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

[3KillerBs]

You don't need direct contact with the dirt for the dry deep litter method.

The usual terminology is that a dry, non-composting system is Deep Bedding rather than Deep Litter.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

I only wish I had a tractor!

I got lucky a friend was moving and gave me a good deal on a John Deere 1025R with loader and backhoe. First snow of the season coming this week, I am ready!

 

[gtaus]

The usual terminology is that a dry, non-composting system is Deep Bedding rather than Deep Litter.

I understand that there is no specific definition of deep litter verses deep bedding. I have a couple of chicken raising books and they interchange the terminology enough to confuse you within their own book. I am not trying to make things worse.

I have an enclosed elevated coop with linoleum coving on the floor. I pile in my wood chips, or this year, my paper shreds, but I keep everything dry and do not encourage composting in the coop itself. I just keep on layering in fresh wood chips/paper shreds throughout the winter and only clean out the coop in the spring after the snow melts. The chicken poo automagically disappears into the bedding for the most part. To encourage the chickens to turn over the bedding, I'll throw chicken scratch on areas that I think might need more attention. For the most part, there is no composting going on until I dump the bedding outside in the chicken run.

Part of this thread is my experiment in using paper shreds this winter instead of wood chips. My expectation is that the paper shreds will turn into compost outside in the chicken run much faster than the wood chips I have used in previous years. I had great success with wood chips, and now I am just trying to see if I can get similar results using free paper shreds I make at home. So far, I am really happy with the paper shreds in that my coop appears to be staying clean and there is no smell building up in the coop. I throw about a 13 gallon kitchen sized trash bag of paper shreds every 2 weeks as a fresh layer on top of the old.

One of the main reasons I got chickens was to make better compost for my gardens, and eggs are just a bonus. I am looking forward to seeing if my Deep Bedding of paper shreds turns into compost a lot faster than wood chips when I dump the shreds out in the chicken run.

FWIW, I turned my chicken run into what I call my "Chicken run composting system." By that, I mean that my chickens ate all the grass in their chicken run down to the bare dirt, and rather than have mud all the time, I decided to dump a base layer of wood chips on the bare dirt and then started layering in grass clipping, leaves, and just about anything else organic that I can find. My litter in the chicken run is currently about 12 inches deep of that material and it is making beautiful black gold compost. Much better than I was buying at the big box stores. After a year of adding organic material to the chicken run, I only have to dig down a few inches and then I have black compost ready to use any time I want.

I highly recommend that type of chicken run composting system to anyone who gardens. The only drawback is that some people may not want the look of all that organic material composting out in their backyard. Yes, I would prefer a nice green grass chicken run for my birds, but that only lasted a few months before everything was down to bare dirt. A nice layer of wood chips looks great in the run, but I decided to go all in on the composting idea and just built it up all year long with grass clippings and then leaves. It works for me.

 

[gtaus]

I got lucky a friend was moving and gave me a good deal on a John Deere 1025R with loader and backhoe. First snow of the season coming this week, I am ready!

I guess I need better friends! I was seriously looking at a same sized tractor this past spring, but even on sale it was $15K - without the backhoe. I only have 10 chickens, so I had a hard time convincing myself I needed that a tractor for the little "farm" work I do. I was even working up a story for Dear Wife that the tractor was going to be used for snow plowing the driveway in the winter, but I couldn't even justify that to myself. So, I ended up passing on the tractor and will get by for another year, or so, with my riding mowers and snow blowers.

If I got a good deal on a used tractor from a friend, then maybe that would change things for me. But it would have to be a very good deal for me to finally make that jump.

Good for you, though, it looks like you got a great rig there.

 

[Kriscam]

For the past 2 years, I have been using wood chips as the base of my dry deep litter in my chicken coop. The wood chips work great and I highly recommend them for anyone considering the deep litter method. This year, however, I am trying a twist on the idea. After I did my fall cleaning of the coop, removing all my wood chips for a fresh base to carry me over the winter, I decided to use my shredded paper I had saved in some big bags. So far, I have so say, I am very pleased with my results.

First of all, I try to minimize garbage we haul to the landfill. I came across a used 12 sheet paper shredder at our local thrift store for $5.00. A new model of that brand costs about $80. I had smaller shredders at home, about 5-8 sheets, but thought that a 12 sheet shredder for $5.00 was a good deal and would allow me to shred more and heavier types of paper. Previously, I have been shredding most of our paper at home and throwing it in compost piles with greens. But now that I have chickens, I was wondering if I could use shredded paper in the coop as litter.

I find that normal office paper and most junk mail shreds up fine. But you have to be sure to remove any plastic windows and staples. I don't want my chickens eating that stuff, or eventually adding plastic or staples mixed into my garden as compost. I also shred all our light cardboard boxes, like cereal boxes, and find that mixing that light cardboard along with normal office paper makes a better litter mix. I can also shred normal box cardboard with my 12 sheet shredder, but I have to cut the heavy cardboard into strips and feed it down the "credit card" slot on the shredder. But my 12 sheet shredder eats up the normal cardboard boxes we get from Amazon shipments.

I also shred our old newspapers, but I find the quality of newspapers to be very low compared to the other papers. It comes out all stringy and wraps around the shredder rollers. It seems to mat down more easily than the other types of shredded paper. I would not recommend using only shredded newspaper, but it works OK in the mix with all the other types of shredded paper.

I have a normal sized 13 gallon kitchen waste basket that I fill up with shredded paper maybe every 2 weeks. This is just the right amount for me to dump on top of the older shredded paper in the coop. I just dump it in a pile and let the chickens spread it out. Seems to work good for me. I have sometimes dumped the pile underneath their roost, as that is mainly where all the chicken poo accumulates, but I don't know if that is necessary. My goal is to always let the chickens do most of the work. They seem to like it, and I don't mind less work to do for myself. Sometimes I'll throw some chicken scratch into an area that I want the chickens to turn over the litter. As they scratch and peck for the chicken scratch, they turn over and mix up the shredded paper. The heavier, soiled paper works it way down to the bottom leaving the fresher paper on top.

So far, for about 2 months, I have not been able to detect any smell in the coop. So, from that aspect, I think the shredded paper is working as good as my wood chips I used the past 2 years. We will see how well it holds up as our winter is just getting started. I probably won't really know if this was a success or not until next spring, when the poo thaws out....

Well, I wanted to post this thread as something to consider as coop litter for those who do not have access to free wood chips. One thing I know is that come spring, when I clean out the shredded paper and dump it into my chicken run composting system, is that the shredded paper will turn into compost much, much, faster than my wood chips. What a better way to get rid of all that junk mail and old bills than to shred them up, let the chickens poo on them, and then bury them in the garden to grow some good people food?

Would love to hear any comments, pro or con, on using shredded paper with your chickens. Also, would really like to hear if there is a better way to shred old newspapers. I really don't like the way the newspapers can muck up the rollers on my shredder. Thanks.

I've been wondering how to reduce the dust in my coop and run. Does the shredded paper cut down on dust? I have straw in my covered run and pine shavings in my coop. I also read an article about pine shavings being toxic to chickens and other critters. Not as bad as cedar shavings, but still not great. If that is indeed true, paper seems a better alternative as well.

 

[gtaus]

I've been wondering how to reduce the dust in my coop and run. Does the shredded paper cut down on dust? I have straw in my covered run and pine shavings in my coop. I also read an article about pine shavings being toxic to chickens and other critters. Not as bad as cedar shavings, but still not great. If that is indeed true, paper seems a better alternative as well.

I am using the paper shreds in my coop. So far, I would say there is no dust that I have noticed. I have about 3 inches of paper shreds in the coop right now, but by spring time, it will be maybe 12 inches deep. Back years ago, when I used straw, that would always be dusty. Dusty when you put fresh straw down, and dusty when you clean it up and take it out.

When I started using wood chips, I could not detect any dust. There was no dust when I put the fresh wood chips in the coop, but when I cleaned it out last spring, I worked up plenty of dust. Although I have dry deep litter, there must be some amount of composting going on down in the bottom layers because it gets broken down really fine. I had to use a dust mask when I cleaned out the wood chips. But just sitting on the floor, there was no dust.

I once wrote a hatchery about the cedar shavings being toxic to chicks, and they said there was no real evidence about it. The study that is typically referenced was not done on chickens. Cedar smells great, but I suppose if you had it in an enclosed area, it might get overwhelming. I don't know if the oil on cedar shavings would harm anything. I do not use cedar shavings because they are so expensive where i live. Pine shavings are less expensive, but I can get all the free wood chips I could ever use at our county landfill and now this winter I am using free paper shreds.

I like the smell of fresh wood chips, and even pine shavings, but the shredded paper has no smell at all. Last year I chipped up some green pine branches in my home chipper and threw them in the coop. Boy did it smell great for about 3-4 weeks.

As to the run, after my chickens ate all the grass in their chicken run down to bare dirt, I dumped a good layer of wood chips in the run. That took care of any dust issues that might have come up. I also dump my spent/soiled paper shreds in my chicken run, but I cover them with grass clippings or leaves to prevent the paper from blowing all over the yard. Also, I really like the more natural look of grass, leaves, or wood chips in the run but not so much looking at multi colored paper shreds.

I turned my chicken run into a chicken run composting system by adding layers of browns (leaves, wood chips, paper shreds) and greens (mainly grass clippings) and anything else organic that I can throw in the run. I have had my chicken run litter as deep as 18 inches, but at the moment it is 12 inches deep and that will compact and compost down over the winter to about 8 inches deep in the spring. I make more high quality compost then I can use. That's a good problem to have.

 

[Kriscam]

I've read that chickens have sensitive respiratory systems and all that dust can't be good for them. I'm inspired to give your shredded paper method a try. Thanks for your posts!

 

[3KillerBs]

In re: dust,

While some bedding is indeed dustier than other bedding -- and it can differ from bag to bag/bale to bale of the same bedding from the same source -- a good deal of the dust in the chicken coop is generated by the chickens themselves, being feather dander and skin flakes.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I am only on page 3 but I wanted to jump in here with my experience. My husband works at a bank and periodically brings home huge bags of clean cross-shredded paper (no cellophane, no staples). We have used this exclusively as bedding in our walk-in 8x10 coop for 11 years with no issues. No cardboard. It does NOT mat! It does not stink or breed mites or lice. It lasts a very long time because it wicks moisture out of the poop and then itself dries out. When we do clean the coop, which is rarely, we use a horse "apple" rake to scoop up the paper. After it's removed, there remains dry, actually dehydrated poop on the floor to be swept up with a broom.

We also use the paper in the nesting boxes, and as @gtaus said (I think it was him), the paper can occasionally stick to a freshly laid egg. When I gather the eggs, if one has paper on it, I just pick it off immediately, it's usually no big deal. however, I find if the eggs gave been in the nest an hour or longer, the paper will have dried and fallen iff. Also, if an egg has broken, I don't think the hens get much of it, as the paper absorbs most of it. I keep an empty feed bag in the coop as a trash can, and I just scoop up the mess, paper and all, and dump it in the bag. I usually don't even get my hand wet!

This product is clean and easy to transport, even in a little car. It's free and readily available. Like @gtaus and others have said, it's compostable and good for the planet. My chickens tasted it but quickly lost interest, so it's safe for them. If it's available, I don't see why anyone would use anything else!

Cheers!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I've been wondering how to reduce the dust in my coop and run. Does the shredded paper cut down on dust? I have straw in my covered run and pine shavings in my coop. I also read an article about pine shavings being toxic to chickens and other critters. Not as bad as cedar shavings, but still not great. If that is indeed true, paper seems a better alternative as well.

Great question! In our experience, dust is not an issue with shredded paper. It quickly works its way to the floor of the coop, where it remains buried until cleaning day, to be swept up. A mask is a good idea!