Straw? Shavings? Chips? Help!

[mickey328]

When we first brought our girls home, they had mites. We stopped by the feed store and got a bag of food grade DE which I sprinkled on their bedding (we use straw since the climate here is so dry) and in their dust bath. Mites are gone. We continue to put a little in each place when we supplement or change and haven't seen a bug since Lots of folks say it doesn't work, but it sure did for us. It's not a "quick fix"...does take a little time, but once they were gone and with just a little maintenance, they remained bug free. We also use Sweet PDZ in the coop and that stuff is miraculous! Even though the coop's enclosed, it smells less in there after 2 weeks than the run does in 2 days! It keeps everything nice and dry and keeps the poo smell at bay.

 

[ChickadeeRanch]

Sweet PDZ? never heard of it!

 

[mickey328]

It's totally awesome stuff! It was developed for horse stalls, I think. It's a powder that helps to absorb moisture and therefore keeps the odor down. It's not expensive; we got it at the feed store. Our coop is about 4 x 5 and I put in maybe a half cup sprinkled around when wei clean and swap out the bedding. The girls move it around through the bedding when they scratch and it really draws the moisture out of the droppings.

 

[ChickadeeRanch]

Cool i gotta try that because as you probably know chickens are sttiinnkkaayy