Other than cedar, any bad wood shavings?

[JetCityVerde]

My husband works in a fine furniture work shop where they work with all different kinds of untreated wood - cherry, walnut, mahogany, maple mostly. We were wondering if there were any wood shavings that were not okay other than cedar, as we have access to a great free supply from the shop. Thanks!

 

[LynneP]

I think hemlock would be your other big concern...

http://www.birdsafe.com/woods.htm

 

[patandchickens]

Eh? There is nothing at all wrong with hemlock wood. (If you are thinking of poison hemlock, a la Socrates, that is an utterly different plant, related to wild carrot or queen anne's lace)

Woods from the walnut family (walnut, heartnut, butternut) should be avoided for all hoofstock because of toxic compounds that can cause severe or fatal problems; I have no idea whether any such effects are known in poultry but personally I would not try it. Cherry and closely-related plants can have problematic concentrations of cyanide in wilted leaves so I would not use chippings of those species. And anything very strongly aromatic has at least the *potential* to cause respiratory problems (a la cedar) in an insufficiently ventilated space.

Otherwise, though, basically it boils down to: softwoods are less apt to mold than hardwoods so are more usually used, but most hardwoods can be used if kept a close eye on for problems.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[fiddlebanshee]

This is great info. We're moving into a wooded lot and have asked to leave all trees that were cleared for the house site. So if we would rent a woodchipper would we be able to use those woodchips for litter, or to put in the run. The wood is mostly oak, tulip poplars and some pine etc.

I might have been outsmarted by builder and hubby out of my woodstove, so we need to find a way to use all that wood productively. Are woodshavings the same as woodchips? Are there machines that we can rent/buy that we can produce woodchips with?

 

[patandchickens]

You can rent a chipper, but a) the rental size ones generally won't handle tree-sized logs, and b) you will not be producing bedding-type shavings, you will be producing (probably coarse) mulch.

Honestly, wood shavings do not cost very much at all especially if you manage them sensibly, you are really better off buying bedding-type shavings (remember they expand quite a lot once you open the bale, so your $5 is buying you a lot more than it looks like) and using the felled trees for something else. Firewood would be the most logical, but if you are not going to have a woodstove, perhaps you could SELL them to someone (not for very much unless you cut and split them) as firewood? Or you could hire a tree service to come in and chip them for you.... but the mulch you get that way is likely to be disproportionately expensive, you'd be better off just buying a load of already chipped stuff FROM the tree service for your garden mulch

Good luck, have fun,

Pat