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

[SkyAJK]

Same here. Never an issue for me either. Like you, I also start my days-old chicks on shredded paper litter and have never had a problem.

My cardboards are wine/beers boxes, might be my chickens like the taste of alcohol

I hate it so much whenever I heard the sound of pecking at the cardboard. My Japanese bantam is loving the taste of cardboard so much.

 

[gtaus]

I disagree w/ the statements about shredding & shredded paper/cardboard not being dusty. The dust on the shredder in pics is after 30 minutes of shredding. It is dusty when I dump the bin into the bags or that blue trash can next to the shredder above. It can be dusty when used in brooder cages & coops, pens & runs. BUT it IS less dusty then using wood shavings or sawdust. I've used both wood shavings, straw, hay & sawdust in horse stalls since 1974 & different products w/ chickens since 2011.

I'm the one always saying paper shreds are almost dust free. I suppose you are correct; there is some dust with shredded paper and cardboard. However, I am comparing shredded paper products to wood chips, straw, leaves and grass clippings which I had used before and are much, much, more dusty than shredded paper.

And let's not forget that a lot of dust in the chicken coop is from chicken dander, feathers, and feed if inside the coop. Nothing to do with litter at all.

 

[gtaus]

I used to shred papers.. used to, it is hard work for me because it is on top of my other works. This might has something to do with me being older and trying to reduce extra work.

That's why I use a cordless power cutter and shred my paper daily, as I get it. I avoid hard work if I can.

I used to compost bin shred papers, but when I took out the compost, it did not disintegrated, it was this thick stuff that was not easily break out. I must be doing something wrong for certain as every gardening show that I watched had great compost outcome with shred papers.

I use all my shredded paper as dry deep bedding litter in my chicken coop. Twice a year I clean it out and dump the coop litter into the open chicken run where it is exposed to the natural weather. The chickens scratch and peck the chicken run litter all the time looking for tasty bugs and juicy worms to eat. The shredded paper breaks down into useable compost in a few months.

I have used compost bins as well, but unless you are willing to periodically turn the piles, the composting process can take a long time. My chickens break down the chicken run litter (paper shreds, grass clipping, leaves, wood chips, etc...) much faster with little to no work by me. Composting chickens are the best way to make homemade organic compost!

 

[fat brown hen]

I used to shred papers.. used to, it is hard work for me because it is on top of my other works. This might has something to do with me being older and trying to reduce extra work.

I used to compost bin shred papers, but when I took out the compost, it did not disintegrated, it was this thick stuff that was not easily break out. I must be doing something wrong for certain as every gardening show that I watched had great compost outcome with shred papers.

Need to add nitrogen (eg chicken poop) and oxygen (aerate the pile), and moisture, so that the microbes can reproduce and break things down. I have the same problem, because I live in a dry climate.

 

[SkyAJK]

Need to add nitrogen (eg chicken poop) and oxygen (aerate the pile), and moisture, so that the microbes can reproduce and break things down. I have the same problem, because I live in a dry climate.

aerate the pile is hard. I got 3 compost bins that still composting and they are almost 2 years old. I am just over it.

 

[fat brown hen]

aerate the pile is hard.

that's the easy part. Just throw a chicken on top of the pile

 

[gtaus]

What is the value of homemade Chicken Run Compost?

I love reading the comments on composting. It's one of my favorite topics as I make all kinds of homegrown chicken run compost, using my soiled shredded paper chicken coop litter along with leaves, grass clippings, wood chips, and just about anything else organic I can find.

Need to add nitrogen (eg chicken poop) and oxygen (aerate the pile), and moisture, so that the microbes can reproduce and break things down. I have the same problem, because I live in a dry climate.

Yep, you need to add enough water to get it to that magic wrung out sponge consistency for good composting action. My paper shreds in the coop really don't compost much at all until I toss the soiled bedding outside in the chicken run.

aerate the pile is hard. I got 3 compost bins that still composting and they are almost 2 years old. I am just over it.

Unless you are willing to work your compost bins, it will take a very long time for nature to break down a bin full of compostable material. If you add manures, or other greens in the mix, it will help.

I have a 5 bin pallet wood compost bin setup that I used only as a fill and forget system. I would maybe only fill up one bin per summer and then next year fill the next one up. By the time I filled the fifth compost bin, it was 5 years for the first bin to breakdown. That worked for me for many years. But then I got chickens.

Now I dump just about everything organic from my 3 acres wooded yard and lawn into the chicken run. The composting chickens do all the work in scratching and pecking in the litter, breaking it down into smaller bits and pieces, speeding up the composting process. No need for me to turn the chicken run litter when the chickens themselves are constantly working the material.

I would encourage you to reconsider how to make compost. It's my most valuable by product from having chickens, worth more to me than the eggs I get. I'll provide an example just a bit later. I think you will be amazed at how much your chicken run compost is worth.

that's the easy part. Just throw a chicken on top of the pile

Yep. Let the chickens be chickens and do all that work for you.

I decided to really invest in making compost with my chickens. I built a cement mixer compost sifter to reduce my work. Here is a picture of my setup...

For years, I used the typical wood frame with hardware cloth on top of a wheelbarrow. But I'm getting older, and I wanted to step up my gardening in my retirement years. It takes me about 15 minutes to sift out a full 7 cubic foot black wagon full chicken run compost. It would take me hours to do that manually, and frankly, I'm not up to that task anymore.

So far, this year, I have sifted out 70 cubic feet of compost from my chicken run. That's less than 10% of my available run compost. My chicken run compost is 100% organic - no bits of glass, metal or plastic in my compost like the commercial store-bought bags of compost have in them.

But how much is all that homemade chicken run compost worth? I used to buy my bags of compost at the big box stores, so I just took some current prices from cheapest to most expensive compost options at my local stores.

Then I compared that to how much money I have saved using my homemade chicken run compost. Here is what that looks like...

Chicken run compost is very valuable!

I don't expect many people are willing to invest in a cement mixer compost sifter setup like I have. It cost me about $250.00, which was a lot of money for me to invest in a project when I did not know if I was going to do much gardening. But it was the best decision I ever made. My current garden is now about 3X bigger than pre-sifter investment.

How long did that $250.00 investment take for me to break even?

Check this out...

Of course, it's not only all the money I saved on NOT buying commercial compost at the big box stores, but I grow lots of good food for us to eat fresh from the garden. Dear Wife does all the grocery shopping, but I suspect food is not cheap these days, so our raised bed gardens save us a lot of money in what food we grow.

FWIW, my chicken coop paper shreds take about 2 months to break down into usable compost out in the chicken run where the chickens are constantly turning the litter when they scratch and peck everything looking for tasty bugs and juicy worms to eat. That's a pretty fast turnaround for very little effort on my part. The chickens do almost all the work.