pine shavings vs. hay bedding?

[kelster6]

does anyone have recommendations about brooder bedding? pine shavings vs. hay?
pros and cons to both? I've heard baby chicks will sometimes eat the shavings so I have hay over paper towels down right now.

 

[s6bee]

Shaving would be better over hay, but if in the beginning you can use papertowels for the first few day that would be good.

 

[reallemons1]

Shavings stay dryer and cleaner longer than hay.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I NEVER use shavings for babies under 2 weeks old. Use straw or hay for the first 2 weeks because there is a great chance that the chickens will ingest them and get blocked up and it could be fatal.

 

[Swamp Roo]

I'm interested in this one as well. I can get a large roll of hay for $35, a brick of shavings is $5-$6. I'm guessing that a roll would last me 1.5 to 2 years, if I didn't feed the rest to the cows maybe longer. I'm guessing I'll go through a brick of shavings every month or two. So that is $60-$120 a year under ideal contions. Now I've read that hay can harbor mites, and that could be a problem. I do plan on using DE (bought full bag yesterday), so I don't know if that would negate the mite issue? Any other reason NOT to use hay? I own a chipper, and could send the hay through that first? That might knock the volume of hay way down, so I might only get a year out of a roll, but still much better than shavings. I'm still really new to all of this, am I missing something? Maybe a combo of shavings and hay?

 

[SOchic4]

im a beginner too and only have 4 hens but i use a combo of hay and shavings both worked fine but the shavings smell better and seem to make it cleaner