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

[gtaus]

I originally planned to have the pop door in our coop elevated because I like/want to do deep litter.

That was my idea, too. The other benefit to having the pop door elevated is that none of the coop litter gets pushed out the door and/or blocks the door from closing.

 

[Alderen]

That was my idea, too. The other benefit to having the pop door elevated is that none of the coop litter gets pushed out the door and/or blocks the door from closing.

Exactly. I just didn't have the heart to tell hubby he cut it wrong. He'd been working so hard. If it gets to be too big of a problem, I guess we could add a piece to the bottom and enlarge the door on the top.

 

[gtaus]

I am looking into expanding the material I shred at home for use as chicken coop litter and later compost for my food gardens. I have been shredding all our paper, newspapers, light food box cardboard, and most junk mail for over 2 years now.

Recently, I bought one of those power cutters at Harbor Freight and am now shredding almost all our heavy cardboard packing boxes. I just cut them into 2-3-inch-wide strips, and they go down the center of the shredder without any problems.

One of the few items I am tossing into the recycle bin has been all those color magazines I get in the mail. Like the magazines I get monthly from AAA...

I have always been told not to compost color magazines because the ink is toxic. Well, I think that may have changed for some magazines. I looked at the inside cover pages with the Contents, and found these logos...

It appears to me that these magazines are now OK to shred for use as chicken coop litter and compost for the food gardens later. But I'm not 100% sure. Can anyone help me with the Enviro/Tech*Ink logo and let me know if that means the ink is safe for composting? I am thinking that the ink is soy-based, or algae-based, and is not toxic.

It would be nice to start shredding up some more of these magazines at home instead of dumping them off into the recycle bins. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[gtaus]

Quick picture of some heavy cardboard boxes I shredded up for use as coop litter. The cardboard shreds are almost as strong as wood chips, but a lot lighter. I think they will make an excellent addition to all the paper shreds in the coop. They should mix is fine.

I used my new power cutter to cut up a couple packing boxes. The cardboard shreds filled up a large plastic shopping bag from Menards. Very nice to use all that heavy cardboard in the coop rather than dumping it off at the recycle bin.

I don't like using paper shreds in the nest boxes because the paper can stick to the fresh eggs. But I'm thinking the heavy cardboard shreds might work as good as my pine shavings. Next time I get a packing box to shred, I'm going to save those cardboard sheds and put them in the nest boxes as a test.

 

[Sally PB]

Next time I get a packing box to shred, I'm going to save those cardboard sheds and put them in the nest boxes as a test.

Interested in hearing about this!

 

[gtaus]

I watched some YouTube videos last night on using cardboard for chickens. One lady said she switched over to using bagged cardboard bedding which was sold at their local farm store as horse bedding. It was less expensive than straw, which was what she had been using. She preferred using the cardboard bedding for lots of the reasons I have also mentioned. Compared to straw, the cardboard was more absorbent and no dust. I would say that applies to any paper shreds in general, not just cardboard bedding.

Not that it makes a big difference for coop litter, but her store-bought bagged cardboard horse bedding was in pretty big chunks compared to the cardboard shreds I get from my paper shredder.

Another video had a guy that was shredding cardboard boxes in his home paper shredder, like I do, and he was dumping the cardboard shreds into the next boxes as well as the coop floor for litter. So, I think the heavier cardboard shreds might work out OK in the nest boxes and not stick to the eggs like the paper shreds I normally make.

I watched one video and the guy was recommending getting a paper shredder rated for 24 sheets. He spent about $150.00, 3 years ago, for his shredder. He was able to shred up cardboard strips a full 8 inches wide with no problem in his shredder. However, he never thought to mention that you can use a less heavy duty paper shredder, like my 12 sheet shredder, if you just cut the cardboard into thinner 2-3 inch strips and feed them down the middle of the machine that is designated for credit cards. That works just fine on my $4.00 Thrift Store used paper shredder. So, you don't have to spend a lot of money on a heavy duty shredder to get good cardboard shreds. You just have to cut thinner strips to begin with.

There was one comment that I found I agreed with 100%. The guy was using a utility razor knife to cut his cardboard. But he mentioned that using the utility knife was a pretty dangerous method of cutting the cardboard and if you slipped, you could cut your fingers pretty bad. He said he was going to get one of those power cutters from Harbor Freight - like I just purchased recently - because they were so much safer, and they had great reviews.

The normal price for the HF power cutter is $40.00, but it goes on sale for $25.00 every few months. Like I said, I got my HF power cutter on sale, I had additional HF cash rewards checks that I needed to use, and I also got a free gift the weekend I bought my power cutter. So, I really lucked into a great deal.

These power cutters are made by many companies, and as far as I can tell, they appear to be the same Chinese model with just different colors or company branding on them. Even the replaceable blades seem to be interchangeable between the brands.

Even if you ended up paying full retail price of $40.00 for this HF power cutter, or other brand, it would still be a lot cheaper for you to cut up your cardboard into 2-3 inch wide strips to feed into your existing, or less expensive, paper shredder than buying a new 24 sheet paper shredder for $190.00.

 

[gtaus]

Interested in hearing about this!

I will update the thread when I have some results.

 

[gtaus]

I did my semi-annual coop cleanout this afternoon. Took out all the old paper shreds litter and dumped it into the chicken run for composting. I had about 12 cubic feet of old paper shreds I took out. I had 7 large Menards plastic checkout bags full of fresh shreds, but I could have used a few more. I'll have to shred up some paper and cardboard this week. I only had enough shreds saved up for about 2 inches of coop litter on the floor. I would like to double that before the snow falls.

Anyways, I noted how little dust there was with cleaning out the paper shreds. Better than using wood chips, and certainly much better than dried leaves. It has been years since I used straw, but that was dusty even when clean.

Good timing for the clean out because I was able to dump all the old paper shreds into the chicken run and immediately cover them up with bins full of leaves. That should prevent the paper shreds from blowing out into the yard.

Well, I only clean out the coop twice a year, but it's nice that I got it done before any heavy winter snows this year. Now I am ready to sit back and hunker down for a long winter full of snow.

 

[gtaus]

Interested in hearing about this!

I filled the nest boxes with fresh heavy cardboard shreds this afternoon after I cleaned out the chicken coop for the winter. The cardboard shreds are much harder than the pine shavings I normally use. Almost as heavy as wood chips. I don't expect any cardboard shreds will be sticking to the fresh eggs, but I'll give it a few days for results.

 

[gtaus]

Interested in hearing about this [using heavy cardboard sheds in the nest boxes]!

OK, I have decided that using heavy cardboard sheds in the nest boxes works about the same as pine shavings in the nest box in terms of how much stuff sticks to freshy laid eggs and how easy/difficult it is to brush off the cardboard.

Most of my eggs the last few days are coming out clean with the heavy cardboard in the nest boxes. Occasionally, a cardboard shred might be attached to an eggshell, but it is easily wiped off. The heavy cardboard shreds are not glued on the shell like normal paper shreds can get. Paper shreds get glued to the shell and are a pain to wash off. That's why I don't use paper shreds in the nest boxes.

When I use fresh pine shavings, I also get an occasional pine shaving attached to the shell, but it too is easily brushed off as well.

As far as eggs coming out clean from the nest boxes, it's a wash between using pine shavings and heavy cardboard shreds.

That is good to know, because I can make heavy cardboard shreds for free, but I have to buy my pine shavings. Advantage in cost to the free heavy cardboard shreds.

Pine shavings have a nice smell to them, whereas heavy cardboard has no smell. Pine shavings are also softer in the nests than heavy cardboard shreds. I don't know if that makes a difference to you or the chickens, if so, advantage to the pine shavings in those cases.

In terms of composting, I think the heavy cardboard shreds might break down just a little faster than pine shavings because cardboard falls apart when it gets wet in the compost pile. But pine shavings break down super-fast as well in the compost bin. Given that I let my old coop litter sit in the chicken run for months before I harvest it, both cardboard shreds and pine shavings will have been long composted by then.