The best deal on pine shavings???

[EliteTempleton]

You could also check a local mills, they might THANK you for taking those shavings off their hands.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

There is a place in Richmond, a mill, that sometimes posts on craigslist saying you can come get huge garbage bags full for free. I'm happy with the product, price, and convenience at Concord Feed.

 

[angels4]

I use wood pellets (yup the same kind burned in pellet stoves) super absorbant, made of pine, and are great for a deep litter method. I can get 80lbs for $14.00.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Wow, that is very interesting. I don't think I've heard of that before. Is a 40lb bag of pellets about the same size as a 50 lb bag of feed? I'm guessing the weight is about the same per size.

 

[angels4]

There is a similar product out there at www.guardianhorsebedding.com. I asked at my local feed store if they carried it but they didn't. They did have two type of wood pellets that they said some people used so I tried it. The pellets are sold in 40lb bags for $7.00 and are similar to a feed bag but made of plastic. I've just started using in and I LOVE it. All I have to do is sccop out the soiled pellets (which break down and become soft) and add some more pellets to top it off Kinda like kitty litter.

 

[cyanne]

I have been wondering about this issue as well. My new coop is 12ft by 20 ft and I know it will take a lot of shavings to fill. Right now I just put down 3 bales of hay (not ideal, I know).

Shavings are $6.50 - $8.50 per bale here, but back when I used to board my horse at a training barn I saw that they get their shavings delivered loose by the truckload. That barn owner was a cheapskate, so I know it had to be pretty inexpensive. They would just drive in and dump them in this area by the barn and they would cover the pile up with a big tarp.

Now, the question is, where on earth do you find someone who sells wood shavings by the truckload? I would ask the old barn owner, but we definitely did not part on the best of terms...long, sad story and not worth going into.

 

[cyanne]

Oh, and I also wanted to see if anyone else could share experiences about using alternative bedding like the pellets that are made of sawdust or whatever. I thought that stuff might work, but then I worried that my goofy chickens would just try to eat it.

 

[angels4]

Quote:
Check out www.guardianhorsebedding.com I though my chickens would eat the pellets, but haven't had an issue.

 

[chilling in muscadine]

I recently had some tree limbs trimmed from a huge tree and the limbs growing over my house were dead and had to come down. After talking to the tree trimmer guy I found out he sold pine wood shavings by the truckload. Now I got mine for free. I will be telling the story on that on a thread I'm going to start tonight but all in all it sounded like a good deal. I couldn't be happier. Check around your area for someone doing tree work, you may be surprised!!!!

 

[Maryallison77]

I buy mine at Wal-mart