Flooring Question

[Irish Cluck]

Wood Shavings vs Hay/straw.

I have access to hay and straw for free. Although it is a bit more of a pain to store. But I have seen people talk about shavings, sand and kitty litter here with NO mention of anyone using straw or hay for anything other then the nesting boxes and even then it seems to be at the end of a long list of materials.

Am I missing something? Are hay and straw no good?

What about just having a bare wood/linoleum floor?

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
A reasonable number of BYCers do use them onthe floors of their coops, you must just have coincidentally not run across those accounts. They are hard to spot-clean (well, *chopped* straw is not ahrd to spot-clean but few are able to produce or buy that) so are more appropriate if you are using methods that only involve total cleanouts. Some people have had chickens die of crop impaction from hay; although others have used it for years with no problems. I do not recall hearing of anyone with crop impactions from straw. Personally I am not excited about the idea of using FOOD (hay) for being cr*pped on, but it's a free country.

If you want to try them, try them

See how you feel about the cleaning aspect. If you like it ok, keep doin' it, if you don't, go back to buying shavings

What about just having a bare wood/linoleum floor?

Works ok-to-poorly in warm climates (requires frequent hosing which accelerates wood rot); not appropriate for climates with cold winters, as it is too darn cold for the chickens *and* the poo freezes on. Personally I wouldn't recommend it to anyone anywhere. But, if you think it might work for you, try it and see whatcha think, everyone's different

Good lcuk, have fun,

Pat​