Pine pellets for coop bedding??? Does it work?? I'm curious....

[Debbie292d]

So do I scoop the poop, mix it up, or leave it? I never had to do anything with the flakes as they just swallowed the poop up lol. I still would prefer a bit extra work every day than the allergy fest every Monday used to bring.

We leave it. Our silkies scratch around it in and keep it circulated but if they didn't, a metal rake moves them around easy.

Every March/April we get a wheelbarrow and grain scoop and haul it out. It is now mostly sawdust and dried-up pulverized chicken poop. We put some of that around trees, in the garden, and in the compost bins. It's 100% pine, now fertilized.

 

[Taj MaHen]

It’s been a total game changer for me! I have a mixed flock of geese,guineas and chickens. I tried shavings then went to straw then sand. They all had issues and even being cleaned daily it all stunk but the shavings. ( I agree they suck) My coop and pen are right outside my bedroom so it was a problem. Pellets are cheaper, cleaner, less dusty, and less prone to bring in bugs. If you use it according to the directions you can scoop it like cat litter. It lasts a long time. And it absorbs odors as well as any wet. If I smell anything from my bedroom it’s the pine bedding. I use a leaf rake to take most of the turds into a pile then use a litter scoop to go thru the pile.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

We're in Wisconsin with brutal winters and just leave the pellets in there year round. They are a good insulator too. We do not wet ours as they lose absorption capabilities then.

Truth be told, we have zero ventilation in our coop albeit a digital fan and vent in the human door that runs only when it gets hotter in there than it is outside.

Ventilation is pushed because the ammonia and humidity can build up to life-threatening levels, but with pellets, there is none of either. Our coop stays drier than the humidity outside, and the ammonia is absorbed, thus no smell, so the ventilation they get is just related to the temperature it is. We use a nipple bucket so no open water in the coop.

Brutal winters here, too. (UP). I need a better solution than pine wood chips on the coop floor, and want to know your experience in WI winter. I’m losing a lot of chips when scooping this summer. And
I have linoleum under the chips, so when the birds fly down, they land on open floor space in a skid—While ignoring the 6’ long, 8” wide low-angle ramp I built and installed to protect them from injury .
Do the pellets break down to sawdust with poop, or does it clump with poop like sprinkles on ice cream, thus wasting pellets?
Do you think the pellets left whole would risk injury with slippage on linoleum if I put 3-4 inches wall to wall? Maybe 4-5”?
TIA

 

[EdgeC]

I use flake(not shavings or pellets), as long as the coop stays dry I don't have any smell issues (i do deep litter) and after it hits about 6 inches I scoop it out into the run to break down into the dirt (also lets rain clean it and gives them stuff to sift through)

 

[Debbie292d]

Brutal winters here, too. (UP). I need a better solution than pine wood chips on the coop floor, and want to know your experience in WI winter. I’m losing a lot of chips when scooping this summer. And
I have linoleum under the chips, so when the birds fly down, they land on open floor space in a skid—While ignoring the 6’ long, 8” wide low-angle ramp I built and installed to protect them from injury .
Do the pellets break down to sawdust with poop, or does it clump with poop like sprinkles on ice cream, thus wasting pellets?
Do you think the pellets left whole would risk injury with slippage on linoleum if I put 3-4 inches wall to wall? Maybe 4-5”?
TIA

The pellets don't bunch up, they will expand as they absorb moisture and becomes sawdust. If you had water leaking, then it's wet sawdust.

We have linoleum but our silkies won't jump more than a foot or two at most and have solid footing. If they were skidding, I'd add more pellets.

 

[Debbie292d]

I started experimenting with pellets after a friend gave me a couple of bags.
Pros: Less pick-up of bedding when scooping off the fresh poop, which means less waste and fewer trips back and forth to the compost pile. Also, they don't scatter outside the coop and end up in places I don't want them. Even better, they don't end up in the water container.

Cons: Pellets haven't been controlling odor as well as flakes. Pellets are creating more dust as they disintegrate. A 40# bag costs a couple of pennies more than an 8 cu ft bag of flakes, but the flakes cover more area. Flakes also don't break down as quickly.

I might continue to use pellets to top off the flakes under the roosts to aid in scooping. And I think they'll be great to use in a brooder.

Were they horse bedding pellets or the kind for the grill? I'm guessing the latter as you shouldn't have had any smell, nor dust. There's something awry there with those otherwise. We have zero odor, zero dust.

 

[Logar]

We have zero odor, zero dust.

I haven’t had an issue with either of those as well.

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

FYI, pine pelletized bedding at TSC are currently Buy 4 Get 1 Free. I don't see the promo on their web page, but it shows up in the app. Not sure if it only applies to online orders or what.

I had experimented with mixing pellets and shavings in my garage setup before I had my outdoor setup complete. It was a pretty high load of chicken poop, and the pellets seemed to do a better job than pure pine shaving flakes. As such, I recently decided to just convert to 95% pellets and 5% dried coffee grounds for the coop floor. Nesting boxes are still filled with flakes as it seems softer and more comfy.
Will try to remember to report back once I've used everything long enough to have a real opinion.
What I do know is that all of the pine shavings from all that time in my garage has now been dumped into a compost pile outdoors and it doesn't really appear to be breaking down. I can tell you that the pelletized bedding + flakes definitely seemed to do a better job drying out poop and/or minimizing odors than just flakes.

YMMV.

 

[Vicker]

Were they horse bedding pellets or the kind for the grill? I'm guessing the latter as you shouldn't have had any smell, nor dust. There's something awry there with those otherwise. We have zero odor, zero dust.

 

[Vicker]

Were they horse bedding pellets or the kind for the grill? I'm guessing the latter as you shouldn't have had any smell, nor dust. There's something awry there with those otherwise. We have zero odor, zero dust.

Horse/small animal pellets. Grilling pellets would cost so much more it wouldn't be feasible.