best coop bedding??

[wleigh1021]

Hi Everyone,
I'm looking for recommendations for the best bedding to use in the coop. I used sand last year which kept chicken feet clean but it was very dusty and also since I use the bedding eventually as compost in my garden I don't want to keep adding too much sand to my beds. I replaced it this year with straw but that seems to have attracted mice and makes for dirty feet and eggs. Can anyone recommend a good bedding that would not attract mice, keep the girls' feet clean, and be good for compost in the garden?

Thanks!
Wendy

 

[I Love Layers]

Hi Everyone,
I'm looking for recommendations for the best bedding to use in the coop. I used sand last year which kept chicken feet clean but it was very dusty and also since I use the bedding eventually as compost in my garden I don't want to keep adding too much sand to my beds. I replaced it this year with straw but that seems to have attracted mice and makes for dirty feet and eggs. Can anyone recommend a good bedding that would not attract mice, keep the girls' feet clean, and be good for compost in the garden?

Thanks!
Wendy 

I use a mixture of wood chips and hay. I have hay I'm my nestboxes and don't get dirty eggs.

 

[mbbooth]

Hi being my first year of having chickens and love them I am no expert but I use hay under roost and pine chips in boxes, The boxes stay very clean as well as my eggs. With the hay under roost it is easy clean up which I take out every other week, I do have pine chips on floor and their feet do stay clean. All of this than can go into garden area for this spring. Interested to see others idea's and intake on keeping coop clean.

 

[flyin-lowe]

This was my first year and had good luck with a mixture of beddings. When I first got my 9 hens I had a couple inches of pine shavings from Rural King in the coop. After a couple weeks I added a thin layer of grass clippings. I continued to add dried leaves, grass clippings, straw, etc throughout the summer. I did that from February until October. I was throwing some scratch in every couple weeks and they would keep it churned and stirred up. In October I shoveled it all out and over my tilled garden spot. I started fresh with a new layer and plan to use it all winter and then till it into my garden again before I plant.