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

[CSAchook]

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

Interesting! Although presumably climate also plays a big role in what makes a good bedding. I basically live in a kiln so I have never had issues with moisture or mold even when using an absorbent bedding type

 

[NanaKat]

My 2 cents...pelleted lime is a great odor reliever in all three areas.
I have deep litter in the hen house which is the corner of our barn where I add wood shavings, leaf litter, sand, grass clippings...anything in small size...so the birds can mix it and also dust bathe in inclimate weather. We poured concrete for the rest of the barn floor, but left the hen house a dirt floor....been this way for 20 plus years.

I have a concrete floor with pine shavings in the brooder room...easy to sweep into the hen house or fill the wheel barrow to take to the compost pile or the garden. This room was an extension to the hen house into a section in the barn.

My breed pens are dirt. The pen compound area is slightly elevated so water can run off. The individual coops have either a wood or a linoleum floor that can be cleaned with a short handled hoe. I do have pea gravel at the entrance area for each pen.

 

[DobieLover]

@DobieLover
@rosemarythyme
@adirondak5
@R2elk
@Sapphire Sebright

Is there an exact other I can add as an option for you to choose instead of other?

Hemp

 

[Kiki]

Shredded paper. We send newspaper and old documents and such through a document shredder.
It seems like other people also use shredded paper.

I am adding this option right now.

 

[Kiki]

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.

I will add this as an option now.

 

[Kiki]

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

I am going to ban you from all of my threads if you don't start writing better.

 

[Kiki]

How about pine pellets!

Added.

 

[Kiki]

Hemp

It's been added, will you pretty please change your vote?

 

[Tre3hugger]

I think you would consider mine deep method. It is a mix of pine shavings, pine straw, bale hay, yard clippings, and the occasional kitchen scrap. If I smell something I turn the top layer over with a child rake and add more bedding, whatever carbon I have on hand(twice a month). I plan to use the slow composting materials in my run right now as coop bedding over winter. In spring that will jump start the compost pile. Figure it'll heat things up a bit. Current bedding will put the gardens to bed in the fall. Rinse repeat!

 

[DobieLover]

It's been added, will you pretty please change your vote?

Well..... seeing as you asked so nice.