It's spring soon! But I have sick chickens...

[LaFleche]

Some tips to help with keeping the eggs cleaner:

Check and clean the butts of your hens and trim some fluff if necessary.

Lay out some roosts and sand around/in front of the nest boxes which helps to clean their feet before entering.

Use wood chips (soft wood shavings) in nest boxes.

Install a poop board to catch the nightly droppings. This will make it easier to inspect for health, to clean out and keeps the floor cleaner.

ETA: Added "soft wood shavings" to clearify, thanks @BDutch

 

[BDutch]

Use wood chips in nest boxes.

What kind of wood chips for nest boxes? The wood from shaving or the wood from shredded branches?

I know shredded pruning wood in the run helps to keep chickens and human feet cleaner. But I never used those in nest boxes bc it seemed uncomfortable.

 

[LaFleche]

What kind of wood chips for nest boxes? The wood from shaving or the wood from shredded branches?

I use soft shavings as I don't want the hens' cloaca to get injured by poking bits of wood.

 

[MoonMoon]

I bought a paper shredder 2 weeks ago and started to use newspaper bedding since. Also because the price of bedding went 15% up in price bc of the higher tax rate.
It seems the inks the newspaper print uses are soy based nowadays and even edible. Im not sure about glossy’s so I don’t use those. I use the paper strips on the poop trays and in the nest-boxes.

Other free bedding: During the summer in dry periods I collect grass from our lawn and make my own hay. After pruning I shred the thin branches in a wood shredder. I use the wood chips on the poop trays and to enhance the soil in the run.

@gtaus uses paper and cardboard for the deep bedding method and composts the bedding. Bc its very cheap (if you don’t overheat the shredder) and to save paper for landfills. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-as-wood-chips.1503415/page-62#post-28346616

Interesting! Currently, I AM using cardboard for coop flooring. It’s free, from my dad’s job. Paper shreds could be interesting, and we used to have grass and I did use those dry grass for material, but eventually it all exausted.

Not sure if I can afford a paper shredder
I plan to buy pine shaving again, I guess, as the cheapest option. The tax increase does really ramp up their price. It’s 1 euro more now? 19% tax to 23% tax increase here ._.

Should I buy finer shaves, which is cheaper, or invest a bit and buy bigger chunks? Bigger chunks seem to be softer but less absorbable. It doesn’t wrap around the poop the same as finer shave. The price difference is just 0,10€ vs 0,07€(finer) so it’s just all about quality and not price right now.

 

[MoonMoon]

Cardboards is very easy to clean and inspect, but yeah, pine shaving for the entire coop for a month for clean eggs

 

[gtaus]

I will clean the coop later. After the eggs collecting start lol. The bedding I use for the nest will not be cheap. For now straw and stuff work.

I don't know what free resources you have available in Slovakia, but there should be something free you could use instead of buying expensive bedding for the nest boxes. I have successfully used everything from free wood chips, to leaves, to dried grass. Now, I use paper shreds and shredded cardboard which I shred at home for free.

It has been over 25 years since I purchased any bedding or litter, like straw. I discovered that I had plenty of free resources at home (paper) or on my property (leaves, dried grass). I even have access to all the free wood chips I could ever want at our local county landfill.

Thank you to @BDutch for mentioning my Paper Shreds thread on which I discuss using free paper shreds for both my coop deep bedding and the nest boxes. Paper shreds bedding has become my favorite free litter material, but I advocate for any free resource that a person can use.

 

[BDutch]

Not sure if I can afford a paper shredder

It costed me only €25,-
A small one for 6 pages at a time.

 

[MoonMoon]

I don't know what free resources you have available in Slovakia, but there should be something free you could use instead of buying expensive bedding for the nest boxes. I have successfully used everything from free wood chips, to leaves, to dried grass. Now, I use paper shreds and shredded cardboard which I shred at home for free.

It has been over 25 years since I purchased any bedding or litter, like straw. I discovered that I had plenty of free resources at home (paper) or on my property (leaves, dried grass). I even have access to all the free wood chips I could ever want at our local county landfill.

Thank you to @BDutch for mentioning my Paper Shreds thread on which I discuss using free paper shreds for both my coop deep bedding and the nest boxes. Paper shreds bedding has become my favorite free litter material, but I advocate for any free resource that a person can use.

Good info! Autumn had gave me lots of dried leaves piles, so much I could’ve build a fort with them...but I was too lazy to gather them up and store them. I did think about gathering them into a pack and use them for bedding but I was busy for a period...then rain came and what I put for later got super soaked

Will try my best to remember to use this year’s leaf piles if it doesn’t rain this year!

I felt so guilty I couldn’t afford to make my coop look like many’s very fancy, clean and big coop. I wanted a picturesque coop that many would post online, with piles of pine shaving for bedding but...you’re right. My chickens is prob lucky to even not be in a cage, I guess? XD

These were from a industrial farm so prob came from less than ideal situation...

And I will be searching for a paper shredder.

 

[gtaus]

Autumn had gave me lots of dried leaves piles, so much I could’ve build a fort with them...but I was too lazy to gather them up and store them. I did think about gathering them into a pack and use them for bedding but I was busy for a period...then rain came and what I put for later got super soaked

One of my pallet projects was to build a stackable frame compost bin (post 2,226). Each tier of the compost bin can be added or removed as needed. This year, I moved that stackable bin over to my chicken run and filled it with leaves...

I cut open a feed bag and laid it on top of the leaves to keep off the snow...

Then I put on my wire frame top to keep the feed bag from flying out in a heavy wind...

I use those leaves to toss on top of the snow in the chicken run. My chickens won't go outside and walk on the white snow. But I only have to toss on a thin layer of leaves, and they will go outside into the chicken run even on the coldest of days.

I could just as easily use those leaves for coop litter if I wanted, but I mainly use paper shreds inside the coop.

I had considered using empty feed bags to store leaves in for the winter, but the stackable compost bin holds so much more and was faster for me to dump my leaves into from the riding mower collection bins. I have used bags to store leaves in the past, and that works fine. The compost bin is just easier and holds more leaves.

And I will be searching for a paper shredder.

I have found a number of used paper shredders at our local Thrift Shop. They were very inexpensive and still had a lot of life left in them.

 

[MoonMoon]

I've been rereading and checking out old threads and my own plans again and again lately. I suspected my chickens had Coryza, but none had swollen eyes, throat or nose and haven't had a flare up worse than cough and sneezing before. I also don't think any had died because of the illness. It was always predators or starvation(the fam's Marans died coz family neglected them while my Wyandotte refused to eat. I could've done more and I still regret I didn't. Especially for the Wyandotte because that one belonged to me fully.)

Maybe indeed spring come and everyone will bounce back up(just stop sneezing and raspy breathing. They're healthy otherwise.)

Maybe we would be able to keep and breed for immunity? But then it'll be difficult to introduce chicken breeds I want because I believe purebred is weaker than mutts, from what I've seen two my Wyandotte. The Dominant mix and industrial layers layed tons of eggs but most are skittish or even down right flighty. I was able to befriend....drum roll....1
Out of 20 chickens.

Odds are awful, even with the two Wyandotte pullets I had. The Wyandotte chicks I used to have were flighty but at least they were also cuddly often. R.I.P their poor souls.

I sourced a wyandotte and orpington breeder with birds so beautiful I drool but getting rid all of my current chickens for them is too jarring and prob not for me right now...or me for the next 5 years prob. Jumping boats and going to keep purebreds while still having very young backyard mix seems awfully cruel to me, even if I am not against butchering birds. I can’t rehome because the flock is sick, so the only culling option would be processing them. I can’t, or more like shouldn’t, add new birds while mine is still sick with contagious ailment. It’s complicated. I could add new birds from outside sources, sure, but should I?

It’s all just about controlling the compulsion to acquire more chickens lmao