coop bedding- what do you prefer??

[Laurie59]

We have the tall long needled pines with the HUGE cones.Neighbors semi feral chickens,(my Dixie Chicks family!),thinks I pile them so they can play and toss them!.

 

[Buff Chick]

I have been using Flax Bedding. Way cheaper than pine shavings where I am and smells beautiful. It also stays fluffier and drier longer than the pine I had been using.
I am aware this is a Canadian site but some good info on it here www.flaxbed.ca

 

[Buff Chick]

I use flax bedding cleaned and bagged for animal use. I love it!

 

[patti17340]

I have been trying several different things in my coop. I started with pine shavings and after trying , straw, leaves , grass clippings and newspaper shredded up I am back to pine shavings. I feel it keeps my coop the cleanest and is the easiest to clean up. I have 15 news chicks and have just put them out in a run and I have been thinking about putting some sand down in that area. My 3 big girls Free Range during the day, as soon as I get home from work until they put themselves to bed at dusk.

 

[Pinkaboo]

I like sawdust because its easy to clean and very absorbent

 

[Devon07]

I like pine shavings pretty good as well.....I do like to mix a little straw in it though because I keep straw in the run and they love it. A light mix of maybe 10% straw to 90% pine does the trick.....they are close to laying and straw seems like a natural bird nest....so I'm banking on some straw making them happier.

 

[Jada Lozano]

I use hay plain and simple

 

[mandtroof]

Does anyone else use horse pellets? I use them inside the coop with some lime on bottom, it works fantastic! I rake the top every other day to remove the overnight poos, then rake it through once more. It doesn't smell badly at all. Out in their run I use pine shavings, the pellets, and some hay. They free range though, so I don't get to much mess to clean up in there.

 

[VA chicken mom]

I use all purpose sand on a wood house floor. I got the idea from the Chicken Chick. I scoop the poop out once a day with a screen. It does not smell, but the flies still come. I try to keep the flies down with scented christmas tree deodorizers. I also use fly traps around the outside of the coop. The sand lasts a long time. I put it in my coop in April and it is doing fine.

 

[Shellz]

Sand is great for summer, but useless for the nasty winter we had. I added straw & come spring was a heck of a mess to clean out! Staying with straw now as its most cost effective. Add some lime & when you top up the straw once a week, it's all good. I have a wood floor with linoleum liner. Chickens found edges of it & were pecking it apart over the winter. I would hang kale/treats for them to keep them busy, but still...

Flax bedding is soft but takes a lot to fill an 8' X 12' coop. At $2 more per bale than straw, the straw goes a longer way. If I didn't care about the $, I'd use flax for summers only.

Yeah, mint grows like a weed here. Have a bunch growing by the steps up to our deck. Hasn't stopped any coons yet.