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

[gtaus]

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

Well, I partially agree. Wood chips, used as mulch, will lock up nitrogen where the chips meet the soil, but it does not lock up nitrogen for the roots of the plants already growing. That is why wood chips make excellent top mulch. If you till wood chips into your soil, then you might have a problem. Having said that, I have watched some YouTube videos where people were tilling in wood chips because their soil was so bad and just needed needed more organic matter before anything would grow well.

I live on a lake, and my soil was mostly sand. I tilled in grass clippings and leaves into the garden for a number of years before I started to see some signs of life in the soil - worms and bugs - and the soil turned from a light brown to a dark rich black. I never had wood chips back then, but I think I till them in the fall, along with grass clippings and leaves, and not worry too much come spring planting.

Of course, now with my chicken run compost, I harvest the finished compost out of the chicken run and can mix, till, cultivate that directly into my garden beds. Like others have commented, I think the paper shreds will decompose much faster than the wood chips and I should see that turned into finished compost much faster.

 

[gtaus]

I might try again with the paper shreds. Maybe bury them a bit in the bedding that's out in the run.

I was wondering if your chicken was eating other kinds of bedding/litter too? FWIW, I have food and water available 24/7 for my birds, so I have never seen them show any interest in eating paper shreds or wood chips. I can't imagine that paper shreds would taste very good, so I don't know why your chicken was eating them. Maybe just something new to her and thought she would give it a taste?

 

[gtaus]

Whether someone wants to put their bread in a bag with other things, or whether someone wants to use a dedicated clean bag of their own for the bread, is their decision. But if they are not getting sick from it, then whatever they are doing obviously DOES work for them.

Lots of good points. I'm an RN, and pretty much a germaphobe, but I can't get all worked up about the way I used to buy bread at our local corner bakeries when I lived in Europe. It's not like my grocery bag was dirty, and usually, I would just walk down to the bakery, buy the bread, and carry it in hand back home for supper.

 

[gtaus]

This is something I was considering. I have noted from using flat news paper initially in the brooder (wrong, I know) that it does get sticky. However, the mix of varying types must be helpful as litter. We receive a lot of items in the post that were easier for the sender to mail to us rather than just throw away themselves for some reason, and I have been seeking ways to use it responsibly. Glad you posted!

I would not recommend using flat newspaper in the brooder or coop. Not only would I suspect it might get sticky if wet, but it also might get slippery. I shred up all kinds of paper products at home. The worst paper to shred is newspaper. If I try to shred too much newspaper at one time, it will wrap around the cutting tines and jam up my shredders. Newspaper is just very low-quality paper. But, mixed with office paper, junk mail, food grade cardboard, etc... it works just fine and adds fluffy bulk to the bedding.

If you decide to try paper shreds for your chickens, please post an update on how well it worked, or not, for you. Using paper shreds just worked out much better for me than I had hoped.

 

[3KillerBs]

Is that a result of using paper bags, or is it that the bread contains little to no preservatives back then?

It's the result of not having a good, airtight storage container around it -- like a plastic bag. You can bake a loaf of homemade bread from nothing but water, flour, salt, and yeast and put it in a plastic bag and have it keep many days. Not as long as Wonder Bread, but more than the 2-3 day maximum life of paper bag bread.

Well, yes, I too look at the expiration dates on the bread I buy. That's because I don't know when the bread was made.

I'm not talking about the bread but about the rest of the groceries that the bread is coming in contact with.

If you came into my store, picked some rolls out of the individual roll bin, and just put them into your cart without their protective bag they'd be rattling around with your produce, your chicken salad, your canned tomatoes, your boxes of macaroni, the package of pork chops that you didn't notice was leaking until you got to the cash register, etc. and all the dust, dirt, bug droppings, etc. that came from the warehouse and the public.

Some things are certainly over-packaged, but there's really no good substitute for plastic as food wrapping for things that you want to stay fresh and sanitary.

 

[gtaus]

I recognize that plastic has its good points. I do think it's used more than necessary, but I don't want to see all of it go away.

I agree.

If I had some way of reusing or repurpose the plastic that we get at home, maybe I would be less interested in reducing the amount of things we get with plastic. I think paper could be used instead of plastic in some cases. At least I can shred the paper products and use the shreds for the chickens. I have yet to find a way to reuse or repurpose most of the plastic stuff we get at home. Most of it ends up in a recycle bin. That's about the best I can do with garbage plastic.

Almost all my paper products are now shredded at home, used for coop deep bedding, and then composted along with grass clippings, leaves, and wood chips to make compost. The chicken run compost feeds my gardens, the gardens feed my family. Chickens are great for composting, and my backyard flock has me thinking about more green ways of living and using products. I will choose paper over plastic bags in most cases because I can shred the paper bags. Unfortunately, most stores don't have paper bags as an option. I will also choose to buy food products in cardboard boxes over plastic packaging, if everything else is the same.

 

[gtaus]

It's the result of not having a good, airtight storage container around it -- like a plastic bag. You can bake a loaf of homemade bread from nothing but water, flour, salt, and yeast and put it in a plastic bag and have it keep many days. Not as long as Wonder Bread, but more than the 2-3 day maximum life of paper bag bread.

Interesting. I have a bread box for my homemade bread, but it has air holes in both the top and bottom. My homemade bread has a shelf life of about 3 days, at which time I either have to freeze the remainder or toss it into the chicken run. Because we have limited freezer space, the chickens usually get any old bread as a treat.

Some things are certainly over-packaged, but there's really no good substitute for plastic as food wrapping for things that you want to stay fresh and sanitary.

Maybe I'm just more pro-paper than anti-plastic. Plastic is a great product, but I don't think we need to use it as much as we do. It must be cheaper than paper. Certainly, for many food products, plastic allows you see what is in the package.

 

[gtaus]

So many great postings about paper shreds, wood chips, and other topics peripherally related to the thread. Thanks to all.

Let me ask again.... Does anyone have a good way to shred newspaper? I find newspaper is really low quality and will jam up my shredders. I can only shed a small amount of newspaper and then have to follow it up with office paper or light cardboard to clean the cutters. Not a big problem, but it would nice if there was a way to shred a pile of newspapers and not have to worry about jamming up the rollers.

 

[NatJ]

It's the result of not having a good, airtight storage container around it -- like a plastic bag. You can bake a loaf of homemade bread from nothing but water, flour, salt, and yeast and put it in a plastic bag and have it keep many days. Not as long as Wonder Bread, but more than the 2-3 day maximum life of paper bag bread.

Not in my house.
Homemade bread only keeps for a very few days at room temperature, no matter how I store it.

Bread with no plastic bag gets dried out.
Bread in a plastic bag grows mold.

Which is why my homemade bread gets put in the freezer pretty soon after it is baked & cooled (except for what we eat warm and fresh.)

 

[saysfaa]

...I'm not talking about the bread but about the rest of the groceries that the bread is coming in contact with.

If you came into my store, picked some rolls out of the individual roll bin, and just put them into your cart without their protective bag they'd be rattling around with your produce, your chicken salad, your canned tomatoes, your boxes of macaroni, the package of pork chops that you didn't notice was leaking until you got to the cash register, etc. and all the dust, dirt, bug droppings, etc. that came from the warehouse and the public.
...

That is what tends to happen when in the middle of switching paradigms.

If one continues the switch, solutions are found. A net bag to keep produce hanging from the end of the cart, the cans of tomatoes bought a flat at a time and kept in their flat, a canvas bag for small boxes or bottles, a bin of some sort for meat that might leak,

Some of these I do, some I've seen other people do.

It works the other way too... cultures with intermittent electricity thinking it is wasteful to buy a larger amount at a time. Because it would be in their area.