Give me your best!

[Jenny Sampson]

Getting ready to switch to layer food. There are so many options, not just brands! What are some tips and suggestions? Also, what's your favorite bedding? We plan to compost.

THANK YOU!

 

[ClickityChick123]

Welcome to BYC!
Make sure to slowly mix the two foods together, because if you just give them the new feed it can stress them out.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Getting ready to switch to layer food. There are so many options, not just brands! What are some tips and suggestions? Also, what's your favorite bedding? We plan to compost.

THANK YOU!

Bedding (in the coop/henhouse), or litter (in the run)?

(Trying to save the thread from going full-steam in the wrong direction)

 

[Jenny Sampson]

Welcome to BYC!
Make sure to slowly mix the two foods together, because if you just give them the new feed it can stress them out.

Absolutely makes sense!

 

[Jenny Sampson]

Bedding (in the coop/henhouse), or litter (in the run)?

(Trying to save the thread from going full-steam in the wrong direction)

Hey, good looking out, thank you! I'm talking coop bedding!

 

[WildNectarine]

Getting ready to switch to layer food. There are so many options, not just brands! What are some tips and suggestions? Also, what's your favorite bedding? We plan to compost.

THANK YOU!

Not a chicken person, but a quail person, but a coarse grain sand is the way to go for any outdoor poultry/gamebird bedding, with daily cleaning. Wood shavings, yes, even pine and aspen, while convenient, are toxic to birds with the scent oils they contain, told to me by my vet. They won’t outright kill a bird, but they can cause issues over time, though, some people never have issues. Any type of “play” sand, or fine sand, can cause crop impactions since it has a “clumping” ability when wet, so make sure it’s a construction or a coarse grain sand, but not big enough to be gravel, because that can cause bumblefoot, which is caused by either long periods of time on rough, or hard and flat surfaces, causing sores, or wet conditions that grow bacteria that get into a foot wound, which wood shavings will also cause. Mix a few bags of commercial chicken grit, and a few bags of chick sized grit, watching for additives, into your bedding sand mixture, and also provide a bowl of just grit. Then they’ll always have good stones for their gizzard, and they’ll like going looking for them. It will smell if you’re not in there cleaning daily, and you’ll probably have to scoop it out and change it all every few months, don’t know how that’ll work for composting, but it’s the best for their health that I’ve found, keeping things dry, and they’ll love to sandbathe. But this is all my crazy hyper-sanitized opinion, so be sure to go listen to others, too, and decide what’s best for you!

 

[Mill Chick]

Not a chicken person, but a quail person, but a coarse grain sand is the way to go for any outdoor poultry/gamebird bedding, with daily cleaning. Wood shavings, yes, even pine and aspen, while convenient, are toxic to birds with the scent oils they contain, told to me by my vet. They won’t outright kill a bird, but they can cause issues over time, though, some people never have issues. Any type of “play” sand, or fine sand, can cause crop impactions since it has a “clumping” ability when wet, so make sure it’s a construction or a coarse grain sand, but not big enough to be gravel, because that can cause bumblefoot, which is caused by either long periods of time on rough, or hard and flat surfaces, causing sores, or wet conditions that grow bacteria that get into a foot wound, which wood shavings will also cause. Mix a few bags of commercial chicken grit, and a few bags of chick sized grit, watching for additives, into your bedding sand mixture, and also provide a bowl of just grit. Then they’ll always have good stones for their gizzard, and they’ll like going looking for them. It will smell if you’re not in there cleaning daily, and you’ll probably have to scoop it out and change it all every few months, don’t know how that’ll work for composting, but it’s the best for their health that I’ve found, keeping things dry, and they’ll love to sandbathe. But this is all my crazy hyper-sanitized opinion, so be sure to go listen to others, too, and decide what’s best for you!

Aspen shavings do not harm chickens at all but cedar shavings do. and Pine shavings are a matter of opinion.

 

[WildNectarine]

Aspen shavings do not harm chickens at all but cedar shavings do. and Pine shavings are a matter of opinion.

You’re right! While they still get too wet and can grow bacteria, apparently my vet lied on the them still having oils part. Wow.

 

[FrostRanger]

Brand doesn't matter as much as nutrition does. Also, if any of your birds aren't laying yet or you have a roo I would not feed layer feed and instead would stick with either chick feed or all flock and just provide crushed oyster shell on the side for anyone laying

As for bedding it really depends. What can work well for one person in one type of climate can work horrible for someone else. I use pine flakes in the coop and a mixture of mulch and leaves in the run and I use the deep litter method. It's low maintenance and provides me with useful compost. Some people swear by sand while for others it just ends up a wet smelly mess (it tends to work best in dry climates). Try out a few things and see what you like

 

[FrostRanger]

You’re right! While they still get too wet and can grow bacteria, apparently my vet lied on the them still having oils part. Wow.

Wet bedding of any kind is not good for birds, that's not unique to wood chips