Straw or Pine Shavings?

[The ChickenKing]

I've been using straw for the whole time my girls have been in the coop, but my friend says he uses pine shavings and they're better, what are the pros and cons of both?

 

[petrel]

I use pine and have been very pleased with it. It is inexpensive, very absorbent, and naturally odor reducing. The downside, in my opinion, is that it doesn't compost as readily as straw.

 

[ErikaV7]

We recently switched to pine and I like it better. It just seems cleaner and it's still looking great after about a month. Think we'll stick to it rather than straw.

 

[Julia62]

I use pine shavings in the coop and straw in the nest boxes. The shavings are easy to clean with a cat litter scoop! I just scoop, shake & sift, and put the poop in a waste basket. It takes minutes to clean. I clean it almost daily because it is so easy. Once a month (once so far) I plan on sweeping it all out and replacing with new. For my coop it's about a 5 gallon bucket full (40" x 48").

 

[RJSorensen]

As a new convert to pine shavings, having used straw for forever, I was most pleased with the results. Straw does not adsorb very well, it just sort of stacks up, the dry new layer on top. Pine shavings grabs the wet and will release it over time, with just a bit of staining for the wear. I was very doubtful of using them, why change? But I am very glad that I did.

RJ