DIY Pine Shavings

[Where The Wild Things Are]

IMHO you would not want to use the shavings/chips from a Christmas tree. The moisture content (and sap) would be much, much higher than that of the shavings you buy at your feed store. The lumber they use to make the store bought shavings has been dried (usually kiln dried) and has a much lower moisture content. My fear would be your shavings/chips sticking to your feathered friends due to the sap content. Now, if you have a way to dry the shavings/chips before use...then I think it's brilliant! But, again IMHO...I think your gonna have a lot of sap. Let us know how it works out. There was a tree lot own the road from the house this year, apparently they did not have a very good year judging from all the trees that were left over. Sure seems like a waste...I hope someone like yourself comes up with a creative way to utilize them. It's sad if they end up in the landfill.

 

[sjh]

Quote:
Millions of chickens, ducks and turkeys bed in it daily. You think its true prove it to us. I am calling it bunk.




To OP. It is a good thing your wife said no. I think you will be very disapointed. Chippers make chips. Shavers make shavings. Two differt products.

 

[FireTigeris]

Quote:
Millions of chickens, ducks and turkeys bed in it daily. You think its true prove it to us. I am calling it bunk.


To OP. It is a good thing your wife said no. I think you will be very disapointed. Chippers make chips. Shavers make shavings. Two differt products.

And Millions of birds die in two years instead of 10 - I have pet rats, when they were kept on pine bedding it significantly shorted lifespan due to they Myco flaring up constantly... when I switched bedding the ones that survived had a full lifespan and rats after that have surpassed the normal or average lifespan.

My friend breeds snakes and also mice, she has decreased litter size (by ~25%) when using pine and a higher incidence of Myco in the mice colonies, the snake hatchlings would die in greater numbers and she had more 'unwilling to eat' on pine bedding...

Hamsters that I rehab for school classrooms tend to bite less (some only bite again after this when injured by kids, other bite less frequently) and live longer (by 1/3) when switched off of pine.

It is personal experience I am speaking from in rats, mice, corn snakes, hondos, king snakes, hamsters... why ever try on my birds?

Think of the pine aerosols as any type of thick smoke, just because it didn't kill the first time doesn't mean it won't do damage or change behavior. (feeding in snakes, biting in hamsters)

 

[Where The Wild Things Are]

"millions of birds die in 2 years instead of 10" huh? You did say you were speaking from experience, did I miss something? We went from talking foul and poultry to rodents and reptiles? Did YOU have millions of birds die? I'm all sorts of confused!

 

[the-bird-man]

i have lots of garden equipment and the chipper is one of the best things i have ever bought! i got mine used for about $150 and love it. stay away from the chippers that have plastic shoots because the plastic will break in no time. get one with the highest hp you can and look at what size of branch it can handle. i just love my chipper, it chips it into shaving size chips. they are also very loud so be sure to protect your ears

 

[sjh]

Quote:
Millions of chickens, ducks and turkeys bed in it daily. You think its true prove it to us. I am calling it bunk.


To OP. It is a good thing your wife said no. I think you will be very disapointed. Chippers make chips. Shavers make shavings. Two differt products.

And Millions of birds die in two years instead of 10 - I have pet rats, when they were kept on pine bedding it significantly shorted lifespan due to they Myco flaring up constantly... when I switched bedding the ones that survived had a full lifespan and rats after that have surpassed the normal or average lifespan.

My friend breeds snakes and also mice, she has decreased litter size (by ~25%) when using pine and a higher incidence of Myco in the mice colonies, the snake hatchlings would die in greater numbers and she had more 'unwilling to eat' on pine bedding...

Hamsters that I rehab for school classrooms tend to bite less (some only bite again after this when injured by kids, other bite less frequently) and live longer (by 1/3) when switched off of pine.

It is personal experience I am speaking from in rats, mice, corn snakes, hondos, king snakes, hamsters... why ever try on my birds?

Think of the pine aerosols as any type of thick smoke, just because it didn't kill the first time doesn't mean it won't do damage or change behavior. (feeding in snakes, biting in hamsters)

I think you are confusing cedar with pine. Pine does not off gas anything. Cedar does.
As for the die in 2 yrs nonsense that is the way life is. Peaple do like to eat.

 

[mons02035]

I was thinking the same thing, Ceder is very bad for the respirtory system of animals. A real dusty pine can be bad too but not anywhere near as bad as ceder.

Back to the thread though..... I would agree that the moisture in the chips would be bad. Pine shavings bought in the store are dried generally to 10% moisture. But that's what the clothes dryer is for, right..... A couple shovel fulls at a time and you got something....