Chicken coop

[dannyb]

I just bought a beautiful coop from backyardchickens. I had to wait like 3 weeks for it, but it was well worth the wait. It is absolutely beautiful! They put electric in it, tile flooring, (My Request) several bamboo perches, and so many other cool options including an automatic door opener that they installed. What a pleasure it is to not have to go and open the door each morning. I will post pics up soon as hubby gets some time. My question is, what is the best litter to use???? Some are telling me that cedar chips keep mites away and some other bugs, and some say that pine shavings are better. Or should I just leave the tile floor and just mop it each time I clean??? And for those who cant afford a coop, my husband and I had to wait 2 years to be able to buy the coop that was perfect, we had alot of crappy ones we built ourselves. This gentleman from backyardchickens is a great guy, he let us pay it off and is very helpful and knowledgeable of the different birds and coops. Next we are having him build us a custom brooder with 5 compartments for different breeds of chicks we hope to start selling in the future. Thats if I can learn how to use my new dang incubator, I'm such a ditz

 

[bigredfeather]

Do not use cedar! It could kill your chickens if they eat it. I do the deep litter method with pine shavings. Works great. If you use DE powder in the shavings, it will kill mites, lice, ect...

 

[patandchickens]

Cedar may be problematic, in some instances, if too much 'fumes' in too little-ventilated an area. (I'm not aware that eating it is hazardous. They don't mostly eat shavings anyhow). Some people have used cedar with no problems; it just depends how much you want to rely on good luck.

For sure you do need bedding, not just a bare tile floor.

Personally I'd suggest pine shavings (the kind sold in bales at the feedstore for use as livestock bedding), although chopped straw also works well and people have pressed a number of other materials into service as well. It is a personal choice whether to add any cedar to pine shavings. Personally I would not bother, but, <shrug>.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat