I have scoured this sight reading tons of ideas on litter options for coops. As most of us do I too try and come up with cost effective means of caring for my chicks. My thought was I have huge pine trees around my yard so tons of pine straw!!! I usually just burn it along with limbs and what not. Been thinking about renting a chipper to run the pine straw thru and attempt to use that for litter in the coop. Has anyone tried this in the past if so was it worth the effort??? I intend on using a poop hammock or slide of some design under the roosts. I intend on composting as well. Have never attempted or seen anyone talking about the use of pine straw. Any thoughts on this idea??? Thanks
i would just buy the bag of fine pine shavings at local tractor supply store, they should be under ten bucks and the bag will last 5-8 weeks depending on how much is used up. if this is still expensive i'd make another post asking your question to someone who has tried this. it doesn't sound like anything different, the chipper will make pine shavings so it is the same thing.
Sure, you can use pine straw. I haven't tried it because we don't have pine trees. But, I use wheat straw run through a chipper. It's cheaper than shavings by a long way and it works great. The chickens go nuts scratching for stray kernels on cleaning day. The chopping process itself is messy and a dust mask and protective eyewear are musts. I've been thinking about chopping up some leaves too since I have more than enough of those to keep my run muck-free for the rest of the rainy season. I vote to just try stuff and see what you like. Lots of folks buy shavings because it's easy but I am all for free or dirt cheap stuff you can put in the compost pile when it's time.
I us I use the shavings now. Not that their expensive it was just a thought wanted to see if anyone had tried it.
