Coop Bedding

[TXbeginner]

It seems that pine shavings are a popular bedding material. What about other types of wood shavings? I have access to a large amount of wood shavings, but but they are coming from a mix of different types of wood, mostly oak. I know that aromatic woods like cedar are bad for the respiratory system but what about others?

Thanks.

 

[teach1rusl]

Cedar is the only one that I've ever heard of being bad for chickens (and other small animals). Pine and aspen are big around here. If you have access to cheaper oak shavings, I'd go for it.

 

[tsarge]

Oak shavings may not be as absorbent as softwood (pine) shavings. I like pine shavings because of their absorbency and they smell nice to boot! I have been using the deep litter method in my 4'x6'x2' brooder. Every day I stir the shavings and every 3 days I top dress with more shavings. I started with a 4" deep layer of shavings which has grown to about 6-7" in 2.5 weeks. I rarely can smell my 25 meaties and after a quick stir all I smell is pine.

Oak should work, you just might have to change out the bedding completely and more often. If you get the oak shavings for free....go for it, no argument here!

 

[Stevo]

Any litter on the floor will hold moisture. Moisture attracts disease. I have a plywood floor which I scrape every 2 or 3 days and clean up all the droppings. It takes me about 15mins and the coop is dry and clean. My coop is 28x10 so 15mins 3 times a week isn't bad at all.

 

[boogiedog]

I threw linoleum on my plywood floor, curved it up at the walls, and use deep litter with pine shavings. Very easy to clean and keep clean. The hassle of laying the linoleum (about $20 in cost) was well worth it.