Straw or Hay for chick bedding

[Cindiloohoo]

I used pine shavings. I have lost a chick due to choking on shavings, but one out of 300 or so...isn't what I would consider a reason to not use them. Chicks can choke on lots of things. I don't think one thing is much worse than another as far as bedding. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

I use wood shavings just because there easier to clean out and smell a bit nicer. Hay seems to stick together better. Hay/staw woudl be better in the nesting boxes. I have never used it just becasue never had any extra on hand.

 

[chkinut]

i'm only going to be getting 3 chicks at the end of march. so i was thinking of just using paper towels.....any advice on that idea? either that, or newspaper. but the paper towels would be better (i think) so they wouldn't slip around.

 

[mstricer]

Quote:
isnt that expensive. and doesnt kinda look like their food. I use both pine shavings and straw

 

[wildorchid053]

we use wood pellets to heat our house and last yr 18 bags had little slits in them and the rain got in.. so we threw the bags on the garden as compost.. i searched and searched about them being all wood and the answer was yes.. but when i planted my garden, when the seeds sprouted and came up the plants turned yellow and died..my green beans grew about 4" and never gave fruit.. they were yellow the whole time.. i have a huge garden 100'x150' and had never had a problem before.. it was very odd.. it had to be those pellets.. there must be something in there when they compress them.. i have no idea what but if it was toxic to the garden i would never use them for chick bedding.. even though they say all wood i would still be leary. they are supposed to be all hard wood

 

[matte]

Quote:
This most likely happened because the wood pellets (extremely high carbon ratio) tied up all of the nitrogen in your soil. There was nothing toxic or "bad" about the pellets, but the carbon sucks up nitrogen in the soil like a sponge. Plants without adequate nitrogen will be yellow, stunted, and can die. You would have had to wait until the pellets really began to break down or have added a large amount of nitrogen fertilizer...not a good idea. You might need to add a little extra nitrogen to that plot this year, but I would guess you won't have any problems after the wood has had a year to decompose.

Just another note; if the wood (pellets/shavings/bark mulch) is only applied ON the surface as a mulch and is not worked into the soil, it does little to affect the carbon:nitrogen in the root zone.

 

[Rdalechix&keets]

I'm new to this, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I use straw with my guinea keets and it seems to work well. The keets really like playing in it and scratching around in it, they grab pieces of it and play keep away with it. I live in close quarters with the keets (hoping to habituate them to people) so smell and health is a big issue. I change the bedding every day (takes about 5 minutes to change the bedding and get it out to get to the compost pile).

We raise our chicks on shreaded paper, which is just awful. The chicks kick it everywhere and it clogs up the waterer in about 5 minutes. I wouldn't use paper, but it is free and they aren't my chicks.

 

[Mahtowagal]

I tried something with my dozen chicks that worked out fabulously and I have never heard mentioned by anyone. We live in the country so have access to alot of "turf". I put them on a base floor of wood pellet bedding (which I use with my horses and love) and then on top of that, I would dig up about 3- 4 shovels of lawn off the edge of our yard every day. They had fresh grass, worms and learned to hunt and peck at an early age. I started this around two weeks old. Currently they are 9 weeks old and they look fantastic and are now out in our extra large horse trailer while my husband is finishing their new 8 X 12' house and their large turnout area. I still to this day bring them fresh turf every day and they absolutely love it. I also use hay for bedding on top of the pellets. Soft hay is so easy to clean out. I just use a rake or even my foot and pull all the hay out every day and put new in. No problems at all.... happy clean chicks and no smell. Oh, then when my husband cleaned out all the turf dirt from the trailer, he put it in the wheel barrow and spread it over all the dozens of holes that I dug up.

 

[Mahtowagal]

I meant to say I hate shavings as bedding....and really love hay because they can hunt and peck and find pieces to eat. They are far less bored this way.... with either real dirt/grass or hay. I would personally never use shavings.

 

[Mahtowagal]

I used actual "turf" from the edge of our yard. We had the newborns here mid summer so it worked out great. I would go out every morning and just take a shovel and dig two shallow clumps...about 1' X 1' or so...some a little larger and put those in their tub. I highly recommend this because not only do they get exposure to the important microbes and things that can help their digestion later on, but they learn to hunt and peck. They were in heaven every morning when they got their new dirt and fresh grass.. I had never read about anyone doing this and was surprised actually. I eventually moved them in to my large horse trailer which was their home before they moved to the coop. I did the same thing in the horse trailer. Now, as adults that have access to a large predator proofed run, with grass.....I bed with fresh hay in their coop. I highly recommend hay as they do hunt and peck in it and find pieces to eat. It's soft, cushy, and sooooo easy to clean. I just go out to my coop twice a day with a glove on and a bucket...and squat down and pick up the little clumps of hay that have poop on it. I have 11 birds and it takes me less than 2 minutes to do this. Their coop is spotless then when they go to bed...and for much of the day.