How much bedding do you need?

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

Awe! That’s so sad! I hope she healed as well as can be expected.

She did, thanks! She stayed inside for aout a week, the goal being no infection!

 

[PopoMyers]

Where do you get hemp bedding? I've not seen it here in W. WA.

 

[CrystalAnon]

Where do you get hemp bedding? I've not seen it here in W. WA.

I got it shipped to me from New Country Organics. That was not the cheapest option, but I’m still finding my way around the supply chains here in Florida… where to get things, where to get them cheapest… etc.
But we needed to have some on hand, because I didn’t want to use pine shavings.
I suggest looking for a hemp horse bedding company in WA. You can get it in bulk fairly cheaply that way. We have one provider of horse hemp bedding here, because it’s a very horse-centric area we live in here… but I’m having trouble finding out where exactly they’re located.
But if you really want to get it, you can go here… https://www.newcountryorganics.com/aubichick-bundle.html
We got the horse version & the chicken version, just to try them both out.
We paid $155 for 88lbs (a lot, I know!) but it was shipped to our door.
I wish you luck!

 

[bgmathteach]

One question I would have with that, do you ever find any issues with dust, with the paper shreds?
I live in central Florida, so I think we’ll probably have little issues with it, due to the humidity, but I was curious if you noticed anything like that with shredded paper mixed in the bedding.
It surprises me that people start with 6” of bedding! So they just walk all around in the fluff, until they get into their run? How does that work? Sounds pretty cozy though!

I used to be able to get bags of shredded paper from work (literally, BAGS) until they went with a 'secure paper shredding company'. I liked using it for a couple reasons: It IS fairly absorptive, and when wet, sticks together reasonably well, so easy to clean out the soiled stuff. 1 caution, and 1 negative, though:

Caution: You can't let it get too damp (or else be sure to mix with other bedding material) as it gets really clumpy. Wouldn't recommend for deep bedding by itself, as it won't get 'scratched around & areated' well. Will be GREAT for chicks, though, since you should clean it regularly, is cheap, and composts really well.

Negative: If it isn't all white paper - when they start to lay, if there is any in the nest box (mine were always scratching it into the nest box!) Your eggs will look 'decoupage' as the color bleeds onto the egg due to the wet bloom!

 

[bgmathteach]

I’m getting a few gallons of apple cider vinegar from Azure for cleaning, so I’m definitely going to be using that.

Someone may have replied to this already, so excuse me if you've already learned this, since I am 'late to teh party'

DON'T use apple cider vinegar for cleaning. Use white vinegar for cleaning. Cide vinegar is good to put into their water in small amounts (teaspoonful per gallon H2O, and not during excessive hot spells.

Cider vinegar is created from apples, and has a bit of sweetness in it. It will attract flies and other bugs. White vinegar doesn't have any of that, so is both a superb, all-natural cleaner without any of the 'insect attracting' stuff.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Where do you get hemp bedding? I've not seen it here in W. WA.

Not sure if any retailers here carry it - I order from Amazon.

 

[CrystalAnon]

I used to be able to get bags of shredded paper from work (literally, BAGS) until they went with a 'secure paper shredding company'. I liked using it for a couple reasons: It IS fairly absorptive, and when wet, sticks together reasonably well, so easy to clean out the soiled stuff. 1 caution, and 1 negative, though:

Caution: You can't let it get too damp (or else be sure to mix with other bedding material) as it gets really clumpy. Wouldn't recommend for deep bedding by itself, as it won't get 'scratched around & areated' well. Will be GREAT for chicks, though, since you should clean it regularly, is cheap, and composts really well.

Negative: If it isn't all white paper - when they start to lay, if there is any in the nest box (mine were always scratching it into the nest box!) Your eggs will look 'decoupage' as the color bleeds onto the egg due to the wet bloom!

Thanks so much! Those are super helpful tips!!!

 

[CrystalAnon]

Someone may have replied to this already, so excuse me if you've already learned this, since I am 'late to teh party'

DON'T use apple cider vinegar for cleaning. Use white vinegar for cleaning. Cide vinegar is good to put into their water in small amounts (teaspoonful per gallon H2O, and not during excessive hot spells.

Cider vinegar is created from apples, and has a bit of sweetness in it. It will attract flies and other bugs. White vinegar doesn't have any of that, so is both a superb, all-natural cleaner without any of the 'insect attracting' stuff.

Oh!!! Gotcha… that makes total sense. Thank you!!!

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

Where do you get hemp bedding? I've not seen it here in W. WA.

Where do you get hemp bedding? I've not seen it here in W. WA.

we got ours on Amazon. Rural 365 is the brand, . 33pds for $70. It was 53 on sale when i got it in Dec. I have 5 hens so that lasts me a year or more. Good Luck

 

[FunClucks]

Yes! Exactly what I was thinking. It hurt my fingers pretty good… almost like bruising on my finger pads… just when I was working with it to get it tight over the cattle panels for the hoop run! I couldn’t wear gloves because I had to get a good grip on it & I couldn’t with 1/2”x1/2” holes in the hardware cloth.
I can’t imagine wanting to try & scratch on a surface like that. Or walk all day on it.
Thank you!

I use needle nose pliers or wind pieces of wire into the hardware cloth to grip mine. Also, I use the back end of the needle nose pliers to scoot the hardware cloth over - the handles stick through the holes, and are more durable than my fingers.

For gloves, I use gardening or work gloves with the sticky neoprene/rubber coating. Gives me a good grip, and the glove is thin enough to work with. Not sure what type of glove you were using, but if you can't get a good grip on the hardware cloth, your glove type is wrong, and you may need some tools like I mentioned. 19 gage or the type of wire you use to tie chain link fence to the poles could give you some good loops/handles to maneuver the hardware cloth.