hay? straw? shavings?

[hudsonhousechicks]

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Oh, yes, yes, yes! I second that. Sand is a must. I lay sand down first and the hulls on top of that. But sand is a must have in my opinion.

 

[NYC feather fam]

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Do you go in with a little pooper scooper to clean it? how often?

 

[NYC feather fam]

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where can I get rice hulls? One difficulty I've had with pine shavings is the composting issue; they just don't break down fast enough and there is too much of them. I would love to find a suitable replacement but tend to like the deep layer method in general so far.

 

[hudsonhousechicks]

I know what you mean about the shavings not breaking down quickly. That's why I quit using them. I am lucky enough to get rice hulls at a small feed store here in Austin. I first heard about using them at a talk that was given about raising backyard chickens. The talk was given by a woman who owns an organic farm and she raises a lot of chickens - it's all organic. She was said that the hulls were great for composting and she's right. At first I bought them at the plant nursery but they were already composted and very pricey - it looked a lot like peat moss. But then I found the un-composted hulls which I should have been using to start with. They were much less expensive and I got a lot more.

I am a bit fastidious. I have a sifter that I use for the garden. I have a few sifters for my garden but I use one that has interchangeable screens - a fine mesh and a larger mesh. My hens are out all day in the yard, they are only in the coop to roost in the evening. The poop is pretty much relegated to the area under the roosts where they sleep. I shovel that area into my screen box and dump the poop in the compost. I'm sure I'm nuts though. You could very well do the deep litter method and then only clean it out every few months. I'm not exactly clear on the deep litter method so I just do what I do. My coop is small so that really helps. 6x8?

I don't know where other people find rice hulls. I might just be lucky having access to them but since I garden and put a high value on my compost pile this is the best solution for me. Good luck!

 

[NYC feather fam]

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That sifter sounds like a great idea.....I am a kind of fastidious person myself, and I felt like I was just generating too much waste that was not breaking down fast enough using pine shavings. Frankly, I am not entirely sure how deep layer works as well, but I am also just kind of doing my thing....and probably end up cleaning the whole coop out more often then is really intending with DLM, thus generating even more waste. I could easily build little wooden framed sifters with a larger and finer mesh in order to be more efficient, yet I am not sure how this would work with pine shavings.

I will check at the local feed store if they have rice hulls. Their prices are good for pine shavings --a large bale is $7 but I want to explore other options. thanks so much for all the info

 

[Chocobo]

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What feed store carries the rice hulls? I am in Austin as well and had planned on composting whatever material I used.

 

[Arielle]

IT is interesting to read so many ways to accomplish bedding and next box material--something to fit every situation. For me I already have an enourmous compost heap as I have horse stall sthat utilize shavings and lots of them. TO each their own--there is a solution to fit each situation.