Hello all, I'm working on getting some chickens hatched in a week or so. They will be kept in a brooder with newspaper shreds for bedding for a couple of weeks, but after that I had some questions. My first layer in their pen will be shavings and straw. After that I wondered if it's okay for them to get hay? I believe they will break it up and scratch through it just like anything else, but I wanted to make sure they weren't going to have any problems with it. My chickens will be kept in the garage for the winter (winters here might be too harsh with them so young). I will provide them with a tub of dirt for them to dust bath in (any suggestions on that?). I have a whole round bale of hay in my garage and I thought I would use it on them to deep litter them until spring and then move them outside. Thanks for the help! Ben
I hay is what you have then use it. Each bedding materials have their own good points and bad. Hay and straw tends to mat, so they aren't as fluffy as wood shavings.
Welcome to BYC. Wood shavings that you would find in a farm supply or in smaller bales in a pet store. Usually they are pine. Hay and grass clippings are fine. This time of year there are a lot who use leaves for bedding. You have to work with what you have and what you can afford that works for you.
