Coffee Ground Chicken bedding

[humblehillsfarm]

I had issues with mold, despite cleaning it out several times a week. Other people haven’t seemed to have that problem, so probably worth trying! It smells nice until it goes moldy though! lol And it is free from Starbucks. If they don’t have it out front and they aren’t busy, I had luck just politely asking them for it.

Mold is much riskier if you don’t scoop often enough and/or keep water in the coop. After one spill I took the water out of the coop and left it out! So much cleaner and easier.

 

[chfriedmam]

I just gently pounded the espresso pucks to break them out and then mold wasn’t much of an issue as long as I could dry the grounds in the sun. It was easiest to put the grounds on a sheet of Plastic, cover with plastic, and use some flat large object to pound the espresso pucks. Moldy bits could be tossed straight into the garden though as a great nitrogen source.

Ya i don't think the espresso would necessarily be bad, just i tried to "rinse" it and it turned to muck. That was a bad idea

 

[Tervuren]

Mold is much riskier if you don’t scoop often enough and/or keep water in the coop. After one spill I took the water out of the coop and left it out! So much cleaner and easier.

I just tried it last summer and was scooping pretty much every day, and I don't keep water in the coop. Also, I practically live in a desert so...
I will say that the mold was primarily under objects like the poop board. I've since stopped using a poop board, and just scoop out of the shavings under the roost. Might be worth trying again this summer. The moldy grounds was gag inducing to get rid of though, so that does somewhat limit my desire to give it another go.

 

[Mamabear1620]

Right now for the coop, I use wood chips and hemp under the roost. Previously I was using fine wood chips under the roost, but it was a pain trying to sift out enough of it to cover the under roost area.

Wood chips are free and sourced from my yard. Hemp is a little pricey but easier to sift poop out of and more compost friendly.

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Thanks. I have hemp and pine shavings. Wondering what you were using that was free. Just got a new property in Georgia with lots of tree so I could definitely use some of the fell trees etc for chips how do you chip the wood? Is there a machine you use?

I never thought to sift. Did you make your own? I am thinking the it would have to be a big one with big enough holes for clean chips to go through easily.

As far as compost, do you put all your old chips in the compost pile? I feel like I have a lot and the ratio is not right.

Thank you again.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thanks. I have hemp and pine shavings. Wondering what you were using that was free. Just got a new property in Georgia with lots of tree so I could definitely use some of the fell trees etc for chips how do you chip the wood? Is there a machine you use?

I never thought to sift. Did you make your own? I am thinking the it would have to be a big one with big enough holes for clean chips to go through easily.

As far as compost, do you put all your old chips in the compost pile? I feel like I have a lot and the ratio is not right.

Thank you again.

We get free chips from the tree companies around here, because it costs them money to dump chips if no one will take them for free. So when I have tree service done I just have them leave the chips in piles here. Really can't beat a commercial size chipper, I know some folks on here chip their own branches but smaller chippers just aren't as durable.

My hemp sifter is just a cat litter scoop that's duct taped to a broomstick, so I can sift standing upright. Yes you need a scoop with holes on the larger side. I got one similar to this, I think? https://www.chewy.com/petmate-litte...MI3aaa9Yew9gIVwTytBh1R4QOZEAQYBSABEgLtAfD_BwE I just checked at a local pet store and chose one that had decently sized openings for the hemp to fall through, but not so big that smaller poops would fall out. Poop sifted out goes into my compost bin.

As far as compost, I don't put chips in my compost at all, as that would be a lot of sifting at the end of the compost cycle since the chips take too long to break down. They will very slowly break down over time inside the chicken run, so when I need extra "dirt" I'll sift out some of the run flooring and just use whatever falls through the holes of the sifter (which is 1/2" welded wire on a wood frame), while the chunkier material leftover just gets tossed back into the run to continue breaking down.

 

[aart]

chose one that had decently sized openings for the hemp to fall through, but not so big that smaller poops would fall out. Poop sifted out goes into my compost bin.

Is the hemp shredded/chopped?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Is the hemp shredded/chopped?

It's pretty well chopped up. I've been ordering the bagged hemp from RentACoop on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/RentACoop-He...op+hemp,aps,152&sr=8-2&returnFromLogin=1&th=1 and there's a photo with chicks showing the bedding size relative to chicks (though personally I wouldn't use it for young chicks since they tend to want to eat everything, larger shavings would be my preference).

 

[jher77]

The tree trimmers will bring them and dump about as much as you want if you just stop and ask them. The only reason they may not is because they would have to drive too far away to get to you.