Hemp as brooder/coop bedding?

[Mis pollitos]

I joined this group years ago but never actually jumped into the "chicken game". Now I'm really serious and my husband is designing a coop. Am prepping for getting chicks in a week or so. Any feed back on that would be appreciated also. It's almost July and I live in Minnesota, will chicks have enough to time to get big enough and adjust to the temps when fall and winter come? or should I wait until next spring to get the chicks? OK, now on to my posted topic: I have been reading in lots of places that hemp makes great bedding material, absorbent, odor minizing, etc. Anyone have experience with its use? Would it be good to use Sweet PDZ with it? Thank you in advance for any assistance you might offer....

 

[zhutson789]

I joined this group years ago but never actually jumped into the "chicken game". Now I'm really serious and my husband is designing a coop. Am prepping for getting chicks in a week or so. Any feed back on that would be appreciated also. It's almost July and I live in Minnesota, will chicks have enough to time to get big enough and adjust to the temps when fall and winter come? or should I wait until next spring to get the chicks? OK, now on to my posted topic: I have been reading in lots of places that hemp makes great bedding material, absorbent, odor minizing, etc. Anyone have experience with its use? Would it be good to use Sweet PDZ with it? Thank you in advance for any assistance you might offer....

Not sure about the hemp but the chicks will be good to get get now. Once they get all their feathers then they will be good. Make sure that that coop is pretty closed off and you could think about putting a door in. But they’ll have all those feathers in a month or so. So by 4 months from now (November) they would be good. Do you know exactly what breeds you want? Maybe try more cold tolerate chickens. Also have a good bit or at least 4 or 5 so they can stay warm.

 

[DigitalChook]

I am just starting out too, 7 chicks just hitting 2-weeks and currently using hemp for the bedding in the brooder. The place I got the supplies fine said it was fine and I have not had an issue. This is the 5th day they have been in the brooder (before that they were hatched at my daughters school). They scratch at it, pick their crumble out of it and even snuggle in it.

I have to clean their water out, it gets in the water trough when they scratch and climb even though its raised up but thats just part of the daily water change. The brooder is outside and there appears to be no smell.

In my case it was cheaper then pine shavings and is really compressed, I have hardly used any of the bag I got when initially lining the brooder.

 

[Mis pollitos]

Not sure about the hemp but the chicks will be good to get get now. Once they get all their feathers then they will be good. Make sure that that coop is pretty closed off and you could think about putting a door in. But they’ll have all those feathers in a month or so. So by 4 months from now (November) they would be good. Do you know exactly what breeds you want? Maybe try more cold tolerate chickens. Also have a good bit or at least 4 or 5 so they can stay warm.

Thank you for your reply. Any help I can get is very much appreciated...in our area of MN we get our first frost/first freeze on average October 1 - 10..hence my concern.

 

[zhutson789]

Thank you for your reply. Any help I can get is very much appreciated...in our area of MN we get our first frost/first freeze on average October 1 - 10..hence my concern.

Oh ok. Still 4 months is perfectly fine!

 

[Finker]

Not sure about the hemp but the chicks will be good to get get now. Once they get all their feathers then they will be good. Make sure that that coop is pretty closed off and you could think about putting a door in. But they’ll have all those feathers in a month or so. So by 4 months from now (November) they would be good. Do you know exactly what breeds you want? Maybe try more cold tolerate chickens. Also have a good bit or at least 4 or 5 so they can stay warm.

 

[Finker]

Putting south windows in the new coop is pretty essential in Minnesota for the cold winters. It provides warmth as well as light.

 

[Mis pollitos]

thank you to all for your help...I have picked cold hardy breeds & have a south facing window! Sounds like maybe I'm a least starting out okay...

 

[Ryguy3684]

I currently use hemp bedding in the coop. It's been great. It absorbs odors very well, has a high insulation rating, decomposes easily in the compost pile, and kicks up very little dust. We have a few hemp companies/farms in my state, so I'm able to get 30lb. bricks, locally, for a decent price. It does cost more than pine shavings, but the benefits outweigh the cost, to me anyways. I don't seem to have to replace it as often as other bedding material.

 

[middle TN Nancy]

I have 8 1-month-old chicks and I used shredded hemp in the brooder from the time they were a day old. At first I covered it with paper towels because I read somewhere on BYC that they need to figure out what their food is first, that they might try to eat the little pieces of hemp. I think I only covered it for about 3 days, and they just pecked at it a little when I removed the paper towels. I moved them to their coop which has 3-4 inches of shredded hemp when they were 5 days old - actually I just put the whole brooder in the coop with the door fastened open - and it’s been really good. They spend their days in the covered run, so they’re only in the coop half the time, but it is nice and dry and fresh-smelling, I sometimes rake through it to bury any poops and fluff it up.