Carefresh is a recycled paper product, but it is not harmful in the short run. The harm in carefresh is that it is less absorbent and can harbor bacteria growth slightly faster than pine. How much faster? That's up for debate! It's not a bad choice. That said, if you can clean often enough it should be okay! I am not sure of any implications if chicks ingest any. The texture of carefresh is sort of like... well. Like cheap paper towels, wadded up into little balls, after it gets wet. It's slightly soft, but big chunks of paper fiber. It's quite low in dust (comparatively). It does get pretty expensive compared to pine flakes, though!
The softwood bedding should be okay! Depending on the size of the shavings it may be less or more dusty for you than pine 'flakes'... it's hard to tell from the photo.
No matter what you go with, I wish you the best!
The softwood bedding should be okay! Depending on the size of the shavings it may be less or more dusty for you than pine 'flakes'... it's hard to tell from the photo.
No matter what you go with, I wish you the best!