Rice husk bedding is awesome!

[FutureMillionaire]

I live in a tropical country where the main crop is rice. I have a lot of rice farmers as neighbors. Whenever its harvest day, I ask for truckloads of their rice husk and they give it to me for free. My yard barn use to stink like hell because ducks loves to poop a lot. One day I saw a documentary about a stink free pig farm. Why it doesn't stink? They use rice husk bedding. I tried this with my ducks and the ducks kinda enjoy playing with the rice husk and some hens used it for nesting. No stink at all!! Much more better than hay. I still give them hay because hay is good for nest but the rice husk have this anti bacterial properties that kills the stink. I replace the bedding once a month.

 

[Nor-Cal Chickens]

Interesting! Great to know and thanks for the info. I live in northern California and surrounded by many rice fields. The rice farmers usually burn the husk because there is not enough demand or use for it locally due to so much of it in the area. I'll make sure and pick some up after the next season.

 

[FutureMillionaire]

It is worth trying since its cheaper than woodchips if you are surrounded by rice farmers. I got mine for free.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Rice hulls work great for certain things. I like them a LOT in chick brooders and those small pans in prefab coops where hay allows poos to sit on top and stops the pans from pulling out easily for cleaning. I haven't tried it on my droppings boards yet.. but it's almost hydrophobic... allowing water to flow through down to the bottom of whatever.. if spilled, as in a duckling brooder.

I have to pay for them same as shavings, but if they were free I'd definitely be looking more into them. I like the way rice hulls grab and hide poos. Shavings to smell a bit nicer.

They compost well... allowed to get and stay wet long enough... they stink and get moldy just like anything else. But pretty light material that's easy to work with... as mentioned, definitely not ideal for nesting material.

 

[FutureMillionaire]

They also make great fertilizers after ducks and chickens used them for some time. But yeah not that food for nesting. We still need hay for nesting but it can work well with hay.

 

[FutureMillionaire]

I discovered a new use! It makes a great kitty litter!

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I use the dirty rice husk beddings of my ducks to fertilize my crops.