pine shavings or hay?

[Peeps298]

I am curious, what do most people use on the floor of their coops, pine shavings or hay? What do most use in their nest boxes, pine shavings or hay?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Pine shavings in coop and hay in nests.

I like the hay as it comes apart in batts from the bale. Chickens cant scratch it out of nests but make a nice "nest" indent in it.

 

[pontoosuc]

There is a lengthy thread going regarding this topic. It's something like
"what are you putting on the floor of your coop this winter".
Great information from a lot of people in many different areas.

Me, I use pine shavings.

 

[Braclin]

I use pine shavings in both!

 

[chicmom]

Pine shavings in both for me as well. Going to use the deep litter method this winter. The natural decomposition of the chicken droppings will create some warmth for them.........

 

[Liamm_1]

I save newspaper, shred it in the paper shredder, and voila! free bedding that is completely compostable

 

[Tdub4chiks]

Pine shavings. I read that they eat the hay and this can lead into impacted crops. Not sure if it's true or not, but wanted to let you know.

 

[patandchickens]

Shavings. FIrst, because they are WAY WAY easier to clean (spot- or totally) than hay or straw.

And mostly because hay is FOOD, darnit, and it kind of bothers me to see perfectly edible hay being used as *bedding* in some places where in other places it is in very short supply (and often being trucked in from the first sort of place). Mulch hay is not appropriate as bedding b/c of the mold factor.

JMHO,

Pat

 

[chicmom]

Quote:
Do you think they meant straw? Isn't it the straw that's bedding and the hay that's food?

 

[Plucky Pullet]

So I was using pine shaving, but my hubby wanted something that stayed in the coop after we got a little shower of pine everytime the coop was opened. So he got a bale of straw hay. Now the chickens love making a nest out of the stuff but is is harder to clean (in my opinion) than pine. So as soon as my bale is gone I am going back to pine, it is so much easier to clean than hay!!