pine shavings vs straw

[polychickens]

Do any of you prefer pine shavings to straw? I bought a 2.7 cu yd bag this week after hearing it was superior to straw. What I noticed after 2 days is that the waste smell is considerably worse than even 7 day old straw. Also, the shavings tend to find their way into the water and food easier--probably because they get airborn easier.

The smell issue was easy enough to counteract by drizzling some more shavings into the coop, but at the rate I would go thru this stuff, straw is WAY cheaper.

What am I missing here? The Storey book at the farm store recommends pine shavings as the preferred floor covering.

Polychickens

 

[Poison Ivy]

I use sand then a layer of coastal hay as my floor covering in the coop. Then just sand under my roosts and I scoop that in the mornings like a giant cat litter box. I can say my coop stays clean. I only have to add sand under the roosts area about every 3 months and change out the coastal hay maybe 3 times a year. I have pics posted in the coop design section. I tried the pine shavings but didn't care for it like you said it smells after a few days.

 

[webdawg]

Does it matter what kind of sand? Thanks

 

[allen wranch]

Like Poison Ivy, I pooper scoop my coop every day, and I use pine shavings in one coop and sand in the other. No smell and no flies.

Hay is preferable over straw because straw is hollow and can harbor mites, lice and mold.

To keep shavings out of your water, raise it off the ground until it is about even with the bird's back. An easy way to do this is to put it on a cinder block.