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

[BigBlueHen53]

@gtaus, you talk about it being 30 miles round trip to the landfill. I don't think we have a landfill anywhere around here. Odd, I know. We have trash pickup for anything we can't burn. And no recycling. Please don't have a heart seizure! We are waaaay out in the boonies here. Very sparsely populated. There is, as I mentioned, a sheltered workshop for recyclables. We take our aluminum cans and newspapers there. I think it is a little more than 30 miles, round trip. But our local Walmart, where we do most of our shopping, is 60 miles round trips, so this is not a hardship. Church is even farther. This is the cost of living where we do, and it's well worth it. No neighbors in eye or ear shot. No crime. We value our solitude. Couple of old hermits, I guess, lol! Nobody here but just us and our chickens!

 

[gtaus]

I don't know anyone who actually buys hardcopy newspapers anymore.

Good point. When I refer to newspaper, I am speaking generally about the type/quality of newsprint that comes in our mail. For us, we get a weekly "Shopper's" newspaper that is basically full of next week's sales ads for the local big box stores. I take out the ads for Menards and our local Fleet store, and the rest gets shredded on the spot. I don't think I have subscribed to a daily local newspaper since the 1980's.

 

[gtaus]

We still get ours delivered, partly bc we always have and partly bc it's habit and relaxing to sit at the table and read a real newspaper. Awkward to use a device and drink out of a coffee cup ...

When I was in High School, back in the 1970's, I had my own black & white darkroom. I would take pictures of local events, develop my own film, and print out the pictures. My mother would write up an article and everything would get sent into the local newspaper. I guess you could say that I was a professional photographer at the age of 16 as many of my pictures were paid for and published - even if in a local newspaper.

Those were the days when you really had to know what to do in a darkroom to get pictures developed and sent out to the newspapers. It was a skill that took years of experience to hone in. Nowadays, you can just point and click a camera or cell phone and get a better photo quality than I could ever have hoped for.

Times have changed. Although I enjoyed the days of sitting and reading a physical copy of a newspaper, today I either watch the news on TV, look it up on the internet, or just ask Alexa for our latest news. I guess I am OK with those changes as I remember how many old newspapers we threw out at the local dump - not even a recycle center back in those days.

What newsprint we do get today, at least I am able to shred it up and use it with the chickens and then to make compost for the garden. Having said that, newspaper is the hardest paper to shred in my home shredder. I did some Google searches last night on the problems with shredding newspaper in home shredders and they all complain about the same issues I have. Since the newspaper paper is so thin, it comes out all stringy and will wrap around the cutting spindles of the shredder. If you do not pay attention to the shredder and clean out the newspaper, the newspaper shreds can block up your shredder and overheat your motor. So you have to be careful if you shred newspaper in a typical home paper shredder.

 

[avjudge]

. . . If someone know more about that issue, I would love to hear if I can shred the tape on Amazon boxes as well. Thanks.

I haven't heard or read anything about this, but most of their tape appears to be paper which should be fine - BUT it has reinforcing fibers throughout that sure look synthetic to me. So I pull off & toss what I can before shredding, which isn't all my any means but usually a majority. I'd also love to hear for sure if those fibers will compost or not.

Of course before shredding I try to pull off every bit of plastic tape on boxes (from other shippers) fastened with that. I didn't used to when I laid down cardboard [edit to clarify: as large sheets, not shredded] to smother weeds in the former (once and future???) vegetable garden, and this year when I put poultry netting around it and used it as a run I had to walk it every day picking up bits of old plastic tape that the chickens had surfaced.

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus, you talk about it being 30 miles round trip to the landfill. I don't think we have a landfill anywhere around here. Odd, I know. We have trash pickup for anything we can't burn. And no recycling. Please don't have a heart seizure! We are waaaay out in the boonies here. Very sparsely populated. There is, as I mentioned, a sheltered workshop for recyclables. We take our aluminum cans and newspapers there. I think it is a little more than 30 miles, round trip. But our local Walmart, where we do most of our shopping, is 60 miles round trips, so this is not a hardship. Church is even farther. This is the cost of living where we do, and it's well worth it. No neighbors in eye or ear shot. No crime. We value our solitude. Couple of old hermits, I guess, lol! Nobody here but just us and our chickens!

Yeah, not everybody lives in or near town where you even have an option to recycle materials. I don't even have the option of trash pickup of any kind. When I make a garbage run, I load up the trunk of the car or fill up my small trailer and head off to town. Because we do have a recycle bin 5 miles down the road, we get rid of most of our bulk plastic, metal and glass there. Most of our kitchen scraps and leftovers get fed to the chickens. I shred almost all our paper products at home. Between shredding paper at home, feeding the chickens our kitchen scraps and leftovers, and using the recycle bin down the road, I only have to actually go to the recycle/landfill center in town about every 4-6 weeks.

Dear Wife and I now average about one 13 gallon sized bag of throw away household garbage per week. Years ago, that would have been maybe 4-5 bags of garbage per week. So, I think we have made some improvements and have reduced our garbage footprint. It is just amazing when I think of how much stuff (grass clippings, leaves, wood chips, kitchen scraps, leftovers, paper shreds, etc...) I process through the chickens instead of bagging up that material and sending it to the dump.

 

[gtaus]

I haven't heard or read anything about this, but most of their tape appears to be paper which should be fine - BUT it has reinforcing fibers throughout that sure look synthetic to me. So I pull off & toss what I can before shredding, which isn't all my any means but usually a majority. I'd also love to hear for sure if those fibers will compost or not.

My concern, too. I don't know about those tape reinforcing fibers so I still pull off the tape. It would be better/easier if I could just leave the tape on the cardboard if the fibers are compostable.

Of course before shredding I try to pull off every bit of plastic tape on boxes (from other shippers) fastened with that. I didn't used to when I laid down cardboard to smother weeds in the former (once and future???) vegetable garden, and this year when I put poultry netting around it and used it as a run I had to walk it every day picking up bits of old plastic tape that the chickens had surfaced.

It is easier to remove the plastic windows and such before you shred the junk mail and envelopes. I don't want the chickens to possibly eat any plastic, and I don't have any desire to be bending over to remove plastic from my garden compost.

Speaking of which, when I was buying compost in bags from the big box stores, I would always have to sift it out before I put it into the garden. I was (not too) surprised to find bits of plastic, metal, and glass in some of that compost. Yikes! Don't want that in the garden. I believe I get a much better product, and garbage free compost, from my chicken run compost system.

 

[Unlikely_Creatures]

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 doing this for over 5 years. Works great in the coop (I have about 40 birds), and composts beautifully. Corrugated cardboard mats down a lot less than paper or non-corrugated cardboard (because of the built-in air pockets), so I try to always do a mix with at least 50% corrugated shreds. I have a 16 sheet shredder that works beautifully for all of it.

 

[Kmaria187]

I've been mixing straw and paper shredding in my coop all year its been great eggs are clean in the nest boxes and easy to clean out and add to the compost pile

 

[BDutch]

Shredding paper with plastic and throwing it in the garden after the chickens used it as toilet paper is not a good idea IMHO.
Small particle’s of plastics harm insects and who knows what else.

Same with the print ink. Is all print ink without poison? I wouldn’t risk spoiling my garden with it.

I use the cardboard as it is as the base layer under the roosts. On top I rather use other recycled material like dried grasses and herbs from my lawn and autumn leaves*. If the cardboard get dirty it goes into the waste container (for energy). Paper goes into the paper-recycle container.

*More specific: most of the time I use a hay/ wood shaving mix in the nest boxes. I rake and fill up the sand on the coop floor. Put old hay and wood shavings from the nest boxes on top of the cardboard under the roosts. And add a little fresh or dried garden stuf twice a week to cover up the poop.
When its time for a monthly cleaning this mix of hay, shavings, poop and garden stuf goes into the compost build.

 

[ElimAcres]

I use shredded paper for all my young chick pens when it's available. Works well for me and saves money.