Random, bedding

[JEDoll]

Soo what do you guys do with the bedding when you clean out your coop? It seems silly to throw it in the garbage for some reason?

 

[rosemarythyme]

As I use wood chips, I throw used coop bedding into the run where the same wood chips are the basis of my deep litter.

 

[mdees88]

It makes good compost

 

[aart]

Soo what do you guys do with the bedding when you clean out your coop? It seems silly to throw it in the garbage for some reason?

It does...but often for folks in the city and/or with small coops that is the only option.
Tell us more about your goals for chickens and your coop(dimensions and pics) and birds(numbers, ages, genders) and we may have a better solution.


What kind of bedding you use may depend on how you manage the manure.
This is about cleaning, but covers my big picture

-I use poop boards under roosts with thin(<1/2") layer of sand/PDZ mix, sifted daily(takes 5-10mins) into bucket going to friends compost.

-Scrape big or wet poops off roost and ramps as needed.

-Pine shavings on coop floor, add some occasionally, totally changed out once or twice a year, old shavings added to run.

- My runs have semi-deep litter(cold composting), never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.
Aged ramial wood chippings are best IMO.

-Nests are bedded with straw, add some occasionally, change out if needed(broken egg).

There is no odor, unless a fresh cecal has been dropped and when I open the bucket to add more poop.

That's how I keep it 'clean', have not found any reason to clean 'deeper' in 5 years.

Oh, and...Welcome to BYC! @JEDoll
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[Mrs. K]

I flip the bedding in the coop into the run. Fresh in the coop. I use old waste hay. Just prairie hay because we ranch and that is what I have for free.

In the spring, I will bring up the bedding from the run, and use it to mulch my garden. It is a great deal of bedding with a little poop left in it, and my chickens stir it up. I pile it up, then they dig it up again.

Works for me, but I live on a ranch, and we don't have neighbors very close at all. What works in one set up, won't work in another. We are pretty dry, and are on sand, so drainage is just not a problem for me.

Mrs K