Big Fan of Coffee Grounds

[Buzzard Hill Chickens]

Our coop is 3 ft by 5 ft for 6 Barred Rock Hens. They only go in the coop to lay eggs and sleep, so the size is just right. We've had chickens for 10 years now, and have always used Sweet PDZ in the bottom of the raised coop. Daily cleanup of last nights poop is a snap every day. BUT, the price of PDZ has gone through the roof this year. A 40 lb. bag at Tractor Supply used to be $10, now it's up to $18. So we looked for a cheaper method of coop bedding, and tried the pine shaving route for about 9 months. Hard to keep the coop as clean as I like and it's dusty as hell.

So after reading about the recycled coffee grounds used for bedding, we decided to give it a try. A 35 lb bag is only $10.99 at Tractor Supply, and 1 bag will cover our coop bottom about 2 inches deep all the way across. Same coverage as about $34 worth of PDZ. Daily clean up is ALMOST as easy as PDZ. We just use a common cat litter scooper to sift the poop, and plop last night's droppings in a bucket. The ONLY downside is that the coffee grounds are almost black in color, so spotting the poop to scoop takes a little bit of looking. BUT, the coffee grounds are even less dusty than PDZ!

So, compared to PDZ, the advantages of the coffee grounds bedding are:
1) Less than a third of the cost of PDZ
2) Less dusty than PDZ by far
3) About half of the weight of PDZ, which is important if using in a raised coop.

I'll let y'all know if I find any drawbacks, but right now I can't find any.

Ken

 

[azygous]

Caffeine in coffee grounds are toxic to chickens of any age, but especially to baby chicks, since they are more likely to eat them. That chick died from being constipated by eating the grounds. It's also possible, though unknown, it also was experiencing a toxic reaction.

Our conclusion was to avoid coffee grounds as brooder bedding.

 

[ihatedarkroast]

If that is correct, why does the water becomes brown?

Tannins and amino acids. They are also in leaves and sticks and lots of other organic matter. Tannins are generally beneficial to animals and humans.

Which is not to say there is no caffeine in the grounds. MOST of it should be extracted out of them, but it will likely have a small amount. I own a coffee shop so I'm intrigued by the idea of using coffee grounds. I get about 20 gallons per week of grounds and have just been using them as compost and firestarter (with candle wax and sugar). Caffeine has insect repelling properties and is antibacterial somewhat so it's an interesting idea. Maybe I should invest in black chickens so they don't look dirty?

Then again, when grounds compost they stink really bad. They also grow all sorts of crazy looking bright orange mold, gray powdery mildew. They are also acidic and dehydrating. My hands are terribly rough, dry and stained brown from barista work. And, We already have acidic soil so I might have to add lime...IDK I might just stick to what I'm doing now which is using hay and home-ground mulch and sawdust from the wood pile.

 

[Sally PB]

I'll have to go see if my local TSC has those.

Any excuse to go look at the little chicks!

 

[RosemaryDuck]

The ground coffee has been brewed already so there would be very little coffee that would be left to extract, if any.

Unfortunately we just had a thread on here a few weeks ago of someone who lost chicks due to keeping them on coffee grounds. Caffeine is toxic (and fatal) to almost all animals if they ingest it. It can cause seizures, and ultimately organ failure.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

I couldn't stand the smell of the coffee grounds. If it gets in the chicks waterer, then they are drinking coffee too. How do you know the bedding is the cause of the dust?

The ground coffee has been brewed already so there would be very little coffee that would be left to extract, if any.

 

[chfriedmam]

I was using the coffee grounds in our brooder and the chicks were doing fine, but it was just making them too dirty. And if you research it, used grounds still have quite a bit of caffeine. Still, I'm not too concerned. They don't eat it, it isn't food. And after all, the volatile oils in pine (not just cedar) are extremely irritating to human and animal respiratory systems and we keep using those products... When i had decent mixture of pine shavings and coffee ground bedding, I found that ideal. Alas, TractorSupply only carries this stuff seasonally, the company is pretty unresponsive online to my inquiries, Rural King which carries it year-round won't ship to my area-so I decided to skip it. Mainly bc of how dirty the chicks started getting tho. going back to hemp for now until I can't afford it.

 

[Luv Ducks]

They don't care. I've contacted corporate and left reviews everywhere. Tsc actually said they couldn't share my review for legal reasons.

To update, I was in Rural King yesterday and mentioned the danger of baby chicks and coffee grounds. I saw some in their water. The worker told me that they got orders from corporate to remove the grounds and put in the large pine shavings. He was going to do it as soon as he was able. You would think that if some say the grounds will not hurt them that corporate would not have decided to change their bedding back to the shavings. TSC got rid of their shelves for chicks and ducks this year too and have them in the large bins with lights and shavings. I was glad to see that yesterday too.

 

[Buzzard Hill Chickens]

The chickens waterer is outside the coop, so no worries about "making coffee". I'm pretty sure that it was the PDZ and then the pine shavings making the dust, since I'm the one that was scooping everyday. Hard to get that one mixed up.

 

[Harmoni]

I was in our local Rural King this past week and saw they started using the grounds in with all of their baby chicks. I was surprised to see it. You would think they would know better if it is going to kill their chicks.

They don't care. I've contacted corporate and left reviews everywhere. Tsc actually said they couldn't share my review for legal reasons.