Help Hay or Straw????

[Chick3nLover]

So I’ve heard so many different things on using bay or straw for bedding. First off I’ve been using bagged hay for years and my chickens have never had a mold caused respiratory infection. However I recently heard that Straw was better for the chickens because it wasn’t a food like hay. So I bought straw… but then I read that straw causes impacted crop and doesn’t release moisture well. What is right here? I love my chickens so much and only want the best for them, so do I stick with hay because used their whole life or do I use straw?

 

[sourland]

Why change what has been a good thing for you and your birds?

 

[StinkyAcres]

I think as long as hay is working for you keep using it. I have used both. In my coop hay created nasty, heavy, wet clumps, was hard to clean out, and one of my hens would accidentally eat long strands which caused crop problems. I switched to straw and loved it. Straw stayed so much drier and looser for me.

 

[Chick3nLover]

Why change what has been a good thing for you and your birds?

I know, I’m just such a worry and research everything that’s best for my chickens

 

[Chick3nLover]

I think as long as hay is working for you keep using it. I have used both. In my coop hay created nasty, heavy, wet clumps, was hard to clean out, and one of my hens would accidentally eat long strands which caused crop problems. I switched to straw and loved it. Straw stayed so much drier and looser for me.

Did straw Ever cause impacted crop for your chickens though? And why do people say it would?

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

X2 don't fix what's not broken. This Autumn when the leaves fall and are dry dump a pile in the middle of the run.... Party time for the chooks and you get compost later.
save the DRY leaves in bags and put them down for the winter too.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I have used straw, because it was cheap. Never had a problem with impacted crop - but then my birds always have something better available for them to eat, and I don't feed them on top of their straw (which is only in the nesting boxes). I've also used white pine shavings, same answer.

Hay would not work for me, my climate is too moist. Also, its just (for my purposes) more expensive straw - since I only use it for nest bedding.

 

[Shadrach]

I don't think using hay or grass is likely to do any harm.

There are some good reasons why straw is prefered for bedding.
Firstly I could feed some other creature hay. Why throw it on the floor.
Hay is the first cut and contains the bulk of the edible plant. It also contains a number of bugs amoung which is this:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/straw-itch-mite.75561/

Mites are more prevelant in hay than they are in straw assuming the straw has been correctly harvested (high second cut when it's dry) and stored.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Did straw Ever cause impacted crop for your chickens though? And why do people say it would?

No, straw never caused crop issues for my chickens and they never had mite problems with it. And they loved to scratch through it to pick out the remaining grains.

I also like straw better than pine shavings because you don't need as much to create a thick layer and my chickens always eat shavings for some reason.

 

[aart]

Hay is the first cut and contains the bulk of the edible plant.

Hay is a grass can be cut 2-3 times a year as feed for livestock.
Straw is the stalks left over from grain after grain heads are harvested and used as bedding.

Mites are more prevelant in hay than they are in straw assuming the straw has been correctly harvested (high second cut when it's dry) and stored.

I've always heard that mites are more prevalent in the hollows of straw,
especially if it is stored where wild birds can get onto it.