Paper With Deep Litter Method?

[Ldyjarhead]

I've seen posts where some add shredded paper to their shavings when using the deep litter method. I'm all about keeping costs down and recycling, but are all types of paper acceptable?

I'm assuming regular white paper is ok and will shred my junk mail, but what about colored newspaper (store advertisements, etc) - are they ok to use or is the ink a no-no?

 

[gsim]

The U S Dept of AG is now experimenting with dollar bills.

Our tax dollars at work?

 

[gsim]

Just kidding. I use grass clippings and shredded leaves and they work fine. Same for nests. Best of all, they are free. Because I use poop planks, I only have to change out litter once a year. Coop is never stinky. If I had my druthers and could get it for free, I would use wood chips like when the power co sends out line-clearing crews. I cannot see why shredded paper could not be used. Fire hazard? All litter is combustible.

 

[Jon_mi]

I use shredded paper with my litter. It has worked okay for the past 3 years, the chickens will eat it however! There is something satisfying about my chickens eating my old bills! I don't use the shiny papers or catalog pages. A lot papers and mailings today use soy based inks so those should be okay. Shredded paper isn't very absorbent though so I wouldn't use just the paper.

 

[Ldyjarhead]

Quote:
Newspaper should be more absorbent than regular white letter paper by far. If you stuff it into your sneakers after washing, newspaper will pull the water right out of them and your sneaks will dry overnight as opposed to taking several days.

I'm planning on using shavings, maybe whatever leaves I have on the ground, and then just whatever small amount of paper I have, which should be a very small percentage of overall litter. I hadn't planned on using magazines/glossies, but some of the grocery stores around here print on newspaper type material, although with colored ink.

 

[Tweeza]

Quote:
Newspaper should be more absorbent than regular white letter paper by far. If you stuff it into your sneakers after washing, newspaper will pull the water right out of them and your sneaks will dry overnight as opposed to taking several days.

I'm planning on using shavings, maybe whatever leaves I have on the ground, and then just whatever small amount of paper I have, which should be a very small percentage of overall litter. I hadn't planned on using magazines/glossies, but some of the grocery stores around here print on newspaper type material, although with colored ink.

We have a local grocery store that mails out nonglossy colored ads that is soy based ink.

 

[Maryallison]

Thanks you guys! My DH is in the process of building our biggest best coop yet and we will be using the deep liter method. Nice to know I can add the newpaper too!

 

[CARS]

I get about 10, 40 gal. trash bags of shredded paper from the local bank a month. My deep litter method is one bag of paper to 2 bags of wood shavings. I try to layer it out the best I can, but the chickens just stir it all up anyway

Sometimes people ask why my garden has paper in it... it doesn't seem to compost as rapidly as the shavings.