Poll: What Kind Of Bedding Do You Have?

[mypurtychickens]

Bedding is a really important factor of a chicken coop. Please Select the type of bedding you have in your coop And why you prefer it over other bedding. If you choose "Other" describe what you use.

 

[proud-armywife]

I use a mix of peat moss , pins shaving, grass clippings, leaf litter, grass clippings.... I keep all clippings short so they don't get an impacted crop. I also use this in the run. My coop has a higher amount of pine shavings while my run has a higher amount of yard material.. Ie: leaf litter, grass clippings etc

 

[PapaChaz]

I do deep litter in the run, started out just the grass, and added 4 or 5 inches of wood chips. I've added in weeds from the garden and flower beds, grass clippings, more wood chips. The uneaten corn cobs from table scraps, melon rinds that haven't been eaten yet, there were some sticks in the first batch of wood chips.

the day we moved the chicks from the brooder in the kitchen to the coop, I thought I had a bag of shavings, but didn't. Feed store was closed and I went to home depot and bought a bale of straw. Man, it smelled so good! and they seemed to like it better than the shavings. I did change it out after a couple of months, mostly because of all the feathers they'd lost in that time and it just looked messy. I put shavings in it, and immediately didn't like it as well as the straw, and they didn't either. I left it that way a couple weeks, then changed it back out. I put those shavings in the run, and they've mixed them in with everything else out there pretty well. Walking in my run is like a super soft extra padded carpeting and they dig and scratch and turn it all over and there is no smell or flies......

Same thing inside, no smell or flies, thanks to having a poop tray full of sand and pdz, and the straw just smells good to me. There's my choice and reasons.....

 

[mypurtychickens]

I use a mix of peat moss , pins shaving, grass clippings, leaf litter, grass clippings.... I keep all clippings short so they don't get an impacted crop. I also use this in the run. My coop has a higher amount of pine shavings while my run has a higher amount of yard material.. Ie: leaf litter, grass clippings etc.

What a mix lol

 

[mypurtychickens]

I do deep litter in the run, started out just the grass, and added 4 or 5 inches of wood chips. I've added in weeds from the garden and flower beds, grass clippings, more wood chips. The uneaten corn cobs from table scraps, melon rinds that haven't been eaten yet, there were some sticks in the first batch of wood chips.

the day we moved the chicks from the brooder in the kitchen to the coop, I thought I had a bag of shavings, but didn't. Feed store was closed and I went to home depot and bought a bale of straw. Man, it smelled so good! and they seemed to like it better than the shavings. I did change it out after a couple of months, mostly because of all the feathers they'd lost in that time and it just looked messy. I put shavings in it, and immediately didn't like it as well as the straw, and they didn't either. I left it that way a couple weeks, then changed it back out. I put those shavings in the run, and they've mixed them in with everything else out there pretty well. Walking in my run is like a super soft extra padded carpeting and they dig and scratch and turn it all over and there is no smell or flies......

Same thing inside, no smell or flies, thanks to having a poop tray full of sand and pdz, and the straw just smells good to me. There's my choice and reasons.....

I love the smell of straw too!

 

[proud-armywife]

I have hay... But I have been reluctant to use it because I am afraid of mites or bugs living in the hay blades... I also love the smell... How do you control the bugs? Maybe I need to add it to my mix! Lol

 

[mypurtychickens]

I have hay... But I have been reluctant to use it because I am afraid of mites or bugs living in the hay blades... I also love the smell... How do you control the bugs? Maybe I need to add it to my mix! Lol

not sure...Anybody have any suggestions?

 

[ChickenMammX4]

I voted Pine Shavings because that's what I use in the coop.

In the run we use grass clippings, straw, old pine shavings & leaves

 

[shadow rabbit10]

I voted pine shavings, but it's not the only bedding I use. In the spring and summer I use pine shavings, but in the winter and fall I use straw because it insulates better. I use straw in the nest boxes year round.

 

[AmyLM]

I use straw because uts cheap and breaks down fast in our compost pile. It also dries the poo out pretty well inside the coop. We have 160 + chickens so cost vs effectiveness is considered very important to us.