What bedding do you use in your coop, nesting boxes, and run?

[RonP]

Deep litter does seem nice to me. Very little smell, hardly any cleaning either ... what could be better? But would snakes be a problem? There are a lot of snakes in South Texas, though they are usually smart enough to stay away from large birds like hawks.

We have snakes here, tho I have yet to ever see one in the run.

Our snakes are too small to eat the birds, so I think the birds eat them...

 

[funny farmer]

I am terrified of snakes. I think if I found one in my coop, I'd be done for good....LOL

 

[Xiao Casa]

Well, I'd probably expect the chickens to eat any snake they came across, but I thought it'd be interesting to see what people said. It's mostly been garter and rat snakes, though, so it's not like they're so dangerous anyway.

Now if a rattler showed up, I'd be concerned.

 

[funny farmer]

I always throw in the leaves that we rake up in the fall. My gals love it. They do all the hard work and break it all down. It makes excellent compost in the spring.

I forgot to mention that they also love fresh mown grass. We just dump the bags over the fence of the run. There's no need to spread it around. They go nuts and spread it around themselves.

 

[lcsd]

Hello, I mow the grass in my yard when it gets tall and then I rake it up and put it in they're coop for bedding. Just don't put it in there when it is wet. You don't have to buy it but it is a little bit of work. I change it about every week. it works very well. Before you buy any thing try it.

We have a little grass but mostly plants that grow in a former pasture.Are there any plants poisonous to chickens.?0

 

[BigFuzzball]

I have always used shredded paper, (envelopes, magazines and Amazon paper packaging - all free, all rots down in the compost bins after, soaks up anything and if anyone ever thought of trying to piece together our bank statements they're very welcome after the girls have used it lol), we now have 2 large-ish supermarket stock crates about a foot deep as nestboxes and in the bottom I line them with a good couple of inches of wood chippings/sawdust, then a good few handfuls of straw and finally a good covering of shredding.
The girls love it and it's fun watching them making their deep round nesting hollows throwing straw etc up around basically burying themselves !
Daily I scoop out the latest poop with soiled bedding, plump the remainder back up and add a handful of whatever was removed.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I use straw in the nesting boxes. One compressed bale ($14 @ TSC???) lasts me about 6 months. I should probably buy from one of my neighbors, its not like I'm surrounded by cattle fields and the like.

In the house I use leaf litter from my surrounding forest - mostly oak, holly, hickory and some pines. Its a good mix. Pile it in deep as a deep bedding system. Keeps things pretty odor free, does a good job with moisture before it hits my hardie board floor.

When its spent, about once a quarter, I rake it into the run, where it joins more leaf litter, grass clippings from the pasture (which doesn't grow much yet) and whatever kitchen scraps my birds miss *hhahahahaha, none!* in a deep litter system where it cold composts above my clay-ey sands and sandy-clay soils.

Only thing I dislike is that it gets a bit sparse finding replacement materials in late spring - early fall (to the extent FL has seasons), and that it takes a lot of it to fill my run. The house itself takes 4-5 loads of a 7 cu ft gorilla cart. The run? I don't count anymore. But apart from my labor, its free.

 

[Pghelp]

Get dry coffee chaff from your local coffee roaster. It works great, absorbs moisture, easy to clean out, and composts quickly. I found it life-changing! So easy to clean out coop and roosting areas now. It's free and coffee roasters produce a never ending supply. I can't take credit for the idea, I first read it in Hentopia by Frank Hyman. I do still use the commercial nesting pads but my girls are pretty tidy so I don't change them often, especially if a little coffee chaff is spread on top.

 

[preciouschick]

Hi everybody,

So, being new to chicken raising, and almost done with my coop, I have turned towards the matter of bedding. To help myself and anyone else also considering this, here are my three questions. I would like as many responses as I can get, I know that there are many methods, and it is helpful to compare many pieces of advice!

What bedding do you use?
Is there a specific reason why you chose this type?
Have you ever had a problem with what you use, or something that you used in the past?

Thank you everyone for your participation and advice!

I use shavings. It works very well. I feel its cost effective, absorbs well and smells natural.

 

[Conniesb]

Hello, I mow the grass in my yard when it gets tall and then I rake it up and put it in they're coop for bedding. Just don't put it in there when it is wet. You don't have to buy it but it is a little bit of work. I change it about every week. it works very well. Before you buy any thing try it.

I also rake up pine needles. They like that with the cut grass and straw. Throw in a little hay too! Keeps them busy. I have added a couple of fallen branches also. They like to sit in the sun on them.