TSC Pelletized Bedding - Anyone?

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Well it seems I’ll have to experiment with this stuff. Find out what works best. I usually only completely clean the floor of the coop once a year. Maybe with this stuff I can more easily target clean it. Scoop out the poop without removing all the shavings.

Yeah that's why I like it. You can just scoop out the pieces of poop like cat litter and leave the rest. Add more of the pine sawdust as needed. Do a full change on occasion.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

If you wet the pellets, won’t that make too much moisture in the coop? I have a bag of those in my garage that we never used.

It really isn't wet, more like slightly damp, and it dries fairly quick if it's not freezing temps. In freezing temps, I expand what I need in a bucket and set it inside by a heater vent overnight and it usually does enough evaporating to not clump up. But you could probably skip this step and be okay.

 

[SituationalLefty]

I've used pelleted bedding in horse stalls. We wet the pellets by opening the bed like an old individual kids' cereal box and inserting the hose. You can do this in a wheelbarrow as well. This turns the pellets into something like non-dusty sawdust. FWIW, here are some observations:

pros:
less dusty than sawdust
easier to sift poop out of bedding than shavings
absorbent of urine
lasts longer in the stall than shavings
takes up less storage than shavings
less waste of unused bedding during (stall) cleaning (with shavings, a lot of clean material gets scooped out along with the soiled material)

cons:
harder to water/expand in the winter if you have freezing temps
I'm not sure how you would create a deep bed of this
I am not sure how chickens would sift/peck at this bedding if you're doing deep bedding/litter

We have not found that the pellets created extra moisture, esp in the summer during humid times. They seem to become more absorbent when watered - strange but true.

Lisa

 

[RoyalChick]

I use them dry - the wet in the poop gets dried up and turns the pellets to sawdust.
I don't wet them because I want them to absorb the wetness in the poop. In the video posted the lady does the same in her 'wet spots' where the horses pee a lot - she just scatters them dry.
I use them for chickens and cats.
Great product and not expensive at all at TSC.

 

[muddstopper]

My personal opinion is its a waste of money. I use the fine wood chips sold in bales, Its cheaper than the pellets. Throw in a bale and then throw in a handfull of feed and the chickens will do the spreading for you. When it gets nasty, just throw in another bale of chips. In 2 or 3 months, just take a yard rake and rake in a pile and shovel into 5 gal buckets and spread in your garden or dump in your compost pile. My coop is completly covered and it stays dry inside, might be different if your coop gets rained in or has water washing thru.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

We use it in the shed coop with a metal roof that isn't watertight. It does a great job soaking up the drips.
We put down a lot more than you have there though, and it lasts a very long time. (3-6 months). Once the layer is thick enough, it's easy to walk on, but a shallow layer is hazardous as the pellets roll underfoot.

When I worked at a horse farm that used it, they insisted on a shallow layer that was misted... but I think that kinda wastes its chief benefit which is absorption capability. Pulling the moisture out of the poo keeps the smell down.

Do be careful to keep it away from plants you want to live. I've used it to make paths no weeds will come up through. Either the pine oil or the absorption of nitrogen...

Hmmm. Is it safe to compost??

 

[SourRoses]

Hmmm. Is it safe to compost??

Yes... it just needs to be diluted / a certain percentage of the pile. It's just concentrated pine.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Yes... it just needs to be diluted / a certain percentage of the pile. It's just concentrated pine.

Good to know. I just started to use it on poop boards.

 

[sdm111]

Wife uses it in cat litter box. Does a really good job. First hand experience not what I heard

 

[avjudge]

Wife uses it in cat litter box. Does a really good job. First hand experience not what I heard

I also use it in some of my cat boxes - the ones on the first floor that are easy to empty. (I use a clumping litter for the boxes farther into the house.) I was going to mention it in my earlier post but decided not to complicate a post that was already getting longish!

Unlike the aviary where I wet it to break it down to sawdust right from the start, when used in the cats' litter box or in the dung-heap corner of the llama stall we just put in the pellets and let the urine break them down to sawdust.

While the chicken droppings are larger and moister than the pigeons', they don't have nearly the moisture of a mammal's urine output so it's the comparison of those two uses that make me think if I used it with the chickens I'd wet it first.

(But I actually use shredded cardboard & paper for the chickens.)