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

[BDutch]

With all of the junk mail now a days, the shredder fills fast and I have a backlog of shreds.

I wouldn’t trust the glossy junk mail or magazines to be poison free. I only shred the 2 newspapers we get weekly. Thats enough to maintain the poop areas in the coops.

I don’t get much junk mail because we have a sticker on our mailbox that says: No unaddressed mail - No door-to-door leaflets.

It’s a free pick up at the municipality offices. Lots of people in my country have these on their mailbox.

 

[gtaus]

I wouldn’t trust the glossy junk mail or magazines to be poison free.

I agree. However, it's pretty easy to contact some of these magazines and ask them if their product is poison free. I did that with the monthly glossy magazines that our local utility companies send out to us. They were very proud to tell me that their magazines are certified 100% safe to compost. All our local newspapers are also compost safe, using soy-based inks.

We (in the USA) have made a lot of progress in the area of making paper products compost safe. Of course, if you have any doubt about a shiny or glossy magazine that you get, just toss it into the recycle bin. Even better, contact the company and ask them to consider making their magazine compost safe if it is not.

 

[gtaus]

I don’t get much junk mail because we have a sticker on our mailbox that says: No unaddressed mail - No door-to-door leaflets.

We don't get very much junk mail anymore. I think the cost of sending junk mail is probably too expensive these days. Whatever little junk mail I do get, usually gets shredded as soon as I bring it into the house.

I remember back in the day when we would get lots and lots of junk mail. Some people complained, but it never bothered me even back then. I had a wood burning barrel out in my garage for heat and junk mail made good fire starter.

I guess I have managed to make good use of junk mail for as long as I can remember.

 

[avjudge]

I have learned that when it comes to shredding, less is more. Shred less paper than the max capacity stated on the shredder and your shredder will last longer. . .

Absolutely, and also be aware that the shredders have rated duty cycles! I didn't read up on that on my previous shredder and it may have been that (rather than just the weight of the cardboard) that caused it to die.

My current 16-sheet shredder, which is pretty heavy duty, has a sticker right on top that says " If used continuously for 30 minutes a cooldown period of 45 minutes is required for reset" — but I try to use it for a lot less than that at one time, and on the equivalent of less than 16 sheets of paper.

 

[gtaus]

Absolutely, and also be aware that the shredders have rated duty cycles!

That is what I was talking about. I think my biggest home shredder has a capacity of about 10 or 12 pages, but the duty cycle was something like 5 minutes run time with cool down of 10 minutes. Yes, you can still shred a lot of paper and cardboard in 5 minutes, but when I shred paper every day, it's maybe like less than a minute at a time.

 

[Bawkbok]

I guess that's why I fried our shredder - too many pieces of paper for far too long - dang thing overheated. That'll teach me to stay on top of my filing / shredding more frequently than 2x a year!

 

[gtaus]

I guess that's why I fried our shredder - too many pieces of paper for far too long - dang thing overheated. That'll teach me to stay on top of my filing / shredding more frequently than 2x a year!

Sorry to hear you fried your shredder. But yeah, most home shredders that I own have relatively short duty cycles with longer cool down periods that are meant to be followed - or the machine will just kill itself.

Besides not overheating and breaking your shredder on a big shredding task, getting rid of the paper as it comes in eliminates the need to store all that paper in the house, garage, or wherever. I end up with about a big bag full of paper shreds for coop bedding about every two weeks. Then I dump it into the coop to use as deep bedding. I have to do that all winter long to keep the coop looking somewhat good. Just tossing new paper shreds over the old paper shreds.

I don't know if you were serious about shredding paper only 2X a year, but if I let my paper products pile up that long, it would probably take up the full space in our extra bedroom. Dear Wife would not stand for that!

FWIW, I only clean out my coop 2X per year. In the spring after everything thaws out, and then again in late fall before the snow drops. All my paper shreds coop bedding gets tossed into the chicken run and composted in place. Paper shreds compost pretty fast and makes an excellent compost material along with grass clippings, leaves, and just about anything else organic from the yard. The composting chickens do most of the work mixing everything together. It's a great composting system!

 

[Bawkbok]

I was serious about filing / shredding only twice a year. I hate that task and it's daunting. I used to process every piece of paper timely as it came in, i.e., paid the bill, out it went, shredded junk mail, envelopes, etc. every day. I don't know how I lost control - I'll blame it on the chickens, I'd rather spend time with them than do any household chores and yeah, it shows. Nuf said there.
I would be concerned the chickens would eat the paper and it would create an impacted or sour crop. Not a problem with this? Then again, paper is derived from wood, which they eat all the time.

 

[gtaus]

I would be concerned the chickens would eat the paper and it would create an impacted or sour crop. Not a problem with this? Then again, paper is derived from wood, which they eat all the time.

I have never had a problem with chickens eating paper shreds. I use paper shreds for coop deep bedding and shredded cardboard for the nest boxes. It's everywhere, and as such, I think they just treat it as litter. If they did eat a bit of paper shreds, I doubt it would harm them.

I just don't worry about it. Like you said, they eat wood. I'll add they even eat rocks. So, I just don't get too excited about a chicken eating something like a few paper shreds.

I have heard some people mention that they tried using paper shreds and they thought the chickens were eating them. So, they were uncomfortable using paper shreds. I imagine that if the chickens have never seen paper shreds, and only a handful of paper shreds get tossed into the coop or chicken run, they might try to eat a few to see if they were any good as a novelty item. I have yet to hear that any chicken will eat so many paper shreds that they get impacted or sour crop.

Having said that, I have chicken feed available 24/7 in a 5-gallon PVC hanging bucket feeder inside the coop. My chickens all seem to know the difference between chicken feed and paper shreds.

I also brood my chicks on paper shreds litter. It's a great, cheap brooding deep bedding litter. I fluff up the paper shreds and/or toss some fresh shreds into the brooder as needed for the 8 weeks they stay in there. Then, the paper shreds get tossed into the chicken run for composting when I move the chicks out. I have never lost a chick due to eating paper shreds in the brooding setup, and that is where you would think would be the highest chance of any potential negative effects. But, even as chicks, they all seem to know their starter feed is good to eat and the paper shreds are just not interesting to them.

Although paper shreds have become my favorite bedding material, I am not opposed to other materials as well. I have also used free wood chips, dried grass, and leaves, for example. All free resources for me. Many years ago, I bought straw for litter, but my free options just work better for me. I also have used sand, because I live on a lake, but that always seemed to get dirty and smelly really fast. I had to clean and replace the sand about once a week. With the paper shreds deep bedding I now use, tossing on fresh paper shreds about twice a month, I only clean out the coop 2X per year.

 

[gtaus]

I was serious about filing / shredding only twice a year. I hate that task and it's daunting. I used to process every piece of paper timely as it came in, i.e., paid the bill, out it went, shredded junk mail, envelopes, etc. every day.

I can only imagine that shredding all that paper 2X per year would really be a big task and nothing to look forward to doing.

I shred my paper almost daily. It typically takes me less than a minute a day. I just want to get rid of the paper and cardboard as fast as I can and put it to use. I don't even think of it as a task. It just takes me a few seconds to feed the daily junk mail or paper into the shredder and then I'm done.

I even cut up and shred all our Amazon and QVC shipping boxes when they arrive. If you don't have a nice cordless power cutter, check out the power cutter at Menards which is on Clearance, or something like it.

..
I used to cut my cardboard up with a heavy-duty manual scissors, but my old hands would cramp up pretty fast. I did not like to process our cardboard boxes. So, I bought a cordless power cutter. It's just so much easier to cut cardboard with the power cutter and now I process almost all our cardboard that we get.

I paid something around $40 for my power cutter a few years ago, but this Menards power cutter is every bit as good for a fraction of the price. I think that they are made all the same Chinese factory, just different colors and maybe a few changes on the shell.

Some people will use a boxcutter to cut their cardboard into strips. That works fine if you are careful and know how not to cut yourself. I only use my boxcutters out in the garage. I keep the power cutters inside the house because they are much safer.

In fact, I don't even know if it is possible to cut yourself with a power cutter.

As with anything, if you find the task too daunting, you probably won't keep at it very long. Using power tools and reducing the task by shredding almost daily was the ticket for me to success in using paper shreds.