What bedding do you use in your coop??

[JanetS]

I know this has been discussed before but hoped to start a new conversation.

We have had chickens for a few years now but have not found a "good" bedding for the coop. We started out with
pine shavings but it was so messy and hard to clean out. We have been using sand (washed construction sand) for over a year now and have been fairly happy with it but we have been having breathing issues with our chickens lately. We don't know if it's related to the sand or not but have decided to change to a different bedding just in case. But what kind? I have been looking into Coop Klean but it's not available in our area and it's expensive. We would have to travel about an hour away to get it, which is not to convenient.


Are you happy with your bedding?


Thank you for your replies!
Janet

 

[Blooie]

I am happy with mine. We are using the deep litter method in both the run and the coop. Before I figured out that I needed to add other material, I was using pine shavings only and like you I couldn't see much advantage to it. The shavings didn't seem to breaking down. Now ours consists of pine shavings, leaves, grass clippings in summer, weeds and garden trimmings, chicken poop, and whatever is at hand to toss in there. I don't worry about cleaning it out regularly. I am very happy with the deep litter method, even though I have recently learned that I haven't been taking full advantage of the decomposition aspect of it. But I still have no odor, no pests, and healthy chickens.

 

[jsevcheck]

Blooie are you referring to your coop or run?

 

[Blooie]

I am using deep litter in both.

Edited to add: Been over a year and I haven't had to clean the coop yet. Have taken some litter out of the run and replaced it once when the lawn watering tractor jumped the track and got stuck against the run while we weren't home, but that mess would have happened regardless of what was used in the run.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Rice hulls and PDZ. Clean it out fully every other week (which takes about 5 minutes, as my coop is only 4'x5').

 

[JanetS]

Rice hulls and PDZ. Clean it out fully every other week (which takes about 5 minutes, as my coop is only 4'x5').

Rice hulls? Where do you get those? Do you have any pictures? That sounds interesting.

 

[MamaRudey]

Deep litter method here. We use horse pellet bedding and Sweet PDZ. Also we randomly toss some DE in there, and firelace ash. Our run is hay, grass clippings, any scraps they get. All that jazz.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

Pine shavings here, but I recently met someone who uses rice hulls and was saying how great they are. Would like to know more about that.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Quote:
They sell them in 50lb bags at the feedstore. I love it. It doesn't clump or compact or retain water.

 

[MandalaMaMa]

I used rice hulls in my little 4x4 until my supplier ran out. So I changed to pine shavings. We are currently making an new coop 8x10 and I'm consideringgoing back to the rice hulls. Very easy to keep clean and the girls love to scratch it when I first put it in. Looking for the bits of rice. I use rice hulls in my brooder with my chicks. No poopy butts. I like the pine shaving for my nest boxes however.