst thing.

 

[RezChamp]

My covered run is about 112 square feet. My coop is about 36... So that's about 148 square feet together.

Almost exactly the same as you have.

But I only have 8 birds. That free range.

I guess more space really does equal less work.

I live in the country. My run is about an acre +or-. I don't know how square feet that is. I posted only my interior living space.
My run isn't covered either. Well.... It has an over story of a few trees and shrubs but for the most part(just over half) is grass and other weedy grassy flowery stuff and a few fallen trees and willows. Just an "old farm" type place. Heck, my coop ain't even fully painted yet.
My chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese all roam around my "once" beautifully landscaped yard with my 50 or 60 rabbits and 2 horses. There's a few holes and dust bathe shallows now but the remainder of the lawn is soooooooooo lush and green.

And yes, more space does = less work in this case.

 

[Everett Kaser]

I'm new to chickens (still have to build the coop and receive the chicks, yes, THAT new), but I have to wonder...

Could the fact that some folks report their chickens eat pine shavings and others don't have something to do with the particular breed of chickens?

So, for those of you who have problems with your chickens eating wood shavings, what breed(s) do you have?

 

[RezChamp]

I have used peat moss and am very happy with it. One of my girls uses it for dust bathes. It's very soft and the urine is immediately absorbed. A fellow chicken-keeper who works at Home Depot suggested it as she has used it for years as well. The only downside is if there a breeze it can be dusty. It hasn't had any adverse affects on my girls respiratory-wise. It's also inexpensive. 

Where I live there are 3 "peatmoss farms" stripping vegetation and making drainages in an area that scientists estimate took around 10,000 years to grow into the perfect habitat for the flora and fauna that live there. Well...actually "lived" there. I'm talking environment/ecosystem. There are herbal medicines that grow there(sorry....GREW there) that can't be found anywhere else. To top that it is shipped to another country, repackaged, then shipped back to us for 10X more than what it was sold to them for.
Straw is environmentally responsible and economically sensible. It's merely a bi-product of our propensity to over produce cereal grains. It has good insulative qualities and an excellent PH neutral medium for composting and it's relatively inexpensive to buy. When we purchase peat moss we are responcsible for the destruction of a very delicate ecosystem. And the price we pay for 1 55lb 20"X36"bale of peat moss is comparable to the price of about 13&1/2 50-60lb 18"X36"bales of straw. That's right, I pay $40.00+2 taxes for a bale of peat moss and I can buy 13&1/2bales of nice clean, dry wheat, barley and or oat straw for the same amount of money. And if you take into account because I buy direct from the producer I don't pay the taxes(where I live). That's another 1&5/8 more straw bales. I use that amount for my chicken and pigeon coops as well as bedding for my 16 sled dogs for a year..
Now for shavings. I use 3 bales/yr/each pigeon coop. X 6 coops is !!18!! I figure if I continued using shavings in the 2 chicken coops for an entire year it would've worked out to about 10 bales. The dog house bedding;,,, another 5-7 bales. Total of 35 bales of shavings @ $5.97 = just under $210.00, add the applicable taxes = almost $240.00.
The way I figure all that is it's actually much cheaper to help save a very good "Earth's carbon filter" and an excellent "kidney to the water systems" than it is to destroy a delicate ecosystem and home to many animals and plants, some of them very medicinal, all of which evolved to avail of that specific ecosystem.

I refuse to use peat moss for anything anymore. Even more especially if it means purchasing it.

 

[Free Feather]

I do not use shavings because they are tree parts, and I do not advocate the cutting down of trees. I use all recycled wood for building, and straw for bedding. Trees were cut down to make the fields that hay and straw grow in, but that was a hundred or so years ago. And I definitely will not use peat either.

 

[RezChamp]

I'm new to chickens (still have to build the coop and receive the chicks, yes, THAT new), but I have to wonder...

Could the fact that some folks report their chickens eat pine shavings and others don't have something to do with the particular breed of chickens?

So, for those of you who have problems with your chickens eating wood shavings, what breed(s) do you have?

Hey, ...good one. I've never taken notice but I'm going to start watching my birds now. Thank you.
Observation here, growing up on both sets of my grandparents' farms I noticed some of the cows, sheep, horses, pigs, goats, even sometimes some of the many different breeds of birds would occasionally nibble on the rails and posts of the fencing. We didn't have treated rails and posts them times, we used tamarack.
I asked why and was told that they must be lacking something in their diet and there is something in that bark or wood the animals need and that these animal are smart, " they know what they need".
What's had me miffed for years is, since there is practically no nutritional value in straw, why do some creatures eat it when they have "real food" available?

I think you are going to do very good at raising chickens.

 

[RezChamp]

No, that isn't the only bad thing.  Totally burning your coop, and everything in it, is probably the worst thing.  

Ooooo yuck! Yup. True that.

 

[Kusanar]

Hey, ...good one. I've never taken notice but I'm going to start watching my birds now. Thank you.
Observation here, growing up on both sets of my grandparents' farms I noticed some of the cows, sheep, horses, pigs, goats, even sometimes some of the many different breeds of birds would occasionally nibble on the rails and posts of the fencing. We didn't have treated rails and posts them times, we used tamarack.
I asked why and was told that they must be lacking something in their diet and there is something in that bark or wood the animals need and that these animal are smart, " they know what they need".
What's had me miffed for years is, since there is practically no nutritional value in straw, why do some creatures eat it when they have "real food" available?

I think you are going to do very good at raising chickens.

Things like horses need a certain amount of fiber in their gut, if they are being fed really rich hay like alfalfa, you have to cut back on the amount to keep them from getting too fat and causing health problems, the horse still needs the fiber to keep their gut happy but they aren't getting it, so they will resort to eating straw or fencing. Also, horses are supposed to eat nearly 24/7 in nature, if they run out of food, they get bored fast and start chewing on things that aren't food out of boredome.

 

[RezChamp]

Things like horses need a certain amount of fiber in their gut, if they are being fed really rich hay like alfalfa, you have to cut back on the amount to keep them from getting too fat and causing health problems, the horse still needs the fiber to keep their gut happy but they aren't getting it, so they will resort to eating straw or fencing. Also, horses are supposed to eat nearly 24/7 in nature, if they run out of food, they get bored fast and start chewing on things that aren't food out of boredome.

Hmmmm. That makes sense and would be totally applicable in my area..........
I have a foundation Appaloosa. He can't eat alfalfa. Even Timothy and Brome Grass and Canary Reed Grass is too rich. I need to feed him lowland wild hay mixed with upland wild hay. I will give alfalfa for a treat now and then.
My g-folks said something about the healing qualities in certain parts of certain plants and trees. I know they taught me to use Tamarack, amongst others, prepared certain ways to cure certain ailments.
Actually, when I was growing up we didn't have alfalfa here. Or hotbloods. As a matter of fact we would've been extremely lucky to get a pure warmblood.
Only the rich people got warmbloods. LOL, even our "saddle horses" came out of cold bloods that had been bred by roving warmbloods that somehow managed to escape their enclosures.
All said the knowledge you've just passed on is gona be very helpful to me. Thank you.