Hay, Straw, wood chips,..help me decide

[gritsar]

Quote:
Check out the deep litter method by doing a search. I turn my pine shavings a couple times a week, sprinkle with DE and then add fresh pine shavings on top. Only do a total coop clean-out every couple of months.
I change the hay in my nestboxes once a week. I just pick the whole wad of it up and toss it outside the coop. The cows come running to scarf it up. I paid $3.00 a bale for the hay almost a year ago and still haven't used up the two bales.

 

[patandchickens]

If you don't like how hard it is to clean individual poos off shavings, MAN OH MAN will you not like trying to clean them out of anything else!!! Personally, and please do not be offended, I think you are completely nuts for even considering doing that

-- but if you are really wedded to that concept of coop cleaning, you NEED to use shavings or bedding pellets or perhaps sand (although, don't use sand in our winters up here, it is WAY too cold on their feet)

Honestly I think you would be best served by maybe rethinking your concept of chicken sanitation. And adding a droppings board to clean every morning (which will have two benefits: #1 you will be removing almost half the daily poo output right then and there in about ten seconds, and #2 it will make you feel like you are Doing Something, maid service -wise

)

I use about 2-3 bales of shavings per year for a 7x20' pen (more for other pens that have chicks or meat birds, but still not *lots* more). As long as the bedding is dry and the coop well ventilated, it is not a problem, honestly, the poo just sort of dries up and composts down and does not harm anyone, realio trulio.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[toletiquesbysam]

You need to get Stall Dry or DE, to sprinkle in your coop on the chips and it will prevent flies and the smell!!

 

[deeredawn]

I'm with Gritsar. I do deep litter method and only clean it out every few months or so. I have a mixture of wood shavings, straw and whatever else. When it gets really poopy on top, I just add a few more inches of something else. In the winter time, I let it get up to 8-10" deep. My birds are healthy, not compacted, and lay like mad. I think its personal preference. But I too, had to smile when I read that you pick out the poo pieces. You are dedicated for sure!

 

[greathorse]

10 chickens = approx. 180 eggs per month year around laying, more or less.

15 dozen eggs valued at say 3.00 per dozen = 45.00 value

Not sure I would want a bedding cost that out weighs the value of the eggs.

I would be rethinking my bedding strategy.

I have not changed bedding in 18 months, I have added some and I have stirred quite a bit and have a roost board that catches a lot of manure, but I have about 24 hens in my coop. My coop is dry and pleasant smelling I can walk in it most of the time without getting manure on my shoes. I do not feed or water in the coop and I am in a very dry climate, so have an advantage there.

 

[caralouise1974]

I recently started using Aubiose (hemp-based horse bedding; looks a bit like wood shavings I suppose) in the run for my girls. It really does seem to absorb the poo, and its always dry. A lot of people over here seem to swear by it for using as run litter, once the grass is gone and they're down to bear earth.

I'm torn though - they do seem eat a little of it, as it is difficult for them to distinguish it from the scratch and treats I throw in. They also seem to think it is food once it gets moist (I have a covered run, but some drips inevitably get in at the edges). I'm worried they're going to get impacted if they eat too much. But then maybe I'm paranoid...

Anyway, I'll give you all an update on how we're getting on with it in a couple of weeks.

 

[quiltnchik]

I use pine shavings inside the coop and straw in the run (they turn it into the most wonderful compost!). When the chicks are old enough, we'll open the nest boxes up and use straw in them as well

 

[quiltnchik]

Quote:
Do you have kick boards to keep them from kicking the shavings out of the coop? That's what we had to do on both the main door and pop door. Also, the bedding should only need to be changed - at most - every six months if using the deep litter method. Just throw some DE down once a week and some fresh bedding on top. The chicks will then mix it up for you

 

[noobiechickenlady]

I agree, use a droppings board under the roost, use pine shavings (the large kind, not the sawdust stuff) and use DE, also adding a kickboard (just a board in front of the door at floor level) so the shavings don't spill out. When it starts looking iffy or you get a slight whiff of amonia, sprinkle some DE, stir it up real good, add a little more DE to the surface and add a couple handfuls of bedding. I've got 6 ladies that are almost 4 months old and I've only bought 2 bales of bedding, just opened the second one.

The droppings board is the key, I've been told, as they stay in one spot at night and poop there about every 20 minutes... okay maybe 15

Seriously, clean the droppings board every day and that will cut down on the flies a LOT.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I do the same thing. I use pine shavings. I use spanish moss in the nest boxes with some pine shavings under the moss but I live in Florida where it is abundant. I originally used hay in the nest boxes but the girls kept somehow knocking it out along with the eggs. They leave the spanish moss alone and the eggs stay in the nest boxes. I do have a 4" edge on the front of my boxes. I have been buying a decent sized compressed bag of pine shavings in the Wal-Mart pet dept for $6.?? a bag. I just keep adding to the litter and with some DE.