Retail price, quality of shavings...???

[Intheswamp]

Going from memory

and for what it's worth here are some retail prices on *pine* shavings that I saw yesterday in Greenville, Alabama. I may have to regroup on my bedding plans a bit...

TSC - 3 cubic feet bale - $4.99 ,looked mostly like small chips, not shavings, and dusty (though it said something about low-dust?? It seems that this brand might actually be what they were offering rather than the TSC brand... Shavings on Amazon

Walmart - 5 cubic feet bale - $7.28, was bigger pieces, appeared to have less dust, and stated both of these attributes on the packaging. Again, looked more like chips than shavings, but, it looked better than what was being offered at TSC. A little bit of confusion is that the bale "looked" about the same size as the bale at TSC...??? Maybe I was reading the expanded amount of the shavings. If I get back in the area I'll check it again.

I hope that I can find a source of shavings in bulk, rather than bags/bales.

Anybody want to compare notes?

Ed

 

[FF]

Hello Ed. I use TSC bedding for chicks chickens and whatever other animal. It really is not that bad on dust. I have got bags that were nice shavings and some that were dusty.It's really not a bad deal so it really want hurt to get TSC's. Hope this helps and have a good day. Dusty

 

[1acrefarm]

I just take my bagger mower and 96 gallon trash can to some pesticide free woods across the street. Enough leaves to take the place of ten bags of shavings are less than a buck in gas. I would spend more than that in gas going to the store to spend big bucks on shavings. Sometimes I just rake the leaves by hand and they are free. It is more natural to the chickens and they get the bonus of bugs and seeds to scratch for. It is a win win for me and the chickens.

 

[patandchickens]

There must be a real actual (non-chain) feedstore somewhere around you... they will have bags of shavings. I'd post the names of the brands around here that are good and pretty dust-free except a) I would have to go out to the barn to look at empty bags, and b) the same brands probably aren't available in your area anyhow

IME, buying in bulk (if you mean, a dumpload of loose shavings) is not *quite* as sweet a deal as you might think, as you have to buy a fairly large quantity and then have somewhere to put it and then have rats take up residence in the pile and usually bulk shavings are less-reliable in quality and dustier than bagged shavings. Personally I don't think bulk shavings are likely to make sense unless you have a whole lot of animals bedded on shavings and go through a large volume of 'em.

The most sensible way to economize on shavings, IMHO, is to set up your coop and management system so that you just plain don't use as much. Droppings board cleaned every day or so; not too many chickens per unit area; keep the floor DRY; encourage chickens to enjoy being outside; and don't remove shavings that don't really need it yet.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[gsim]

I spend zero dollars on litter and nest material. I use grass-clippings. Smell good and they are free. Like pat says, use a poop plank and scrape daily.

Your litter should last a full year by just adding to it periodically. Leaves are ok too in wintertime. just mix them in. Chopped leaves via lawnmower are even better for wintertime additions. Just pick a dry day and chop them up. Will not work if too far north tho.