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

[gtaus]

Because of this thread I started adding my paper shreddings to the coops mixed with the flake pine shavings. So far it seems to work pretty much the same. I don't have enough paper to stop with the shavings, but I can supplement & I like being able to get a use out of the paper before it goes into the compost.

Every little bit of paper shreds counts up and saves money. I'm lucky that with my backyard flock that I can shred all the paper I need for the coop just with junk mail, newspapers, and light cardboard food boxes from the kitchen. Of course, one of my main goals is to turn the paper shreds into compost out in the chicken run composting system. So far, the paper shreds compost down faster than my other coop litter such as wood chips.

As I always say, I'm all in for using whatever free organic resources you can get your hands on to use as coop litter. Nothing wrong with mixing whatever you have to save money, be that free wood chips from the county landfill, dried leaves raked up in the fall, grass clippings that you let dry out, or bags of paper shreds from junk mail and other household paper products. It all works.

I'm just really happy with the free paper shreds I can make at home and turn into compost for the gardens. Much better than what we used to do which was to drop the paper products off at the recycle bins - where I bet they just get dumped into a landfill somewhere out of sight and out of mind.

 

[gtaus]

I know this is an old post but I can relate with you on the cardboard recycling! My husband throws away EVERYTHING and I often reduce the trash/recycle load by more than 50% by shredding cardboard or reusing containers.

Yep, no matter how much I have tried, Dear Wife just does not have the magic gene that wants to recycle or reuse most items at home. She would rather bag up everything and drop it off at the recycle bins. I'm still "dumpster diving" at home pulling out paper products from our home recycle bins to shred for the chicken coop litter.

Having said that, by shredding as much paper products as possible, dropping other stuff off at the recycle bins, and trying to find a second life for containers, we have reduced our household garbage from 2-3 bags per week years ago to only 1-2 bags of garbage per month presently. So, we have made lots of progress.

I recently cut down some dead trees and now I want to burn out the stumps. I have asked Dear Wife if she would put all burnable items in a separate container and I would use them for the stump burning. That's not going well, either.

Oh well, just more dumpster diving at home for me.

Dear Wife is very good at using the kitchen sink chicken bucket for table scraps, leftovers, etc... for the chickens. So, we are in sync on that project at least.

 

[Sueby]

Every little bit of paper shreds counts up and saves money. I'm lucky that with my backyard flock that I can shred all the paper I need for the coop just with junk mail, newspapers, and light cardboard food boxes from the kitchen. Of course, one of my main goals is to turn the paper shreds into compost out in the chicken run composting system. So far, the paper shreds compost down faster than my other coop litter such as wood chips.

As I always say, I'm all in for using whatever free organic resources you can get your hands on to use as coop litter. Nothing wrong with mixing whatever you have to save money, be that free wood chips from the county landfill, dried leaves raked up in the fall, grass clippings that you let dry out, or bags of paper shreds from junk mail and other household paper products. It all works.

I'm just really happy with the free paper shreds I can make at home and turn into compost for the gardens. Much better than what we used to do which was to drop the paper products off at the recycle bins - where I bet they just get dumped into a landfill somewhere out of sight and out of mind.

I didn't even think about the paper composting faster than the shaving - and your right it does! That's another great bonus!

I have DH trained now not to shred credit cards or envelopes with window.

 

[gtaus]

I didn't even think about the paper composting faster than the shaving - and your right it does! That's another great bonus!

I find that my paper shreds compost even faster than pine shavings or leaf mold. But I don't shred my leaves before I dump them in the chicken run. I let the chickens do that on their own and nature breaks down the leaves fast enough for me.

I have DH trained now not to shred credit cards or envelopes with window.

It might take a little longer to rip out those plastic windows in the envelopes, but it is a lot faster to take out that plastic before you shred it then it is to attempt to pick out pieces of plastic after it has gone through the shredder.

I think those plastic windows should be made out of biodegradable material so that a person could just shred up the entire envelope. Obviously better for us that use paper shreds as coop litter, but for all those people who send their paper products to the landfill, at least that plastic would degrade over months(?) instead of 100 years!

It could be done. l have read that labels on fruit, like bananas, are all biodegradable so the peel with the sticker, in theory, is all safe to compost.

 

[Sueby]

The little bags from the produce aisle are now compostable here! Of course I don't put them in the compost because they take forever to degrade. I have bits of them in my garden beds from 4 years ago! I didn't think the plastic windows were biodegradable - thats great.

 

[NatJ]

l have read that labels on fruit, like bananas, are all biodegradable so the peel with the sticker, in theory, is all safe to compost.

I pick plenty of stickers out of compost or dirt that has no visible banana peels (or whatever else it used to be attached to.) I don't know that if that means the sticker is not really biodegradable, or if it is biodegradable but just takes a lot longer to break down than the fruit peel it used to be stuck to.

 

[gtaus]

I didn't think the plastic windows were biodegradable - thats great.

As far as I know, those plastic windows in the envelopes are not biodegradable. I was stating that it would be nice if they were biodegradable.

 

[gtaus]

I pick plenty of stickers out of compost or dirt that has no visible banana peels (or whatever else it used to be attached to.) I don't know that if that means the sticker is not really biodgradable, or if it is biodegradable but just takes a lot longer to break down than the fruit peel it used to be stuck to.

I read somewhere that food stickers had to be biodegradable. Interestingly, I have been tossing my fruit peels, stickers and all, into the chicken run for over 2 year and I cannot remember seeing any stickers that I have had to pick out of my compost. Maybe that biodegradable sticker law varies from state to state?

 

[NatJ]

I read somewhere that food stickers had to be biodegradable. Interestingly, I have been tossing my fruit peels, stickers and all, into the chicken run for over 2 year and I cannot remember seeing any stickers that I have had to pick out of my compost. Maybe that biodegradable sticker law varies from state to state?

Yes, it could vary in different states.

Or maybe your composting conditions are different than mine, in some way that matters for the stickers (different bacteria? different temperature or amount of water? different other ingredients in the compost?)

 

[gtaus]

Yes, it could vary in different states.

Or maybe your composting conditinos are different than mine, in some way that matters for the stickers (different bacteria? different temperature or amount of water? different other ingredients in the compost?)

Well, since I turned my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system, I have more compost than I can use. By the time I harvest some of the compost out of the chicken run, it has probably been out there for a year, or longer. My chicken run is uncovered. It gets all the rain and snow Mother Nature throws at us.

Most of my chicken run compost is made up of leaves and grass clippings, with twice annual coop litter clean out. In the past, I mainly used wood chips as coop litter. For the past 2 winters, I have been using paper shreds. The paper shreds compost really fast mixed in with the grass clippings.

I had just assumed all the food stickers were biodegradable because I have never seen any stickers when I sift my compost. Having said that, it's not like I am dumping any great quantity of fruit peelings with stickers on them into the run. It might be like finding a needle in a haystack, or... a small food sticker in a big compost heap.