Chicken's eating Flock Fresh Bedding?

[Areyoucluckingme]

I used to use shavings in my coop because it was so cheap and easy to clean with a cat littel scoop - shavings fell through the slats and poo stayed in the scoop. However I just bought a bag of Flock Fresh by Standlee instead because the coop stinks no matter how much I clean it and sometimes their poop gets smooshed into the shavings, which makes it hard to clean.

This straw bedding i bought is specifically made for chickens and says it has straw, alfalfa and some little beads that deodorize. This is what their site says "The mix is composed primarily of Chopped Straw and enhanced with Zeolite granules. Alfalfa is added to encourage your flock to peck through and continually turn the bedding."

Ok so here is my concern - my chicken are eating the bedding. Not all of it, but they pick through it. My guess is they are just eating the alfalfa? should I be worried? Any review of this bedding? They seem to LOVE being able to scratch through it and turn it over so I want to like it. Just want to make sure it is safe.

 

[aart]

Probably won't hurt them, unless they absolutely stuff their crops with it.
The stuff is a pocket drainer IMO, there are better ways to keep the coop from smelling.

 

[3KillerBs]

because the coop stinks no matter how much I clean it

The main causes of odor in a chicken coop are:

• Too many chickens for the size of the facility/volume of the bedding,
• Insufficient ventilation, especially top-level ventilation,
• Excessive moisture, which can be related to either or both of the above or be due to some other form of water-intrusion.

If you show us photos of your coop from multiple angles and tell us what it's dimensions are and how many chickens you have then we might be able to help you figure this out.

Start with ventilation: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/repecka-illustrates-coop-ventilation.77659/

 

[gtaus]

The main causes of odor in a chicken coop are:

• Too many chickens for the size of the facility/volume of the bedding,
• Insufficient ventilation, especially top-level ventilation,
• Excessive moisture, which can be related to either or both of the above or be due to some other form of water-intrusion.

+1. I would agree.

the coop stinks no matter how much I clean it

How many chickens do you have in how big a coop?

My chickens basically live in their coop for almost 6 snow months out of the year here in northern Minnesota. They just won't go out into the chicken run with snow on the ground. Knowing this, I made my chicken coop to have almost 8 square feet per bird, which is about twice the recommended size of 4 square feet per bird.

I use deep bedding in my coop, cleaning it out only twice a year, and it never smells bad. I typically start out with maybe 2-3 inches of litter in the coop in late fall, add a thin fresh layer of litter about every 2 weeks though out the winter, then clean everything out in the spring after the snow melts. I have as much as 10-12 inches of deep bedding by the spring clean out. My coop never smells.

I have used all kinds of free materials for coop litter including wood chips, leaves, dried grass, and most recently have switched to using paper shreds I make at home. All material seems to work for me, but I think the paper shreds has been the best option for me. All the materials I have used for my chickens have been free to me.

I doubt you would need to worry about your chickens eating a small amount of your coop litter. They probably are just curious if the material is new to them. Chickens might not be the smartest animals, but they quickly figure out feed from bedding.

If you are interested in saving money on coop litter and would consider something like paper shreds, check out a thread I started last year: Using Shredded Paper for Coop Litter - As Good As Wood Chips? Lots of good comments from our BYC community members on that subject to consider.

Finally, let me say that I wonder if cleaning out the coop all the time is maybe leading to your smelly coop. With a deep bedding system, where you clean it out once or twice a year, the advantage is that the chicken poo will automagically disappear into the bedding and work itself down to the lowest layers, keeping the top layer fresh and smelling fine. It sure works better for me.

 

[TXchickmum]

I have the same issue with the chickens eating the bedding/nesting material. I have an open air coop, and the floor/run is thick dirt over a layer of hardware cloth (nothing is getting in here). The top part where the roosts are and the nesting boxes have coastal hay. My girls are having a great time scratching in this and eating it. (The last flock had a large coop with pine shavings for bedding and coastal hay for nesting. They never ate any of it.)

I would think the alfalfa isn't a big deal, but don't know what the deodorizer in it contains. The straw could cause the crop to get impacted, potentially, I would think depending on how long it is. Anyway, the other posters have some good advice. Best of luck on figuring out what to do!

 

[aart]

but don't know what the deodorizer in it contains.

Zeolite granules

Zeolite won't hurt them.

 

[Areyoucluckingme]

THanks for the responses everyone! I think it has just been stinky because they have been in it 24/7 in this freezing cold weather. They have access to a run and don't go in it right now. In the summer, I don't have this issue.

They seem to have gotten over their initial excitement over their bedding.

My coop is 4 by 9.5 feet, so basically 36 square feet and I have 8 chickens.