What bedding do you use? - POLL

[roxyblue]

Hey Everyone!
I have been expirimenting with different kinds of bedding and would like to know what all of you are useing, and/or what works best.
Hay and straw I find gets old pretty quickly and wood shavings also need to be changed pretty often, but that those are just my results. So please, after casting your vote, simply write down what bedding you use and why you like/dislike it. Hopefully this will help some newbies or just people who are expirementing (like me) in choosing what type of bedding to use!

Thanks!
-Roxy

Also: I checked breifly to see if there was already a poll on this, and I didn't see any, but if there is one fell free to let me know!

 

[Daisy8s]

Regarding the comments about the deep litter method...yes, this is a method instead of a precise bedding ingredient but no, it would not work with all of the ingredients listed in the poll. For example, you could not do the deep litter method with sand as the purpose of the deep litter method is to have the bedding ingredient breaking down alongside the poop in a continually composting action. The compost action releases some heat, which is why it's a great method for cooler climates as it is warmer underfoot than I imagine sand to be in the midst of winter.

Straw and hay would also be poor deep litter ingredients as they are too big to break down easily and tend to clump and hold moisture. The ideal deep litter bedding can be easily churned under by the scratching of the chickens because a) you want the fresh poop turned under to eliminate smell, and b) you want to introduce oxygen into the bedding to support composting.

I began my bedding with a 3-4 inch layer of composted dirt from my 2-yr-old compost pile to transfer all the necessary micro-organisms for composting. Then, I added yard waste (grass clippings and leaves). Every day I throw kitchen scraps (only fruit and veg, no meat or dairy) onto their bedding, especially targeting areas under the roost that have fresh manure. My goal is to have the chickens scratch under fresh manure in the process of eating the kitchen scraps. Every 8 weeks in summer and every 4-6 weeks in winter (depending on how much time they spend inside) I add another 6 inches of leaves and rake around any clumped/wet spots so they can dry out.

Every visitor I have to my coop comments on the fact that there is no smell. And, I only have to clean it once a year... in the spring this bedding will go right into my garden.

So, here is my question that I've been wanting to ask for awhile. Why do people use poop boards? In every other aspect of society we seek to bury poop as it it smelly and nasty to handle. Yet, poop boards are specifically designed to hold the poop up in the air (which means maximum smelliness, to me). I understand some people clean their poop boards daily but...what if you can't? Life happens and there would be times the poop boards wouldn't get cleaned. So, why create a system that requires daily cleaning or else there are seriously stinky consequences? I'm truly curious as I always feel like I'm missing something when people exclaim that they love their poop boards.

I like the deep litter method with yard waste as bedding because I clean only once a year and there is no smell from my coop.

 

[mommissan]

Straw: I used in nest boxes, until I got a "dusty" batch. That stuff cost me a hen and nearly killed my rooster. Check your straw for mold!

Hay: Never tried, gets too slimy/moldy I hear.

Deep litter: Want to try this spring.

Sand: Have it in my run and LOVE it!

Gravel: It's what my driveway is. Good for grit, but I couldn't imagine it as bedding.

Pine shavings: I use it. I sprinkle DE in it from time to time to dry it out, but it still gets yucky after a month.

Other: I'm trying out shredded corrugated cardboard (just in the nesting boxes). Super absorbent and still very compostable. Free if you are willing to waste a few hours sitting in front of a shredder. Can't say if I like it enough yet.

.... and shredded paper was awful. It wasn't absorbent, turned to a plaster like substance, and makes the run look like a mess because they drag it out of the coop and all over the place! I'm still picking it out of the nooks and crannies in their coop. Oh yeah, and they ate a bunch of it too.

 

[carladababe]

We have sand in the run, it works well. Pine shavings in the coop using the deep litter method which has worked really well so far this winter. I also use the smaller pine shavings from Kmart for the nests and for top fluff in the coop. It's softer and smells good.

 

[Chris09]

Sand


Chris

 

[Imp]

Shredded newspaper in the coop. Super dry and no odor ever.
Yard waste in the run. Easy and convenient- chickens turn it to compost.
I tried out sand and did not like it. Just dug out the mess today and I am very relieved to see the end of it.

Imp

 

[mandelyn]

I use pine shavings in the coop and sand in the run with pine shavings over the sand since we have drainage issues now after last year's 75 inches of rain. It's easy to scoop, not prone to mold like hay and straw, absorbent, and the birds like to scratch around in it.

I haven't scooped the coop out in AGES.. I grab the poo daily from under the roosts and any obvious droppings elsewhere... in the run too with a dog scooper. Pine shavings scoop really well. Barely any waste and I hardly ever add fresh.

The ducks also have pine bedding indoors, their run is pea gravel with pine straw (pine needles) since I don't want absorbency with how they throw water around out of their pool.

 

[AmyLM]

Pine shavings: I use it. I sprinkle DE in it from time to time to dry it out, but it still gets yucky after a month.

.

ok this may be the total DAHH newbie question.. but whats DE?

 

[crystal195655]

since I am a newbie and my chicks are just barley a week old, I can't really comment much on what works for me and what doesn't...but, I am using pine shavings in the run and under the roosts I have put sand and Sweet PDZ. It should be pretty easy to scoop the poop daily. Outside in the run is just dirt and some small gravel...actually it was just some really crappy top soil we got last year that has more gravel in it than is should have. The drainage is pretty good and it hardly gets muddy. I should know more how this will work out for me in a few months.

 

[steelersfan43]

We use straw in the adult coops with deep litter method. Works great and we put old bedding in compost pile for using in the garden after composting time. Pine shavings in the nesting boxes, and in the chick pens.