Using leaves for deep litter bedding?

[PunkinPeep]

I know i have read that some people here use dried fall leaves for bedding in their coops.

I would like to hear more.

Does this increase the presence of mites?

Does it keep the coop dry as well as pine shavings?

Is a mixture better?

Please educate me.

We have SO many leaves all over our yard. I hate to not put them to good use, and it seems they would compost better with the chicken poop than pine shavings would.

 

[rooster0209]

Most definately use them! They will scratch and crunch them down, pick out the "bugs" and have a big ole fun time. The coop should stay dry as long as its water tight. I tried pine shavings and prefer wheat straw. Straw breaks down alot faster and can be tilled in my garden earlier.

I used lawn clippings after the last mow of the season last summer. It sure cut down on the straw that I needed. The chickens thought they had a new playground with all the scratching they did.

I dont know about mites. I have never had them. Almost always use wheat straw or grass clippings.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I'm using them right now! I've got a couple of small coops so I can't go real deep. Every other month shovel it out and add new. Toss the old in the composter.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Awesome.

Rooster, how long do you go between completely emptying of the litter and starting over?

Coyote, how broken down are the leaves when you clean it out every other month?

 

[bexukaren]

Hi,
I used them in the "sunroom" of my coop about 8 inches deep and they went into overdrive and heated up so hot the chickens would not cross them. I had to shovel them out 8 days after I put them in.
Good luck, maybe not so deep all at once like I did. Karen

 

[PunkinPeep]

Quote:
Wow!

 

[Kung Foo Chicken]

We use them. We also throw them into the chipper too. They seem to be much more absorbent when broken up some.
Water oak leaves.

 

[slightlyscrambled]

I bagged up all the leaves from the yard last fall and along with one bale of wheat straw I had about 6-8" of litter in my coop. I did not clean it all winter, maybe a little spot clean around the waterer once a week but that was all. The bedding was still pretty dry and not to stinky. I have 13 chickens in this coop and they did not go out ALL winter. I will definitly be using leaves again next fall!

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Chickens wipe them out in a few weeks where they were all gound up like going through a chipper. I throw in about a half bag of them. We don't really have an trees but I got bags upon bags of them from someone on Freecycle.

 

[JacksFlock]

Is it ok to use pine shavings from my local lumber yard? They have some hemlock shavings mixed in.

Does anyone use shavings and straw mixed?