Inexpensive coop litter options

[Nyhillbillies]

Be careful of free chip product from the towns road crew. You might get poisonous (to humans or animals) plants and trees.
Consider what grows on the side of your roads….

 

[3KillerBs]

Be careful of free chip product from the towns road crew. You might get poisonous (to humans or animals) plants and trees.
Consider what grows on the side of your roads….

If you can let the chips age that reduces the risk.

 

[arizona_chicken_noob]

If you are low humidity like I am, you may get away with putting in pine shavings and then just scooping poops off the top of it every now and again. That's what I do, and then add more shavings when you feel like it. I bought 2 bags last year.

My chickens do NOT stir the bedding though, which warrants a mention. So I end up with a pretty consistent layer of dried turds (which don't decompose in the arid weather) that I can easily gather up using a broad scoop (example) and a metal litter tool. I don't sift, more just scuttle the poops off the top of the shavings.

I have also used junk mail shredded in a cross cut shredder which was fluffy and free. But it gets into the nest box and cemented to the eggs.

 

[Nyhillbillies]

If you are low humidity like I am, you may get away with putting in pine shavings and then just scooping poops off the top of it every now and again. That's what I do, and then add more shavings when you feel like it. I bought 2 bags last year.

My chickens do NOT stir the bedding though, which warrants a mention. So I end up with a pretty consistent layer of dried turds (which don't decompose in the arid weather) that I can easily gather up using a broad scoop (example) and a metal litter tool. I don't sift, more just scuttle the poops off the top of the shavings.

I have also used junk mail shredded in a cross cut shredder which was fluffy and free. But it gets into the nest box and cemented to the eggs.

It’s pretty easy for me to find the dark clumpy poo, but do chickens pee at all without any clumps?

 

[aart]

It’s pretty easy for me to find the dark clumpy poo, but do chickens pee at all without any clumps?

No liquid 'pee' per se.
Most the urine of birds are white part of a dropping.

 

[Nyhillbillies]

No liquid 'pee' per se.
Most the urine of birds are white part of a dropping.

So, chances are, if there isn’t dark clumps on the bedding, it’s not soiled? Do they sweat? I have 1 hen who sleeps in the nesting box. She poops there, so I clean that often.

 

[rosemarythyme]

No they don't sweat.

 

[aart]

So, chances are, if there isn’t dark clumps on the bedding, it’s not soiled?

Do you have a wet bedding issue?

I have 1 hen who sleeps in the nesting box. She poops there, so I clean that often.

You can break them of that habit.
Make sure roosts are higher than nests and that there is 12" of roost length for each bird.
Cover the nests an hour before roost time, then uncover when you lock up after dark.
She'll get the idea after a few nights.

 

[saysfaa]

...
My chickens do NOT stir the bedding though,...

Mine didn't either, for months. Even though I scattered seeds on it. They just ate the seeds off the top.

If you want them it stir it, what worked is sprinkling some bedding over the seeds. Mine were not very observant, I had to uncover the seeds for them too, for a while. And hide them progressively more difficult to find.

I can see some advantages to them not stirring. The tipping point in deciding to get them to do it was I wanted to give them something to do since they don't range outside.

Edit to fix the grammar/typos

 

[gtaus]

We were planning to put 3 in. of litter down in our 5 ft. x 8 ft. coop and sweep it out once a week.

OK, that's a great starting point for knowing how much depth you can have of litter in your coop. In the summertime, I use about 3 inches of wood chips or paper shreds in my coop and that will only be changed out twice a year.

I looked up other options and read online about people using shredded paper, hardwood chips obtained from a tree service, or shredded leaves. (We have lots of leaves year-round from two huge live oaks in our front yard.) Thoughts on any of these? Sand won't work with the current design of the coop, though we could redo that some if sand is the best option. Or am I overestimating how often we will need to change the litter? $12 every 3-4 weeks is a lot better than every week!

Unless you have a large number of chickens in that 5X8 coop, you should not have to change out your litter but maybe a couple times a year.

I advocate using whatever free litter you have available. I have used free wood chips from our local county landfill, dried leaves from our yard cleanup, and most recently have been using paper shreds which I make from our junk mail, light cardboard food boxes, newspapers, office paper, etc... Free is the best, IMHO.

I never had luck with using sand. It needs constant cleaning, and it always smells, or, at least it did in my setup.

I used straw for a few years, but like sand, I found it needed constant replacing or the straw would get wet, moldy, and smelly in little time.

Wood chips work great and I great success using free chips from our landfill. If you chip wood at home with a chipper, let the wood chips dry out before you put them in your coop. I put fresh green wood chips in my coop and I noticed mold grew in some spots.

Dry leaves work great and I have a big yard with lots of trees. The only thing I did not like about dry leaves is that they break down over time and become very dusty. If I used dry leaves again, I think I might clean out the coup maybe every 3 months instead of every 6 months like now.

I now prefer to use paper shreds. They are dry, have no smell, are not dusty, and are considerably lighter to shovel or broom out when I do clean out the coop. Also, paper shreds will compost much faster in your compost bin than wood chips, shavings, or even dry leaves. In my case, I dump all my old coop litter into my chicken run and let everything compost in place. Works better for me that using my pallet compost bins. Also, I don't like to turn my compost bins, so it just works better for me to let the chickens constantly turn the litter in the chicken run.

Of course, you can always mix and combine whatever free litter you have available. The chickens don't care. I used wood chips, added dry leaves, and tossed in paper shreds during one period of time and you know what? - everything worked just fine. It all ends up getting composted and mixed into my garden maybe next year. Don't limit yourself to thinking you can only use one type of litter. I suggest mixing and combining any free resources you have available and don't worry about it.

--Deep litter method: I have read about it, but as is our coop is not designed for it. We could modify the coop so that 12 in. of bedding could be held in it. I'm worried it would be way too hot in N. TX where we live.

Deep litter uses moisture to create a hot composting environment. Most people on this forum use Deep Bedding, which is dry litter, and does not heat up. Nor does it compost in the coop. I use paper shreds deep bedding and clean out the coop twice a year. In the summertime, I only have maybe 3 inches of paper shreds in the coop. Most of the chicken poo from my 10 chickens gets automagically turned under into the paper shreds, dries out, and disappears.

They spend most of their days outside, so it's really only under the roosting bar that any poo accumulates overnights. I don't use a poop board that needs daily cleaning. I just let the poo fall to the floor on the paper shreds litter, and it just seems to dry out and disappear on it's own.

If I see an area that needs more attention, I'll just throw some chicken scratch on the top of that area and the chickens will peck and scratch for the treats, turning over the poo into the litter, refreshing the litter for a while longer.

-Sand is cooler--Anyone use it on the wood floor of a coop raised off the ground?

I live on a lake, but I never had very good luck using sand. It's heavy, needs constantly cleaning, and smelled bad all the time. At least it did for me. I don't recommend sand if you have other free alternatives.

I have also used junk mail shredded in a cross cut shredder which was fluffy and free. But it gets into the nest box and cemented to the eggs.

I had great success with free wood chips as litter my first 2 years with laying hens. Last winter I switched over to using free paper shreds that I make at home. I prefer the paper shreds to all my other types of litter. However, I use pine shavings in the nest boxes because I too found that the paper shreds would get cemented to the eggs and took me more time to clean the eggs.

As long as your chickens only use the nest boxes for laying eggs, you do not use very much pine shavings. I bought one bale of pine shavings about 10 years ago and still have half the bale. It does not take much pine shavings to line a nest box.