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

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

When I lived in Massachusetts I used to throw the windows open for an hour or so if it got above freezing in January.

I'd turn off the heat and bundle the kids into their coats in the interest of getting some fresh air into a stale house.

I'm in Rhode Island, and my wife did that yesterday in our bedroom. I think the high temp for the day was 31 degrees.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'm in Rhode Island, and my wife did that yesterday in our bedroom. I think the high temp for the day was 31 degrees.

Sometimes the house just needs it.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Sometimes the house just needs it.

Especially if someone went crazy with the Febreeze in there!

The other commercial that drives me nuts is the one that's like "if you flush your toilet, gross stuff comes out. You should spray chemicals on them."

It's like, yes...OR you could CLOSE THE DAMN LID on the toilet before you flush like your momma taught you and NOT buy chemicals!

 

[gtaus]

When I lived in Massachusetts I used to throw the windows open for an hour or so if it got above freezing in January.

I'd turn off the heat and bundle the kids into their coats in the interest of getting some fresh air into a stale house.

Oh, I understand that. But here we are expecting -23 tonight, which is not uncommon for our winters. I don't know how much it would cost to throw open a window, or two, for an hour to get fresh air, but all I can think about is all the money in heat escaping the house. Heck, I even tell the kids to shut the small people garage door so the heat in our unheated but attached garage does not all go outside.

FWIW, for those not familiar with the great north, my unheated but attached garage is about 20F warmer than the outside winter temps. Overnight, the outside temps will get down to -23F tonight, but my garage will stay about +20F, so more than a 40 degree benefit just from being attached to the house. I know some people might be thinking there is probably not much difference between freezing at +20F and freezing at -23F, but it makes a big difference in trying to start your car.

 

[3KillerBs]

Oh, I understand that. But here we are expecting -23 tonight, which is not uncommon for our winters. I don't know how much it would cost to throw open a window, or two, for an hour to get fresh air, but all I can think about is all the money in heat escaping the house. Heck, I even tell the kids to shut the small people garage door so the heat in our unheated but attached garage does not all go outside.

FWIW, for those not familiar with the great north, my unheated but attached garage is about 20F warmer than the outside winter temps. Overnight, the outside temps will get down to -23F tonight, but my garage will stay about +20F, so more than a 40 degree benefit just from being attached to the house. I know some people might be thinking there is probably not much difference between freezing at +20F and freezing at -23F, but it makes a big difference in trying to start your car.

I always did wait for a day that it was above freezing to do it.

 

[gtaus]

UPDATE: 7 FEB 2022

Someone (@Iluveggers?) asked for a few pictures of my shredded paper in the chicken coop. I took a few quick pics for you, but it was like -4F outside and the wind was blowing, so these shots are not setup to look pretty. Just a few quick snapshots before I froze myself outside. But I think you will get an idea of how the shredded paper is working for me.

This first picture is just after me dumping a large shopping bag from Menards full of paper shreds into a pile in the middle of the coop. The chickens will scratch that out level in only minutes. It's hard to see the pile of shred, but it's there. Would like to point out that when I built my coop I designed it to hold deep bedding. You can see the linoleum going up the walls 12 inches high. As you can see, I am at about the 6 inch level right now, which is good because we still have about half the winter to go. The last 2 winters I used wood chips, and by spring time, there is about 12 inches of deep bedding accumulated from the winter.

This next picture you can see in the background the lower roosting bar which is 24 inches off the floor. None of the chickens roost on this bar, but they do use it to jump up to a higher bar at 48 inches off the floor. That higher roosting bar is not in this picture, but it is up and towards the back wall.

Please notice that there is a pop door in the back left corner of this picture. You will notice it is closed. My chickens will not go outside in the winter time as long as there is white snow on the ground. So the pop door will stay shut until spring when the snow melts. If we get some nice warmer days with snow still on the ground, I will dump a layer of leaves on top of the snow in the run and the chickens will walk on the leaves. I have a few bags of leaves saved for early spring time to jump start the outdoor season again.

In the foreground, you can see my 5 gallon PVC hanging feeder and the top of a metal 3 gallon waterer right next to it. The metal waterer sits on top of a metal base heater, which has kept the water ice free down to -35F this winter. Both the waterer and feeder are inside the coop and available 24/7. I made my coop to have almost 8 square feet per bird because I know from others that the chickens will stay most of the winter inside the coop. I just open the back doors to the coop and can access all the food and water for them without going into the coop. Makes it easy for me.

Also notice that on the right bottom of the picture, there is a rubber pan turned upside down and above it there are some smaller PVC feeders for grit and calcium. They have that available to them 24/7, but I only have to refill those small feeders maybe once every 4 months. The rubber pan is turned upside down in this picture, but I will use it normally if I have some kitchen scraps that I want to feed the chickens. I can just dump my kitchen scraps pail into the rubber pan.

This thread is about shredded paper in the coop, but I thought it might be helpful to have a little idea of my setup. For those living in the southern states, the biggest issue I have with my chickens in the winter time is that I cannot clean out their poo until things thaw out in the spring. My strategy is to dump a bag or two of paper shreds on top of the frozen chicken poo throughout the winter every few weeks. So far, there is absolutely no smell in the coop and if you walked in the coop on top of the paper shreds, you would consider it very clean in there. Actually, the only poo build up is directly under the nighttime roosting bar which is in the top part of the last picture. Frozen poo is hard as cement. I just throw a few layer of paper shreds on top of that area every few weeks.

The real test is yet to come this spring when the temps start to rise and the poo starts to melt into the paper shreds. If I have got the mix right, the poo should slowly thaw out and be absorbed into the paper shreds and it should not smell bad. If anything starts to smell bad, I will just have to take out the paper shreds from underneath the roosting bar a bit early. In any case, I am really happy with using paper shreds this winter as of this mid-winter update.

For any still following this thread, let me know if you have any questions. The paper shreds are working out much better for me than I had hoped. Just wanted to update the thread with a mid-winter brief and some pics.

 

[3KillerBs]

UPDATE: 7 FEB 2022

Someone (@Iluveggers?) asked for a few pictures of my shredded paper in the chicken coop. I took a few quick pics for you, but it was like -4F outside and the wind was blowing, so these shots are not setup to look pretty. Just a few quick snapshots before I froze myself outside. But I think you will get an idea of how the shredded paper is working for me.

This first picture is just after me dumping a large shopping bag from Menards full of paper shreds into a pile in the middle of the coop. The chickens will scratch that out level in only minutes. It's hard to see the pile of shred, but it's there. Would like to point out that when I built my coop I designed it to hold deep bedding. You can see the linoleum going up the walls 12 inches high. As you can see, I am at about the 6 inch level right now, which is good because we still have about half the winter to go. The last 2 winters I used wood chips, and by spring time, there is about 12 inches of deep bedding accumulated from the winter.

View attachment 2986637

This next picture you can see in the background the lower roosting bar which is 24 inches off the floor. None of the chickens roost on this bar, but they do use it to jump up to a higher bar at 48 inches off the floor. That higher roosting bar is not in this picture, but it is up and towards the back wall.

Please notice that there is a pop door in the back left corner of this picture. You will notice it is closed. My chickens will not go outside in the winter time as long as there is white snow on the ground. So the pop door will stay shut until spring when the snow melts. If we get some nice warmer days with snow still on the ground, I will dump a layer of leaves on top of the snow in the run and the chickens will walk on the leaves. I have a few bags of leaves saved for early spring time to jump start the outdoor season again.

In the foreground, you can see my 5 gallon PVC hanging feeder and the top of a metal 3 gallon waterer right next to it. The metal waterer sits on top of a metal base heater, which has kept the water ice free down to -35F this winter. Both the waterer and feeder are inside the coop and available 24/7. I made my coop to have almost 8 square feet per bird because I know from others that the chickens will stay most of the winter inside the coop. I just open the back doors to the coop and can access all the food and water for them without going into the coop. Makes it easy for me.

Also notice that on the right bottom of the picture, there is a rubber pan turned upside down and above it there are some smaller PVC feeders for grit and calcium. They have that available to them 24/7, but I only have to refill those small feeders maybe once every 4 months. The rubber pan is turned upside down in this picture, but I will use it normally if I have some kitchen scraps that I want to feed the chickens. I can just dump my kitchen scraps pail into the rubber pan.

View attachment 2986640

This thread is about shredded paper in the coop, but I thought it might be helpful to have a little idea of my setup. For those living in the southern states, the biggest issue I have with my chickens in the winter time is that I cannot clean out their poo until things thaw out in the spring. My strategy is to dump a bag or two of paper shreds on top of the frozen chicken poo throughout the winter every few weeks. So far, there is absolutely no smell in the coop and if you walked in the coop on top of the paper shreds, you would consider it very clean in there. Actually, the only poo build up is directly under the nighttime roosting bar which is in the top part of the last picture. Frozen poo is hard as cement. I just throw a few layer of paper shreds on top of that area every few weeks.

The real test is yet to come this spring when the temps start to rise and the poo starts to melt into the paper shreds. If I have got the mix right, the poo should slowly thaw out and be absorbed into the paper shreds and it should not smell bad. If anything starts to smell bad, I will just have to take out the paper shreds from underneath the roosting bar a bit early. In any case, I am really happy with using paper shreds this winter as of this mid-winter update.

For any still following this thread, let me know if you have any questions. The paper shreds are working out much better for me than I had hoped. Just wanted to update the thread with a mid-winter brief and some pics.

Come spring when you do that big cleanout you should turn the experience into article.

 

[Iluveggers]

@gtaus Thank you for tagging me! Your post was extremely helpful and the pictures helped me understand how the whole thing works! I appreciate the time you took to do that, especially in the cold weather! Will be looking forward to your spring report to see how the whole thing turned out during thaw!

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Come spring when you do that big cleanout you should turn the experience into article.

If there’s any Backyard Chickeners in the area, you could make it an “interactive experience”.

BYOBF (bring your own barn fork).

 

[3KillerBs]

If there’s any Backyard Chickeners in the area, you could make it an “interactive experience”.

BYOBF (bring your own barn fork).

Hmm, come next fall I'll have a 16'x16' coop to clear.

BYOBF and BYOGC(gorilla cart).