Using Shredded Paper for Coop Litter - As Good As Wood Chips?

[Sally PB]

Also, is your issue with just one pullet or all the others, too?

I just saw the one pullet do it. Of the new pullets from this year, she's my favorite. I have no idea why she thinks paper or pine shavings might be food.

 

[gtaus]

Commercial farms have an enormous amount of rules and regulations. I know its forbidden to feed something with meat in it.

I don't understand why it is forbidden to feed your chickens something with meat in it. Chickens are omnivores and would be eating meat if available. Also, when my chickens go into molt, my feed store recommends I buy their commercial feed with meat protein for higher levels of protein. I will give my chickens all our leftover bones from the kitchen and they will pick off all the meat down to the bone.

As for eating cardboard: my chickens do that sometimes. But never in big amounts.

The longer I have my chickens, the less I seem to worry about them eating food that "might" not be good for them. Chickens are not very smart, but they seem smart enough to figure out that some things are food and others are not. I have never seen any of my chickens eating paper shreds, but even if they did, I don't think I would be too concerned. But I felt the same way with pine shavings and wood chips.

I have been careful not to feed my chickens those few items that are known bad for them. And I will throw any moldy food into the pallet compost bin instead of giving it to the chickens. But I watched a YouTube video where a guy was feeding his chickens nothing but commercial waste food from local restaurants and he never spent any time digging through the buckets or garbage cans of food. He just dumped everything out and let the chickens eat what they wanted and not eat those other things that might not be good for them. He certainly did not seem too concerned about an occasional avocado skin or apple pits.

At any rate, the free paper shreds I make at home have been working out for me much better than I had expected.

 

[gtaus]

I just saw the one pullet do it. Of the new pullets from this year, she's my favorite. I have no idea why she thinks paper or pine shavings might be food.

Chickens will be chickens. I try not to think too hard on why they do some things. Especially if it's only one chicken that presents with a problem. Makes it more difficult if she is your favorite. If she is young, maybe she will grow out of that bad habit. Sounds like your other chickens are smart enough not to eat their bedding.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I think it might be forbidden to feed chickens meat because of the possibility of contamination, or if I may say so, rot. Yes, commercial feed may contain meat protein, but it is thoroughly rendered and sterilized, unlike a rib bone someone may have tossed in a kitchen bucket and left festering on the counter for a week along with potato peels and other slops before being tossed out to the chickens.

 

[gtaus]

Yes, commercial feed may contain meat protein, but it is thoroughly rendered and sterilized, unlike a rib bone someone may have tossed in a kitchen bucket and left festering on the counter for a week along with potato peels and other slops before being tossed out to the chickens.

I am sure the meat in commercial feed is processed well. At home, I have a chicken bucket that gets emptied out every day for the chickens. Sometimes there are more scraps and leftovers than other days, but I don't let anything sit out on the counter very long before the chickens get it. Overnight in the chicken bucket is usually the longest it ever sits out on the counter.

Also, depending on what goes into the chicken bucket, the bucket itself gets washed out if there was anything wet inside. My "chicken bucket" is actually just a 5 quart plastic ice cream pail with a lid, no big deal, and easy to wash out.

The ice cream pail (chicken bucket) is just another item I reuse, or rather repurpose, for use with the chickens. When it comes to chicken supplies, free is usually the best first option in my book. I know I am really happy with my paper shreds as bedding because I make them for free at home, and it also saves me money from hauling the paper to the recycle center/landfill. Better for the pocketbook and better for then environment to reuse what I can.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I am sure the meat in commercial feed is processed well. At home, I have a chicken bucket that gets emptied out every day for the chickens. Sometimes there are more scraps and leftovers than other days, but I don't let anything sit out on the counter very long before the chickens get it. Overnight in the chicken bucket is usually the longest it ever sits out on the counter.

Also, depending on what goes into the chicken bucket, the bucket itself gets washed out if there was anything wet inside. My "chicken bucket" is actually just a 5 quart plastic ice cream pail with a lid, no big deal, and easy to wash out.

The ice cream pail (chicken bucket) is just another item I reuse, or rather repurpose, for use with the chickens. When it comes to chicken supplies, free is usually the best first option in my book. I know I am really happy with my paper shreds as bedding because I make them for free at home, and it also saves me money from hauling the paper to the recycle center/landfill. Better for the pocketbook and better for then environment to reuse what I can.

My kitchen scraps go in an ice cream bucket too, lol. Right handy with that plastic bail on it! I line it with a plastic walmart bag, and every night that bag goes into the trash in the well house, secure from marauding varmints like raccoons until trash day. Bones and meat scraps go in another walmart bag in the freezer till trash day. Very little actually goes out to the chickens. Just the occasional lettuce turning brown or mushy tomato. Nothing moldy, ever. Just stuff I know they will clean up in a few minutes. Don't want anything left out to attract said varmints!

 

[gtaus]

Very little actually goes out to the chickens. ... Just stuff I know they will clean up in a few minutes. Don't want anything left out to attract said varmints!

I feed almost everything we can to the chickens, Dear Wife and I don't generate too many kitchen scraps or leftovers, so my chickens finish off everything I give them from the chicken bucket in only a few minutes. There is nothing left over for any varmints.

In the spring and summer, when I go fishing, I'll throw the fish remains from cleaning into the chicken run. My chickens will peck at the fish guts and meat on the bones. They usually don't eat it all, so, in the evening I will either bury the fish remains deep into the chicken run compost or heap a pile of compost on top of the fish remains. It has not attracted any varmints yet. But the worms will find the fish remains and start to eat them. The chickens will then dig down into the compost and eat the worms. It all works out for me. Again, not too many fish at any one time, so it's not like a stinky mess in the chicken run.

 

[Ted Brown]

Dear Wife is a treasure, but

But, it's like talking to a wall and the next day I will find more of the same stuff in our recycle bin. Sometimes I can reduce our recycle bin output by as much as 1/3 to 1/2 of the volume just by shredding up those products she knows I could shred at home. And sometimes she gets mad at me for "dumpster" diving in our recycle bin at home!? Any advice in talking to Dear Wife about this issue? 33+ years together and I cannot get her to change on some stuff....

She has the initiative to put everything in one place so that you can make the final decision.

You publicly out her.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...

 

[Ted Brown]

This thread needs a survey.

 

[gtaus]

She has the initiative to put everything in one place so that you can make the final decision.

You publicly out her.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...

The issue for me is that our local recycle setup now combines all plastic, metal, aluminum, glass, and paper in one bin. You do not have to separate products anymore. So, at home, you just dump all your recyclables into the same trash can. Which is why I likened taking out paper from our home recycle bin to dumpster diving. Our paper at home is mixed in with all the food cans, the glass jars, the aluminum pop cans, the plastic drink containers, etc....

A few years ago, when we had to separate everything before bringing it to the recycle bin, then it was no big deal for me to grab the paper all in one place. But my point now is that everything is combined. Dear Wife knows that I can shred many of the paper products she just dumps into the recycle bin at home. Because there are so many women here on the BYC forum, I was hoping someone would give me a suggestion as to how to persuade her to set those paper items aside for me so I don't have to dumpster dive in our home recycle garbage can!

It did not take me 33 years to figure out that I cannot make Dear Wife do something my way because I think it is a better way. But, sometimes, I have been able to suggest a very small change and find a solution that works out better for both of us. I'm just looking for that win-win in this issue.

Let me add that having a backyard flock has changed the way I think about a lot of things I used to do. We used to rake up all our leaves and either haul them out to the dump or make a big burn pile of leaves. Now, I use all those leaves in the chicken run compost system and make black gold compost for the gardens.

We used to load up our trailer full of wood debris and haul it to the landfill. Now, I chip up most of the small branches for use in the coop and run. The larger branches and tree trunks get used to build new hügelkultur raised beds.

I bag up all our grass clippings and give them to the chickens in the run. What does not get eaten gets mixed into the composting along with the wood chips and leaves.

Instead of throwing our kitchen scraps and leftovers into the household garbage bag, we now use a chicken bucket for most food items and feed that to the chickens. Anything organic that goes bad or moldy, will now be dumped into the pallet compost bin. Very little food every get tossed into our household garbage bag.

And now, this winter, I am excited to be trying free paper shreds in the coop as deep bedding instead of just hauling all of it out to the recycle center. In the spring, when I clean out the coop, all those paper shreds will be going into the chicken run compost system where I expect they will break down into compost much faster than the wood chips I have been using.

My chickens have changed my thinking about the possibilities of reusing and repurposing stuff at home that I just used to throw away and fill up the landfill. From the kitchen chicken bucket to the free paper shreds, my chickens turn all that stuff into compost for the gardens which feeds us more, and better, people food. I would never had thought that at 60+ years old that I would be enjoying a backyard flock for anything more than simply a few fresh eggs. But I have changed in a number of small ways, for the better, I think.