Coffee grounds!

[Maze]

O that's cool!

Some people use coffee grounds for the coop bedding. I imagine it must be safe and not normally eaten after the first taste.

 

[puddleglumWI]

And here I was thinking if I could feed my chickens enough coffee beans I could get my morning eggs and morning coffee in one shot.

Well, back to the old drawing board.

 

[Maze]

And here I was thinking if I could feed my chickens enough coffee beans I could get my morning eggs and morning coffee in one shot.

Well, back to the old drawing board.

LOL BAHAHAHAHAHA THAGS SO FUNNY

 

[C Siena]

It's kind of what I said, that they'd taste test it, but I've seen some eat things known to be toxic like mistletoe after the first taste. To me, better safe than sorry. I've never heard of anyone using coffee grounds as bedding as someone mentioned. How on earth could anyone gather that many coffee grounds in the first place in an amount to fill a coop? And why would they in the second place? That stuff stains. Doesn't seem prudent. Seems anyone can get some sort of safe, absorbent bedding for their chickens.

Adding: Apparently some company makes bedding from coffee grounds. It's $20 for 35 lbs, no idea if it expands at all. That's twice as much as shavings at $10/bag that expands to 10 cu ft. No idea why these oddball ideas always pop up, no offense intended. Seems bizarre to me and a lot more pricey than regular beddings. I've certainly ever heard of a breeder doing it. Bedding has to be absorbent and non-toxic. Maybe it works fine, but I'll stick with dried pine shavings because I have a 20 x 24 barn to fill. And the aromatic nature could be dangerous for chicks since chickens are very sensitive to aromatic bedding. I live in the south, no one sells anything like that here in the N. GA mountains that I've seen. The weird things I learn... BUT that was not the original poster's question so carry on, sorry for the interruption.

We use coffee grounds (used) around the base of some veggies in the garden (fenced off from the birds). It "can" help to deter some pests, adds nitrogen and makes the soil a little more acidic.

We throw used grounds in the compost and have not noticed any ill effects to the birds.

Coffee is on the expensive side, so we would not use it for bedding.

I agree that all birds do not stay away from what is toxic. We left our garlic to dry and a few of them were jumping up and pecking off the scapes. Nothing happened, except I relocated the garlic to dry/cure.

 

[saysfaa]

...Bedding has to be absorbent

Coffee grounds are absorbent. A whole lot more than wood shavings are.

.... I live in the south, no one sells anything like that here in the N. GA mountains that I've seen...

Y'all don't have coffee shops around there?

Even McDonalds goes through 250 to 300 cups per day (average per location).

Some managers are happy to find an alternative to putting the grounds in a landfill and some people can arrange to pick up buckets of the grounds every day. Unfortunately for me, our closest shops already had a alternatives (as garden mulch for someone, if I remember correctly). I like what people who use coffee grounds as bedding in the coop say about them but didn't look further because I like how well maple leaves work enough to not want to drive further than the closest shops for something else.

 

[speckledhen]

You do what you like. Seems a fad to me. I don't do fads, not in feeding or management. I meant no one sells processed coffee grounds for bedding that I've seen, but it's way too expensive to get a similar amount compared to kiln dried wood shavings. i have 20 x 24 ft barn with multiple groups so completely out of price range even if I thought it was a good idea. We live in the mountains, not many actual coffee shops here, but I am not interested in changing what is working for us. I'd just never heard of doing it.