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

[gtaus]

That sounds extremely unsanitary. Buying bread without packaging that random people could have handled and chucking the naked bread into a bag with other stuff that random people had handled?

Well, I survived. More to the point, it's really only the baker that touches the bread. You, as the customer, just tell the baker that you want a loaf of bread behind the counter, and he hands it to you. The bread is not out front where everyone, anyone, can touch it.

When I worked in a restaurant, none of the cooks wore gloves, but we did practice good hand hygiene. I think the baker's shop is much like that. I never considered it unsanitary.

 

[gtaus]

I don't know how much of a health risk the unwrapped bread really is, but just having customers worry about it is enough reason for every company in the US to put their bread in a platsic bag.

Well, we live in a different consumer market place. Instead of the seller fulling your order like we did in the European markets, in the USA, we have to serve ourselves and even scan our products at the checkout. The plastic wrapper is needed to slap on the bar code for the price scanner.

Also, most of the French and Italian bread that we bought while living in Europe had really hard, firm crusts. So they did not need packaging to prevent it from breaking on your way home. Also, I don't ever remember buying sliced bread when we lived in Europe. So their bread did not need plastic bags to keep everything together.

But, in keeping with the theme of this thread, maybe we could package our bread in paper bags with a bar code for scanning rather than in plastic bags. At least i could shred the paper bread bags along with my other paper products.

 

[gtaus]

I make my own bread.

When I grew up, my grandmother would bake bread a couple times a week, at least. Best bread ever, or, at least that is how I remember it. I bought a nice Dutch Oven to bake bread in the oven. That came out really good, but Dear Wife did not like the thick, hard crust (her chompers are not as good as mine). I also have a bread machine, and that makes bread with a thinner crust, but Dear Wife and I usually don't eat it fast enough to prevent it from getting stale. At least I can feed the old bread to the chickens along with other kitchen scraps. Since COVID hit, I have not been able to find some of the flour I used in my bread machine, so we are back to buying bread at the store. FWIW, the store bought bread costs us less and lasts longer. But we do prefer the taste of our homemade breads.

I really, really wanted to use shredded paper in my chicken coop/run. I have one girl who ate a bunch of it. I saw her do it. I think she has pica eating disorder.

I never had any problems with my chickens eating paper shreds. In any case, I don't think eating a few paper shreds is going to hurt the chicken. If she is filling her crop with paper shreds, then that must be one crazy old bird!

 

[gtaus]

I work in a grocery store. I know how nasty people are.

Customers, or employees? Either way, not good.

 

[gtaus]

My grocery store offers fresh baked bread & baguettes in paper bags, but if I plan ahead I buy it from a local bread shop that also uses paper. I love baking my own, but have a bunch of other projects I’ve been concentrating my time on. Consumers drive packaging/products carried, so i buy what I can support. Much fresher, no bad ingredients.

Yeah, we don't have a local bakery, so we get most of our groceries from WalMart. All the big box stores use plastic bags on their bread. Would be nice if they started to use paper instead, but I suppose people like to look at the bread before they buy it. Of course, I'd buy the bread in paper bags only because I could shred it up and throw it in the coop. Wonder if the coop would smell like bread?

 

[gtaus]

it's common to buy bread with no packaging from a bakery. you can just throw it in your bag or put it in a paper bag if you want. if you were worried you could just make sure you bring a clean cotton bag to bring it home in. I personally hate how much plastic there is on everything, and I've seen grocery in the USA, it's nuts you guys wrap nearly everything.

Having lived overseas a number of times, both as a college student and later while I was in the Navy, I too think we use too much plastic wrap in the USA when it's not needed.

May I suggest you update your member icon with your geographic location? It's always great to see people from non-USA locations on the BYC forums!

 

[gtaus]

When I've put wood chips from the chicken coop directly on the ground, nothing grows there for a long time even though the chickens scratch in it and scatter it. It seems to burn the ground. I don't know the chemistry that explains that.

Wood chips make great mulch because they last a relatively long time and nothing really grows in the wood chips mulch itself. Well, it will, after a year or so, but the chips block out most weeds from poking through. I don't think it burns the ground, but it blocks out the sun and prevents the weeds from growing.

when I put shredded paper from the coop on the ground, it breaks down quickly into a usable compost. So IMO, the paper is better.

That is one of the benefits I expect to see from my shreds this year. I dumped out the paper shreds into the chicken run this spring when I cleaned my coop after a long winter.
I have not yet checked that area, but I suspect those paper shreds might already be turned into compost. Currently, those coop paper shreds are covered with about 6 inches of grass clippings.

Of course, I live in an isolated setting and I don't mind the appearance. I did build a containment box out of pallets recently which helps. It's open at the top and the chickens still hop in and scratch for bugs, but it only consists of chicken poop and paper. It's breaking down very quickly and I'm very happy with it.

Sounds like a good system. I dump all my grass clippings and leaves in the chicken run, so they all get mixed together with the paper shreds. The grass clippings and leaves really bulk up the amount of compost I make. It's really a win-win for me because as I clean up the yard and toss all the grass clippings and leaves into the chicken run, I get a nicer looking lawn and the chickens get more organic material to scratch and peck through all day long. Also, I don't have to haul any organic material to the landfill, which saves me both time and money in that respect.

I wonder, if I just used paper shreds and chicken poo in my compost mix, would the shreds turn into a paper Mache glob after a good rain? Mixing it with grass clippings, leaves, and wood chips works well for me, where I live, but maybe it's not needed if your climate allows just paper and chicken poo.

Anyways, I'll be using paper shreds again this coming winter. It just worked out too well for me last year. IMHO, paper shreds as coop bedding/litter have some benefits over wood chips that really worked out well for me. I still have a big pile of free wood chips at my house, but I'm just using the wood chips as mulch for now. Wood chips mulch is still much better looking that paper shreds mulch.

 

[Tinypahomestead]

Well, papper is made out of wood pulp, so it's already partially broken down when you get it.

 

[NatJ]

I also have a bread machine, and that makes bread with a thinner crust, but Dear Wife and I usually don't eat it fast enough to prevent it from getting stale.

You can freeze bread.

If you make toaster-sized slices before you freeze it, you can just pop them in the toaster to thaw/toast (takes a bit longer for frozen bread than for room-temperature bread, but it still works fairly well.)

I've even had one family member that preferred to make sandwiches with frozen homemade bread when they were packing a lunch (it had to do with what temperature the sandwiches were when lunchtime arrived.)

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

When I've put wood chips from the chicken coop directly on the ground, nothing grows there for a long time even though the chickens scratch in it and scatter it. It seems to burn the ground. I don't know the chemistry that explains that.

A couple additional thoughts on top of what gtaus mentioned:

- Are the chickens actively scratching in the wood chips? Their scratching and eating will keep anything from eating.

- if the compost is high in chicken poop, too much nitrogen can “burn” young seedlings.

- as they decompose, wood chips can “lock up” nitrogen for a while to aid their decomposition.