Horse pellets for run

[M_Struna]

That's AI for you.

If you have chickens, you soon find out they won't eat what doesn't taste good to them. Pellets don't taste good to them. We've used them for a decade for our show-quality silkies and most recently in the brooders. The baby chicks of course find a small morsel and will eat it, just like they'd do to pine shavings or anything else laying around. They soon learn that it was gross. In a decade of using horse bedding pellets, we've never had a problem.

That said, I'd not use them in a run unless it's covered, as otherwise they'll get rained or snowed on, and you'll wind up with beautiful dustless sawdust with about 1/4 of the absorption properties. If you use them, the vast majority of us do not wet them first, as that defeats part of the purpose,

 

[M_Struna]

Thank you for alleviating my fear! I was up fretting and sleepless in the middle of the night then read your reply.

I also thought it counterintuitive to wet the pellets but couldn’t find a source to explain it, other than a woman who was putting them down in her horse stall, soaking the entire bag in a wheelbarrow.

 

[M_Struna]

As someone in a very wet climate I want to caution against using the pellets anywhere that is too wet.
I love the pellets for the coop. And a damp area is something they can handle no problem.
But I have had the pellets in the rain before, and they can mold like any other organic media.
The concern for me in a run is that some pocket of wet pellets turned into damp pine dust could get buried under a layer of dirt... then sit and mold for a month before a chicken digs it back up again. *Mold spores up every nare / nose*
If the quantity of pellets you use can dry things out sufficiently, and it doesn't get wet again too soon after, then the pellets can be a huge help.

Climate matters. The drainage of your run matters.
Like materials work better together. For instance, our native sand works great in the runs because it's sitting on dozens of feet of sand beneath it, so it can keep draining down. Sand moves moisture down, not up for evaporation, which is why many people struggle with it and others adore it.
If you're in a forested area, bulky wood chips work great. Lots of pockets of air in between to keep things drying out, and chickens actually help by kicking it around.
For clay, the most challenging, your best bet is probably to dump a lot of gravel, from large grade at the lowest layer, to pea gravel up the top, then whatever bedding you like on top. But that might only be possible during the construction phase?

Thank you. This gives me a lot to think about. It’s my first year and I may have gone a little slap happy with my initial level of hemp. Then there was the adding on of subsequent layers. It’s really quite full in there…some areas to the top of the 4x4 foundation. We are having an unusual break in the weather today and are going to do some removal. As far as mold, I move things around with my boots every other day. On opposite days I rake things around to aerate well. Wood chips would be a consideration. Pine irritates me…allergy, I’m sure. I’ve read that the way the pellets are treated reduces the allergens. I don’t know if wood chips come in something other than pine.

 

[thecatumbrella]

I don’t know if wood chips come in something other than pine.

Someone on here uses aspen chips! Not sure if you can get it in bulk, but it might be worth picking up a small bag to see if it triggers your allergies?

 

[theoldchick]

I use these with success. Though some chickens tasted them, they gave up. Make sure there is adequate ventilation and cover the run to help reduce moisture.

 

[theoldchick]

And this will also work but can be pricey. I like using aspen bedding for my critical care rescues.

 

[Ahoragi]

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I use these with success. Though some chickens tasted them, they gave up. Make sure there is adequate ventilation and cover the run to help reduce moisture.

I will share my experience with these. We live where it rains quite a bit and things get very wet. I used these inside the coop initially before making a poop board and then switched them out for Pine Shavings as I assumed the Shavings would provide more warmth in the winter. All the pellets that I shoveled out went to the edge of the woods in two big piles. To date, they have been rained on many times and it still seems like a dry pile of sawdust. I was pretty amazed on how dry it was after all the rain that went through it.

We have sand in the run and initially it has been doing good but lately with all the snow and rain there has been moisture issues in there so I spread out a few bags of these pellets and they have turned to sawdust but it's helping with the moisture issues. I do not use PDZ in the run but I do have it on the poop board. It is very dusty, just like cheap clay cat litter, so I chose not to spread it in the run as sand is dusty enough.

We are currently signed up for chipdrop and waiting for a load so we can swap out the sand for chips to try to cut down on moisture issues even more.

Dunno if that helps but that's my experience so far.

 

[Sefirothe]

I don’t know if wood chips come in something other than pine.

We use wood chips left by the tree company that cut down trees on our property. They are 100% oak.

So rather than buy something bagged from a big box store, maybe see if chipdrop.com operates in your area to get wood chips directly from arborists. You’d have to have a place to store a huge pile of wood chips tho.