Survey: Pine Shavings, Hay, or Straw in Nest Boxes (Cold Weather Climate) ?

There are practically as many answers to this question as their are chicken ranchers.

In my coop I use pine shavings as bedding when available. Some times I have to use wood pellets.
Nest boxes
In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new. Feed bags are a nylon mesh bag.
Frozen poop just peels off in below freezing temperatures and just flakes off in summer when left out in the sun to bake and dry.

I have 66 trips around the sun it is the best method I have stumbled upon.

Make sure the twine is removed from the open end of the bag it can get tangled around your birds.

 

In my nest boxes, I use plain cheapie plastic dishpans with a half-moon cut out for easy entry.
I fill them with shavings. Easy to remove them for cleaning when necessary.

 

My absolute favorite bedding is dried grass clippings. Soft fluffy and perfect in the nest boxes! Unfortunately those are not available year round so at other times I use a mix of pine shavings and hay in the coop and run. Shavings go in the nest boxes in winter.

 

My vote for "Other".

I use shredded mail, no glossy or metallic inks.

 

I use shavings in coop. Shavings &
a bit of straw in nest box shavings on bottom straw on top
cheers Phil

 

Many things will work, it does boil down to personal preference.
Don't over think it, pick one and try it..... if you don't like it, try something else.

I like a flake of straw, shoved in tight and 'bowled' out in center, stays together nicely for cushion.....
.... except for when pullets start laying, they will dig thru anything.

 

This is our first year with chickens. We have been using pine shavings about 6" deep, hoping to do the deep litter method. Nothing is decomposing, though, and I had to swap out half the used shavings for fresh stuff, because it was starting to have an ammonia odor in the coop. I am going to start working in some grass clippings and see if that helps.

 

But this survey is about nest bedding.....not coop bedding.

You wouldn't want to do a composting deep litter in the nests.
It will take more than just shavings and grass clippings to get composting going.
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.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1037998/muddy-run-help-please#post_16017992

 

D'OH! Thanks for the help! How often do you change out the bedding in the nests? Our girls just started laying two weeks ago, and I have pine shavings in the nest boxes, too.