Hemp bedding

[Carobean]

I live in Virginia, and New Country Organics carries it here!

 

[vehve]

Well, for us, the chickens mainly stay out in the run, so we haven't needed to clean the inside of the coop in ages. We're also using the hemp for the rabbits though, and it works great for them.

 

[Carobean]

Thanks for the reply! I went to use the second half of a opened bag I had to refresh the bedding, and when I put it down it smelled a little off-- slightly mildewy, so it made me nervous…I've had pine shavings sit around in a bag without that problem, so I'm wondering if it's prone to that…dag.

 

[vehve]

I store mine outside under a tarp without problems. The stuff comes packed in plastic though, so it stays pretty dry. Haven't had any issues myself.

 

[Carobean]

That's good to hear-- mine was a half-used bag, and it was in our shed, which may have had a dampness issue. I've just heard scary things about hay not being a good idea for bedding because it molds, but this does seem different. I didn't get the smell in the other half of the bag that was used in the coop.

 

[vehve]

Yeah, straw or especially hay goes moldy pretty quickly, but you shouldn't expose hemp to water either. Keeping it off the ground and stored under some sort of cover has been sufficient for me at least. Hope it was just a one time thing for you.

 

[Carobean]

Thanks again for your input! I'd never had a problem with the pine shavings, but like the sustainability factor of the hemp...

 

[vehve]

Here pine shavings would probably be a lot more sustainable, as hemp requires fertilizer to grow. But hemp breaks down so much quicker that it beats pine shavings any day from a using your own compost point of view. Also, it's more absorbent.

 

[vehve]

Changed the bedding in the coop on Saturday. It was completely dry, didn't smell, but there was quite a lot of poop and food stuff in there. This time we decided to try something different in there for a change, we've been happy with the hemp, but the better half managed to get a couple of bags of straw pellets for free, so we thought we'd try that. So far, the birds haven't been all that enthusiastic, they're a bit skeptic about the different bedding, but I'm sure they'll come around to it.

And changing the bedding seemed like a good idea, now in hindsight. I emptied the compost on Saturday, filled it with all the spent bedding from the coop, and then we cleaned the rabbit pen on Sunday, and that went in too. The compost went from 10C (50F) yesterday, to 35C (95F) today. So a whole lot of nitrogen, or in other words, poop in there.

 

[Carobean]

Aha! Thanks for the update. That's encouraging-- the composting factor is definitely another plus for us. You make an interesting point about sustainability and needing to fertilize the hemp-- that's probably the case here too.

I finally paid attention to the fact that you're in Finland! How cool (Scandin-Avian-- awesome!). One of the places I've wanted to visit someday ..and I do love Finn Family Moomentroll (sp?). Being in coastal Virginia, we have some wicked humidity in the summer. How's the humidity factor where you are?

The American Hemp website says:

(I didn't do that…)

• Mist (Optional) the hemp bedding and turn it over to activate the hemp bedding's absorbent properties