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

[gtaus]

I think I posted earlier that I use shredded paper but I also use leaves and some pine shavings for the nest boxes. I also have a dirt floor so it is a different situation. What I can say is that I can no longer identify the paper in all the other stuff on the coop floor!

I'm all for using whatever free resources a person has. I, too, have used leaves and pine shavings in the coop. I have 2 wood chippers at home, so I chip up lots of small wood branches up to about 1.5 inches round that fall on the lawn with my smaller electric chipper, and I have a larger gas chipper that chips up to 3 inch round branches.

I would rather chip up my branches than burn them, but chipping wood at home takes more time than you might imagine. If/when either of my wood chippers dies, I will not replace it. IMHO, they cost too much for the time and effort it takes to make wood chips. I am factoring into that decision the fact that I have found a free resource of wood chips at our local county landfill. In about 20 minutes, I can have a trailer full of wood chips for free, whereas it would take me hours and hours with my home wood chippers. Not to mention the maintenance on the wood chippers with blade sharpening, replacing blades, and engine tune-ups.

If you don't have access to free wood chips, then a chipper may be more of a value to you. Certainly, I have to clean up the yard anyway. Instead of having burn piles of wood, I now chip up most of the fallen debris. The bigger branches I save for using in hügelkultur garden beds. I try to find use of everything before considering burning it.

Last year I trimmed up one of my pine trees and ran the branches through my wood chipper. Boy did those fresh wood chips with pine needles smell good and freshened up the coop for a number of weeks. That was nice.

I have an elevated chicken coop, so a dirt floor was not an option. I think there are many advantages to having a dirt floor and I imagine you could have deep litter, composting in the coop, with your setup. My deep bedding does not compost until I dump it outside in the chicken run. As I said, the wood chips were composting fine, but I imagine my paper shreds will break down much faster.

 

[gtaus]

A great experiment.

You should turn it into an article to help people learn about this cost-saving, eco-friendly option.

I'll consider it, but I'm pretty busy with everything this time of year. I certainly learned a lot this past winter and was pleasantly surprised on how well paper shreds worked for me. I know it could save some people lots of money. And, it also reduces the amount of trash paper being sent to the landfills. Better to use paper shreds with the chickens, compost it, and then use it in the garden to grow people food.

 

[RoyalChick]

I'm all for using whatever free resources a person has. I, too, have used leaves and pine shavings in the coop. I have 2 wood chippers at home, so I chip up lots of small wood branches up to about 1.5 inches round that fall on the lawn with my smaller electric chipper, and I have a larger gas chipper that chips up to 3 inch round branches.

I would rather chip up my branches than burn them, but chipping wood at home takes more time than you might imagine. If/when either of my wood chippers dies, I will not replace it. IMHO, they cost too much for the time and effort it takes to make wood chips. I am factoring into that decision the fact that I have found a free resource of wood chips at our local county landfill. In about 20 minutes, I can have a trailer full of wood chips for free, whereas it would take me hours and hours with my home wood chippers. Not to mention the maintenance on the wood chippers with blade sharpening, replacing blades, and engine tune-ups.

If you don't have access to free wood chips, then a chipper may be more of a value to you. Certainly, I have to clean up the yard anyway. Instead of having burn piles of wood, I now chip up most of the fallen debris. The bigger branches I save for using in hügelkultur garden beds. I try to find use of everything before considering burning it.

Last year I trimmed up one of my pine trees and ran the branches through my wood chipper. Boy did those fresh wood chips with pine needles smell good and freshened up the coop for a number of weeks. That was nice.

I have an elevated chicken coop, so a dirt floor was not an option. I think there are many advantages to having a dirt floor and I imagine you could have deep litter, composting in the coop, with your setup. My deep bedding does not compost until I dump it outside in the chicken run. As I said, the wood chips were composting fine, but I imagine my paper shreds will break down much faster.

I am with you on that. I too have access to free wood chips but I use it for garden mulch and I think I will use it for paths around the chicken coop.
I am not sure what you would call what happens inside the coop - it isn't really composting because it is too dry - but with all the shredding the chickens do it seems to rot down somehow.
I am on a slope so the chickens work the material out of the coop and through a couple of covered runs just by scratching. By the time it is at the bottom of the hill it is effectively garden ready. Gotta love that!

 

[gtaus]

I too have access to free wood chips but I use it for garden mulch and I think I will use it for paths around the chicken coop.

The free wood chips would also work great as deep bedding in the coop. No need to buy bedding (straw, pine shavings, wood pellets, etc...) if you have access to free wood chips. We use our wood chips for pathways and as mulch on planters as well.

I am not sure what you would call what happens inside the coop - it isn't really composting because it is too dry - but with all the shredding the chickens do it seems to rot down somehow.

I call it deep bedding, because it is not moist and composting. A deep liter system is moist and is actively composting. The chickens will scratch and peck the bedding, shredding it down to smaller pieces, but my bedding does not start composting until I dump it outside in the chicken run.

I am on a slope so the chickens work the material out of the coop and through a couple of covered runs just by scratching. By the time it is at the bottom of the hill it is effectively garden ready. Gotta love that!

That's a great setup and using the slope of your land to your advantage.

 

[RoyalChick]

The free wood chips would also work great as deep bedding in the coop. No need to buy bedding (straw, pine shavings, wood pellets, etc...) if you have access to free wood chips. We use our wood chips for pathways and as mulch on planters as well.



I call it deep bedding, because it is not moist and composting. A deep liter system is moist and is actively composting. The chickens will scratch and peck the bedding, shredding it down to smaller pieces, but my bedding does not start composting until I dump it outside in the chicken run.



That's a great setup and using the slope of your land to your advantage.

Yup. It works well and is free! I love the leaves because the chickens love hunting for bugs in the pile. Hours of entertainment with each lawn bag I dump in.

 

[gtaus]

Timely post as I was about to ask about shredded paper as litter/bedding.
In the open paper might clump to a nasty paste that is hard to remove (think paper mache)
I might have to look out for a good shredder!

After a complete winter of using only paper shreds in the coop as deep bedding, I would have no problem suggesting to others to consider it as well. It worked even better than I had hoped.

None of my shredded paper turned into a mass of paper mache. Inside the coop, everything stays dry, except for where the chickens poo, but that poo seems to fall down into the paper shreds and disappear much like it does with wood chips.

As far as a shredder, I am currently using 2 shredders I bought at our local charity thrift store for less than $5 each. My biggest one is an 8 sheet shredder and I can shred most everything paper around the house. I actually bought a $100 shredder from Amazon, but it did not work any better than my $5 thrift store shredder, so I sent the new one back to Amazon. Free paper, a $5 shredder, and I had fresh bedding for the coop all winter. Not a bad investment.

 

[gtaus]

I love the leaves because the chickens love hunting for bugs in the pile. Hours of entertainment with each lawn bag I dump in.

Yes, I have lots of free leaves I can dump into the coop as well. The chickens love to scratch and peck through the leaves looking for bugs. The only disadvantage I had with using leaves is that the chickens will tear up the leaves very fine and everything was more dusty when I cleaned out the coop in the spring. Paper shreds are less dusty, but they also don't have bugs so the chickens don't have that entertainment value.

The previous winter I used both wood chips and dry leaves in the coop. Of course, in our Minnesota winters, I don't think there are many bugs living in the leaves when it gets below freezing. But it did make for good, free, deep bedding.

I also dump lots of leaves and grass clippings in the chicken run. It is fun to see them spend hours scratching and pecking through the leaves and grass. I don't know what they eat, but they seem to be happy eating stuff I can't see. Must be small bugs. I know they will dig down into the compost and find even more bugs and worms.

One of the advantages I see with paper shreds is that it should compost faster than wood chips, and be a better environment for worms to live in. I see paper shreds being used in worm bins all the time, but don't know if anybody uses wood chips for a worm bin.

 

[3KillerBs]

I just remove the plastic windows from my junk mail, and then shred it. It takes a little more time, but I do it almost every day so it's never a big chore for me.

With our normal paper usage, for just Dear Wife and myself, I can shred about a kitchen sized garbage bag full of shreds every 2 weeks. I'm surprised to hear that it takes you months. If all I did was shred our newspapers, I'd have more than enough for my coop.

I managed to get DH to not shred envelopes, but I don't think he'd be willing to take the extra step of pulling the bits of plastic out of envelopes.

We only have a light shredder for disposing of sensitive material and really don't generate a great deal of non-food-related paper anyway. I can't remember if we've had a newspaper subscription in over 3 decades of marriage. Maybe the local weekly in the one place we've lived where the local weekly actually had a decent calendar of events?

I'll keep using it casually, but I don't see enough benefit for my household to justify the acquisition of a heavier-duty shredder, finding a place to store it and to accumulate the unshredded stuff, and to adjusting our routine to fit in the extra chore.

DH was dubious about the paper at all -- worrying that it would fly around the yard and look bad. I had to agree to use it only inside the open air coop with the Deep Litter and not anywhere it would be possible for it to get caught up by the wind.

I have an elevated chicken coop, so a dirt floor was not an option. I think there are many advantages to having a dirt floor and I imagine you could have deep litter, composting in the coop, with your setup

My Open Air coop has a dirt floor and Deep Litter. The Brooder has a dirt floor, but I keep that dry so it's not a composting environment. Therefore I am not to use paper in it lest it blow around the yard when I clean it out. Likewise for the Little Monitor Coop, which is elevated with a floor.

I call it deep bedding, because it is not moist and composting. A deep liter system is moist and is actively composting.

Same. My article is here for anyone who wants to learn about the system.

The only disadvantage I had with using leaves is that the chickens will tear up the leaves very fine and everything was more dusty when I cleaned out the coop in the spring. Paper shreds are less dusty, but they also don't have bugs so the chickens don't have that entertainment value.

Dust has never troubled me in re: cleaning out any of the coops. I wear a mask anyway because I don't want to breathe dried-out chicken poop.

 

[gtaus]

I can't remember if we've had a newspaper subscription in over 3 decades of marriage.

Same here, no newspaper subscription in over 30 years. But, we do get a weekly advertiser from the local businesses in the mail and that is the newspaper I shred.

I'll keep using it casually, but I don't see enough benefit for my household to justify the acquisition of a heavier-duty shredder, finding a place to store it and to accumulate the unshredded stuff, and to adjusting our routine to fit in the extra chore.

I was already shredding paper, mail, etc... that I did not want to go into the garbage. When I decided to use paper shreds in the chicken coop, I just increased the amount of paper products I would shred. I don't accumulate any paper for a massive shredding task. I shred our paper as we get it and/or use up the product (cereal boxes, etc...). In my case, we have less paper accumulating in the recycle bins because I shred it up almost daily.

DH was dubious about the paper at all -- worrying that it would fly around the yard and look bad. I had to agree to use it only inside the open air coop with the Deep Litter and not anywhere it would be possible for it to get caught up by the wind.

I don't normally dump any paper shreds into the chicken run on top of the compost, because the shreds will fly around if the wind picks up. I did that once, and had to mow the yard to vac up all the paper shreds. However, if you put paper shreds out in the chicken run, like I do, you can either dig a hole in the compost and cover the shreds up, or just dump the shreds in a pile and top it off with fresh grass clippings, leaves, etc...

FYI, I have a chicken run compost system of wood chips, leaves, grass clippings, and just about anything else organic that will make compost. My litter in the chicken run might be 18 inches deep in the fall, when I dump all the leaves in the run, or about 12 inches now, after winter, and lots of stuff has composted down. My chickens love to scratch and peck in the run litter all day, looking for bugs and worms to eat. All that organic material in the chicken run makes entertainment for the chickens and they are always eating bugs and worms. In the summertime, my commercial feed consumption goes down by half, or more, because the chickens are outside foraging in the chicken run litter.

I'm thinking the chicken run litter bugs and worms must be really good for the chickens because their egg yolks turn a darker orange when they are outside foraging in the compost.

Dust has never troubled me in re: cleaning out any of the coops. I wear a mask anyway because I don't want to breathe dried-out chicken poop.

Masks are great. When I get done cleaning out the coop (twice a year for me), I also hit the shower to wash off all the chicken dust from my hair and arms. Dear Wife does not want that stuff on her furniture. I found that paper shreds are less dusty than leaves, but still, everything gets full of chicken dust and you need to protect yourself.

 

[Hip Hillbilly Acres]

Well, we have all those paper recycling bins here, too. But I still have to load them up in the car/truck and haul them off to the recycle bins. Instead of doing that, I now just shred the paper as it comes in and gets used up, and then dump a kitchen garbage bag full of paper shreds into the coop about every 2 weeks. Saves me the time and effort from taking that to the recycle center, plus I use it for the chickens and then compost it down for the gardens. I figure out that I come out way ahead that way.



I have never seen any of my chickens eating the paper shreds. Does it happen? I don't know. But they seem to show little interest in shreds I have been using as litter. So, I'm not very concerned about them eating paper shreds.



We all live in different places and have different setups for our chickens. I had no expectations that paper shreds would work for me, but they are, so far, and that is why I posted this thread.

As I have said in other threads, I am a big fan of wood chips and have both a big gas chipper and a smaller electric chipper that I use for yard cleanup. The wood chips get thrown into the chicken coop and/or chicken run and recycled that way. We used to load up all that wood debris and haul it off to the landfill, or maybe pile it up and set it on fire. But since I got my chickens, I figure I am better off trying to use that material at home first.

But my chippers get stored in the shed for the winter, so I will not be making any wood chips at home until next spring. Also, the landfill where I get free wood chips outside is frozen solid until spring. So that is not an option, either. But I can shred paper year round and thought this year I would try paper shreds instead of wood chips in the coop as my deep litter. If the paper shreds end up not working, I still have a large pile of wood chips here at home for use in the coop. I also have bags full of dry leaves ready to use in the coop, if needed.

There are a few YouTube videos of guys using paper shreds as coop litter, but not very many videos. I am not saying that paper shreds is the best litter, either, but rather that it might be just good enough for some people and worth considering.

I will admit that I don't much care for the colorful look of all those paper shreds as litter in the coop as compared to the more natural look of wood chips, but the chickens don't care what it looks like. When I clean out the coop and dump the paper shreds into the chicken run compost, I cover them with grass clippings. The shreds compost in almost no time outside with a bit of rain to help the process.

I would encourage you to try a small pile of paper shreds and see if it works for you or not. Again, I think my mix of also using light cardboard in the shreds is maybe why I don't see any matting of my paper shred litter.

I am simply glad you stepped up and shared your experience. Thank you.