Shavings vs Hay

[aart]

What do y'all suggest I use for DLM in the coop?

I just know that compost needs a carefully balance of materials(browns and greens), air, and moisture...and that wood chips/shavings will take forever to break down and you don't want it turned into your garden soil as it's nitrogen 'stealer'.

This might help:
Here's a great description of contents and how to manage organic 'bedding' in a run or coop...and there's a great video of what it looks like.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1037998/muddy-run-help-please#post_16017992

 

[Apocalypse]

Here is something I heard...
most straw and hay is treated with fungicides and herbicides that target everything except the crop.
So if you plan on using that bedding as compost ... you might run into some problems.
Last year i mulched with straw. My plants grew in twisted and deformed if at all. They say the toxins last in the soil up to 20 years

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Here is something I heard...
most straw and hay is treated with fungicides and herbicides that target everything except the crop.
So if you plan on using that bedding as compost ... you might run into some problems.
Last year i mulched with straw. My plants grew in twisted and deformed if at all. They say the toxins last in the soil up to 20 years

So what do you use for bedding that you turn to compost?

 

[Apocalypse]

i use pine shavings and straw from several long decorative grasses. It grows about 8 feet tall and i cut it every autumn. I use it on the floor of the run and along all my foot trafficked areas of my lawn. I also use leaf litter from all the trees in my backyard in the run.

 

[aart]

straw from several long decorative grasses. It grows about 8 feet tall and i cut it every autumn. I use it on the floor of the run and along all my foot trafficked areas of my lawn.

How does that holdup and break down?
I have taken that stuff and cut it into shorter pieces for addition to the other litter in run.
Use a hedge trimmer to cut it down and up.
Have also laid it full size in piles in the burn pit and as mulch on edge of garden, it doesn't break down quickly there.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Would adding grass clippings and leaves to pine shavings help them break down along with the poop?

 

[Apocalypse]

Well the stuff I'm using is almost like a thinner spindly version of bamboo... It holds up really well. I have 2 varieties and one is much thicker than the other. In the past I've unsheathed, cut, and used them as stakes for my vegetable garden.
The stuff I've just laid out in the run is cut from 2 years ago, and I still have piles from this year. I've used leaves as well, but they tend to migrate to the lowest areas and they dont last long. Not sure how long this straw/grass will last, but I'm thinking the winter.

I'm liking the straw/grass because it stays put more or less like a carpet and when i toss out scratch or snacks, they tend to fall deep into the litter and the chickens spend a lot of time and energy digging around and seeking it out. I should take a picture

 

[chickengeorgeto]

As time goes on hay will degrade more and more each day while pine shavings will remain more or less in tact.

 

[Ribh]

I use hemp in the coop & nesting boxes, straw in the run [DLM]. No problems with straw here. Both break down well. The hemp is great. Hardly any dust.

 

[RoosterML]

i use pine shavings and straw from several long decorative grasses. It grows about 8 feet tall and i cut it every autumn. I use it on the floor of the run and along all my foot trafficked areas of my lawn. I also use leaf litter from all the trees in my backyard in the run.

First year throwing the decorative grasses into the runs muddy spots. They absolutely love it. First to dig around in next to sit up nice and dry. My only fear is if they like it so much they start laying eggs in it. So far so good. Before I refined my coop tending practices I was dumping about a good wheel barrow full of pine shavings per week. Made one hell of a pile. What I did was add some pine shavings followed by a adding soil.
You want to keep those pine shaving dawp/wet to break down faster. I also had the pile in a shady spot, it never received sun due to the cover over head. If the sun hits the pine shavings it will dry them out and stop the whole process. Now with PDZ on poop boards I am down to about a 5 gallon bucket of poop only per week.