CEDAR CHIPS ARE BAD!?

[SweetLilRachy00]

I have been poking around through various threads and have found mulitple times from diff. people saying that cedar chips are bad for chickens.

I have two 8 week old silkies in their brooder with this!!!!!!

Will they just fall over and die? Why is it poisonous?

It says 100 % natural! If it hurts chickens why doesn't it hurt hamsters and rabbits and stuff. their lungs are just as small!

 

[speckledhen]

It is bad for their respiratory system, especially with chicks. I'd get that out pronto and put in pine. Chickens are not the same as hamsters at all.

 

[SweetLilRachy00]

I heard the same about pine though? They are smaller bits actually and wouldn't they inhale easier?

 

[SweetLilRachy00]

I don't have anything other than straw, could I use that?


Or should I dig up some dirt and put it in there?

Now, what to do with the cedar? lol

 

[speckledhen]

You could use straw. No, pine is perfectly okay, just not sawdust. Cedar is fine under straw in nestboxes, etc. in small amounts. I use it on occasion to help control bugs and smell, etc, but not in large quantities.

 

[fallenweeble]

not to scare you but for sure get the chicks out of there!
i'm no expert but i know about animals and cedar chips are bad for just about any living critter. that's why people use them to keep insects away . . .
the companies that sell these chips KNOW that the oils are harmful to all manner of creature but they market them as "natural" hoping that people will be lulled into a false sense of security over that word - it's pretty uncool really. (please, no posts from people who have families in the cedar harvesting industry - this is backyardchickens.com, we gotta think of the chicken's welfare here folks).
yes, it is "natural" but that doesn't mean it's good for you. lots of elements occur naturally and yet are harmful to us (heavy metals for instance).
i just have paper towels in with my little sultan chicks. i change the paper when it's dirty - it seems to work just fine!
if you feed like you want some type of fluffy substrate you could maybe buy the stuff made out of recycled paper . . . i use that for the bunnies and they like it. (you would buy it at any old pet store, same as you buy the cedar chips).

good luck!

 

[SweetLilRachy00]

I changed it to straw! They love it!!!!

 

[Flufnstuffs~FluffySilkies]

Imagine if your nose was only 2/3 inches from the stuff non stop.
Over time it will cause lung problems. I have heard of people having problems
using it as bedding with all kinds of small critters.

I do use it in my out door pens as a deturent to mites & lice. I buy one bag of cedar to 4 bags of pine
and mix it. My birds get out in the fresh air everyday during good weather.

Save it and use it later. as long as you can store it in a dry place it will last.

 

[SpottedCrow]

You can mix the cedar in with the other stuff. That's what I did. I shredded up old correspondence and used that in the coop for my babies.

 

[LittleChickenRacingTeam]

This is going to be long, but both cedar & pine shavings contain phenols, & aromatic hydrocarbons which are toxic & can cause liver damage in small animals & humans as well as respiratory problems (asthma, inflammation, allergic responses)

A better alternative is using hardwood shavings such as Aspen. There are also other products that are less risky. Some of the newer alternatives include paper-based pellets (absorbent and hold together so the wet parts can easily be scooped out), litters made from a variety of other organic materials (e.g. cherry/maple wood, aspen wood or bark, grain by-products, wood pulp fibers), and even paper strips (which are soft, but not very absorbent). Another often overlooked alternative is alfalfa pellets (e.g. rabbit food) which are cheap and fairly absorbent. For a compilation of alternatives that are fairly readily available depending where you are see:

http://exoticpets.about.com/od/guineapigs/tp/tpbedding.htm


We all have to make choices as to how we care for our poultry. At the moment I am using pine shavings, but plan on switching to something else in the future. After doing much reading on the subject, I no longer think any softwood bedding is safe (pine or cedar).
Making informed decisions is all any of us can do.