eco-friendly sustainable bedding alternatives?

[froggyphore]

what are some good alternatives to traditional pine shavings? i realized recently just how many units i'm gonna end up using over their life time and i want to reduce their ecological impact. ive read about sand, but that sounds worse to me because of the harvesting process and the fact that it doesn't decompose into the soil like bedding. is there something like hemp pellets or shreds available? maybe just laying down a tarp & setting it out in the rain when it gets dirty? i considered replacing the floor with chicken wire reenforced w planks and putting down 2" tumbled river rocks and spraying them when they got dirty. i even considered replacing their roof with corrugated plastic and laying down sheet grass lol.

 

[sdm111]

I think the pine shavings would be more ecological friendly than plastic roofing and plastic astroturf

 

[Folly's place]

Pine shavings, dried leaves, wood chips, all sustainable products! Plastic, not so much. Hemp, if available, is better than plastic too.
Birds on sheet vinyl or plastic will be dirty and uncomfortable, and smelly! Rocks will not work well at all either, and roosting birds don't need to land on them!
Mary

 

[DobieLover]

You can buy hemp bedding. It's very low in dust and breaks down better than pine shavings. But if you really want to reduce the amount of bedding you go through install poop boards. I only clean my bedding out annually. So for an average of 25 LF birds I use 5 bags of hemp bedding a year and about nine 40 pound bags of Sweet PDZ.

 

[svh]

Do NOT use gravel !!! I made that mistake, and I pay for it everyday !!! It is not easily cleaned, it has to be hard on little chicken feet, There is no raking the poo from it, and it's generally just a pain in the arse !!!

I put a good layer of gravel down, and covered it with shavings, straw, and forest debris. NEVER AGAIN !!! I wish there was some way to get rid of it.

 

[froggyphore]

I think the pine shavings would be more ecological friendly than plastic roofing and plastic astroturf

i agree, i would never use astroturf for anything. i meant actual sheets of grass, the kind that come in rolls i already have the corrugated plastic leftover from another project so i'm looking for ways to reuse it :^)

 

[TweedyChick]

We use hemp mulch. The local garden center has a variety of mulch types that are certified as usable in bio farming with no additives or chemicals. It's about time for us to change out the current mulch and put it on the compost heap.

 

[Folly's place]

Rolled grass, meant for lawns, is generally treated with various herbicides that you don't want anywhere near your chickens! And they will destroy it in a very short time, leaving mud and smelly dirt. Bad idea!
Mary

 

[Jelli1981]

Hi
I have Hemp bedding
Had sawdust but it just made way too much mess and didnt stry clean to me
We use the help bedding for the tortoises so already had it, can order online i believe but normally get from a farm shop as its general use is for horse bedding

mine are now6 weeks old and pretty much Able to sex them so need to see how I want them, also currently have our old quail out in a pen but hes being a noisy sh*t

 

[rosemarythyme]

My litter is about as sustainable as you can get. Other than the wood shavings I buy for the nest box, everything in coop and run floor - wood chips, dried leaves from fall, grass clippings from lawn, clumps of weeds, trimmings from the veggie garden, pine needles - is sourced from my own yard. Saves it from going into landfill or even commercial compost (which I have to pay for), plus the deep litter stabilized my mud and smell issue.