Official BYC Poll: What type of COOP bedding do you like best?

[SquawkFlock]

We have a dirt floor. We have straw in there right now because it is still a young flock, but most likely will end up just dirt. I do like the straw tho. Gets too bad just scoop it into the compost, poop's already included.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

What about coffee grounds? I can't get them at my TSC or anywhere local, but I've heard others talk about them and would try them if I could get them.

 

[SquawkFlock]

What about coffee grounds? I can't get them at my TSC or anywhere local, but I've heard others talk about them and would try them if I could get them.

Never heard of using coffee grounds in a coop. I do use them on ant beds. Works great for getting rid of them. Curious to hear more

 

[Neggative]

if u have chicken tractor like me u dont need bedding!!! although im planning to get a permnant coop sum time....

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Never heard of using coffee grounds in a coop. I do use them on ant beds. Works great for getting rid of them. Curious to hear more

From what I've seen here some people can purchase it as prepared animal bedding. I use my household grounds in the garden or for the flower beds...but gosh...can you imagine how nice the coop would smell if some where in there?
I checked and have seen it online, but can't get it in my location.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Will you please change your vote from other to Wood Vhip...it means wood chips. @CarpCharacin Can you fix the v word in the poll option please.

LOL changed!

 

[rosemarythyme]

What about coffee grounds? I can't get them at my TSC or anywhere local, but I've heard others talk about them and would try them if I could get them.

Talk to your TSC manager and see if you can convince them to order them. Seems to be the only way to get them outside of Indiana (Grounds brand at least).

 

[Chipper Chicken]

I use hemp.
I’ve put 4 30# bales in a 8’ x 16’ woods style open air coop. 3 to start in May, and added one more later because I didn’t think it was quite deep enough. Works fantastic, love it, can’t say enough good stuff about it.
I got mine from Gary Lyman @ Hemp Solutions near Boring/Damascus. $30 a bale. Also available at certain smaller feed stores. He’s a distributor. Here’s his website.
https://hempsolutionsoregon.org/
edited to add: I don’t anticipate having to change this bedding out for a couple years, just add an occasional bale on top.

 

[casportpony]

How about pine pellets!

 

[casportpony]

https://www.forloveoflivestock.com/blog/chicken-coop-bedding-comparison
A Comparison of Commonly Used Chicken Coop Bedding Materials
Below is a chart summarizing the pros and cons of the most commonly used chicken coop bedding materials. These are numbered in no particular order (except that they are discussed in the same order below).

#	Bedding	Overall Rating	Pros	Cons	Sources (see text for more)
1	Medium sand	Excellent	Dry, low pathogen levels, low insect levels	Heavy, not good for composting, may be dusty	Garcês et al., 2013; Bilgili et al., 2009; Hafeez et al., 2009
2	Chopped straw	Mediocre-good	High absorption, some has low dust	Poor water release, harbors pathogens	Ward et al., 2000; Yarnell et al., 2016; Shepherd et al., 2017
3	Hemp	Uncertain, preliminary studies are mixed	Low mold levels, absorbent	May harbor bacteria	Fleming et al., 2008; Garlipp et al., 2010; Yarnell et al., 2016
4	Play sand	Poor	Low pathogen levels, low insect levels	May cause silicate pneumoconiosis, cancer	Brambilla et al., 1979; Evans et al., 1988; Roperto et al., 2000
5	Hay	Poor	High absorption	Poor water release; harbors pathogens	Olenchock et al., 1990; Wolf et al., 2005; Wichert et al., 2008
6	Pine shavings	Poor	Absorbent, compost well, insulate well, lightweight	Pine extractives are highly toxic	Vesell, 1967; Ayars et al., 1989; Törrönen et al., 1989
7	Cedar shavings	Poor	Absorbent, compost well, insulate well, lightweight	Cedar extractives are highly toxic	Sabine et al., 1973; Burkhart and Robinson, 1978; Ayars et al., 1989
8	Aspen shavings	Poor-mediocre	Absorbent, compost well, insulate well, lightweight	Aspen extractives are mildly-moderately toxic	Törrönen et al., 1989; Pelkonen and Hänninen, 1997, Burn et al., 2006
9	Hardwood shavings	Poor-mediocre	Absorbent, compost well, insulate well, lightweight	Hardwood extractives are mildly-moderately toxic, high in molds and endotoxins	Törrönen et al., 1989; Pelkonen and Hänninen, 1997; Whiteside et al., 2010
10	Sawdust	Poor	Absorbent, compost well, insulate well, lightweight	Incredibly dusty, which exposes chickens to more toxins than shavings	Vesell, 1967; Ayars et al., 1989; Törrönen et al., 1989
11	Wood chips (mulch)	Poor-mediocre	Absorbent, low dust	High moisture, high mold levels	Brake et al., 1992; Grimes et al., 2002; Ritz et al., 2005
12	Tree bark (mulch)	Poor-mediocre	Absorbent, low dust	Caking, splinters, high mold levels	Thornberry et al., 1970; Labosky et al., 1977; Grimes et al., 2002
13	Peat moss	poor	Absorbent, low pH may initially inhibit ammonia-producing bacteria	High amount of dust causes respiratory illnesses, high levels of bacteria and mold	Airaksinen et al., 2005; Kaukonen et al., 2017; Shepherd et al., 2017
14	Rice hulls	Poor	Good moisture release	Poor absorbency, high mold levels, chickens don’t like it	Grimes et al., 2002; Carbone et al., 2016; Shepherd et al., 2017
15	Peanut hulls	Poor	Good moisture release	Poor absorbency, high mold levels, high ammonia	Grimes et al., 2002; Ritz et al., 2005; Shepherd et al., 2017
16	Corncobs	Poor	Absorbent	High mold levels, high bacteria levels, high endotoxin levels	Snyder et al., 1958; Grimes et al., 2002; Whiteside et al., 2010
17	Grass clippings	Poor	Initially pleasant for chickens	Poor absorbency, high mold levels, high bacteria levels	No studies done
18	Leaves	Poor-mediocre	Lightweight	Possibly high mold and bacteria levels	Willis et al., 1997
19	Pine needles	Poor	Lightweight	Cakes over very badly	Grimes et al., 2002; Sharma et al., 2015
20	Paper products	Poor-mediocre	Lightweight, fewer endotoxins and bacteria than wood shavings	High moisture retention, high levels of mold, high ammonia release, flammable	Malone et al., 1982; Tanner et al., 1998; Grimes et al., 2002
21	Gravel or rocks	Poor-mediocre	Low pathogen levels, low insect activity	Nearly impossible to clean, may have sharp edges that injure chicken feet	Schmidtmann, 1991