spagnum/peat moss?

[Hillsvale]

Does anyone used spagnum (peat moss) in their coops instead of shavings..... we cleaned out that shavings and put in the spagnm instead and found that it was drying out the poop much better and the "aroma" is better but it is so brown that the dust makes the inside of the coop look awful...

Anyone?

 

[Judy]

No harm in using it but I won't because of the dust. Maybe if you mixed it with pine shavings.

 

[Hillsvale]

Quote:
I find the shavings dust as well.... its just not so visible! lol

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I just visited a friend in Georgia and commented on how lovely the moss hanging in the trees were. She said her MIL collected a bunch of the moss from the trees to use to decorate her mantle, etc.. for the holidays. The stuff ended up being loaded with some sort of insect, she said fleas, but I couldn't tell you what they were. Something to watch out for at least.

 

[Hillsvale]

Quote:
the moss hanging off the southern trees is not quite the same.... peat moss grows on the ground, it is then dried out and ground up (for lack of better words), bugs would long since have died in rocessing. The reason I tried the spagnum is because it is touted to be 4 times more absorbant than the pine shavings. I tried the deep litter method and I found it got just as woofy in the coop than with half the shavings.. I was looking for an alternative, many people give it a light spritz of water to control the dust.

http://www.peatmoss.com/index.php

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Interesting. I doubt anyone here in the US uses it because it's so expensive. It's sold in little packages for container plants. I don't even know where one would find large quantities for bedding a coop.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
I don't know what you have in Mind but ground peat moss can be bought in huge bags that hold 3 cubic feet in any garden center. Used to mix with soil for better moisture retention It is cheaper than straw or hay. I use spagnum (not peat) to bed my birds. Peat mose is like composted spagnum moss it has no structure and no neutrients. The spargnum moss is what grows on the top of the peat bed.It is removed first and then they dig down to get to the peat.

 

[patandchickens]

The stuff hanging from trees down south is spanish moss, it is a bromeliad, it is NOT what's being discussed here. And yeah, it is often rife with chiggers.

As far as I can tell what's being described here is PEAT MOSS, aka sphagnum peat moss, more or less aka peat -- the very fine dark-brown dusty-dirtlike stuff that is the result of sphagnum moss (an actual semiaquatic moss) long-decomposed beneath sphagnum bogs. It is used as a garden amendment, also very rarely as bedding for horses with bad respiratory allergies. IT IS HUGELY DUSTY unless dampened. (They dampen it for horse-stall use). (It is btw rather *difficult* to dampen). Thus, in a coop you have a choice between hugely immensely dusty (not good) or damp (not good). I would not personally use it, except *concievably* in a basically open-air coop and even then I can't exactly think why I might use it over other things. You can buy it in wee bags or in half-cubic-yard bales or by bulk dumpload. But I would really not suggest it for coop bedding b/c of the dust factor.

There is also actual sphagnum, which is sphagnum moss in a not-decomposed state, used by florists and such. It is not really relevant to this discussion though because I doubt anyone would have access to sufficient quantities.

Pat

 

[Scarecrow1966]

Hey all,
I was searching around to see if this question I been raised before. I was wondering if the peat moss might be used in place of the DE I have read about? The peat moss is actually pretty cheap when compared to DE - I used a lot of it for starting seedlings, and you can usually pick a large bag (around 40 lbs?) at Lowe's for less than $10.

Thanks.
Chris

 

[barrelmom]

I use peat moss in the dust bath areas of my run. It seems to dry very quickly so isn't muddy even when wet and the chickens really love rolling around in it.