my first pet chickens

[shadowman]

HI folks!
I'm new here, and I just got my first pair of bearded silkies and they are awesome! I want to keep their coop as clean as possible and I was wondering if I could use cat litter in their coop. I have pine shavings in there now.
I will be be getting more chickens in the spring ( rhode island reds and golden phoenix) but the silkies will remain strictly for pets. I keep thier coop in my sun porch. any info on the litter would be appreciated.

 

[True Grit]

Hmm, let us know how it works out.

And

 

[jsabean]

I've never used cat little we've always used shavings just because we live on a mink ranch around here and there's lots to go around

 

[allieloveschickens]

maybe if it isn't the clumping kind.. if it clumps and they ingest it it can be dangerous.

 

[Lilacfeather]

The clay litter is more than likely not good for their respiratory systems. I use a cat litter called the World's Best Cat Litter (for my cats). It's environmentally friendly, and biodegradable, so you could put it in the compost, which you can't do with clay litter. However, it's made from corn cob or something, and looks an awful lot like their feed, so they may try to eat it?

A lot of folks use sand, which is safe, scoopable, inexpensive, and does a great job of odor control.

 

[shadowman]

SAND! of course! Clean and scoopable, what more could you want? Great idea, thanks!

 

[Mrsfoote]

i also noticed even with the pine shavings it dries the poop really well i have 1 silkie and 3 large frame girls and i use a cat litter scoop and scoop all the big pieces with that using a shaking motion or if they're dry my hands

no real mess except their molting so it looks like a chicken exploded

 

[V Comb]

I also tried to keep the coop clean...but in 5 minutes it was a mess so...