What bedding do you use? - POLL

[turtleguy]

Shavings in the coop, compost (mostly dried leaves) in the run. I throw sweet pdz everywhere once in while. For a city coop, this looks great and no has no offensive odor (my dad says it smell like a farm, but my olfactory lobes aren't powerful enough to detect that, and I love farms anyways!)

 

[Going Quackers]

I bed chickens with flax, just love it virtually dust free and easy to clean up. The only disadvantage is it can be rather hard to get.

 

[hosspak]

I bed chickens with flax, just love it virtually dust free and easy to clean up. The only disadvantage is it can be rather hard to get.

As in Flax seed???

 

[pegm]

I have a question about sand. All I could find yesterday was play sand, sand blasting sand (2 grades) and concrete sand. I put the play sand under my new coop, but what should I b using? I am rebuilding my run now and would really like to know. Thanks for any advice.

 

[hosspak]

I have a question about sand. All I could find yesterday was play sand, sand blasting sand (2 grades) and concrete sand. I put the play sand under my new coop, but what should I b using? I am rebuilding my run now and would really like to know. Thanks for any advice.

Play sand is the same as cement sand that has been washed (so no dust). Blasting sand is usually glass or metal beads or sand. Whichever has only sand (silica sand) with no additives... Then buy bulk of whatever is cheapest. Is that all that you're using is sand? No straw, hay or pine shavings?

 

[pegm]

In the run I just use grass clippings, leaves mowed over. It is a sandy soil already. But VERY dusty. In the roost area I use PDZ. Put sand in the enclosed coop area.

 

[hosspak]

In the run I just use grass clippings, leaves mowed over. It is a sandy soil already. But VERY dusty. In the roost area I use PDZ. Put sand in the enclosed coop area.

I put straw and pine shavings, garden greens and veggies (deep litter) for the run, I water it once a week to keep the dust, flies and smell down. Plus it helps break everything down for the garden. They must earn their treats from the garden. I might try this PDZ stuff and I have DE also but no one can tell me a straight answer about its safety.

I have read warnings about too much grass available to the flock, because it can cause impacted crop??

 

[HeatherME]

My chicken run has gravel, which was already there when we moved (it was previously a chicken run to previous owners). Inside the coop I use pine shavings. During winter I use the deep litter method. I am, however, considering when spring comes switching to sand.

 

[pegm]

Haven't heard that about the grass clippings thanks for the warning, they sift thru it almost like they were out on the lawn, lots left that dries up for them to scratch thru. I rake the run and put fresh in every week, well, until the grass practically stopped growing here recently. Today they got a heap of mowed over leaves and very little grass. I'll need to check about the grass and impacted crops.

DE should be food grade, but it does come with a warning about using it without a mask (which I don't do) as it could cause respiratory problems. I usually spread it in the early morning when there is no wind. However, when I would scoop the old coop roost area, I would notice fine particles in the air, either PDZ or DE, I don't know. I tried not to breath that fine dust. The PDZ does have some dust, but this morning when I scooped out the new roosting area they went in to for the first time last night, I noticed very little dust. I used an organic spray in the coop instead of the DE just because of the possibility of problems. I will still use DE in their dusting areas and around the coop, as it only gets cleaned weekly.

 

[hosspak]

Haven't heard that about the grass clippings thanks for the warning, they sift thru it almost like they were out on the lawn, lots left that dries up for them to scratch thru. I rake the run and put fresh in every week, well, until the grass practically stopped growing here recently. Today they got a heap of mowed over leaves and very little grass. I'll need to check about the grass and impacted crops.

DE should be food grade, but it does come with a warning about using it without a mask (which I don't do) as it could cause respiratory problems. I usually spread it in the early morning when there is no wind. However, when I would scoop the old coop roost area, I would notice fine particles in the air, either PDZ or DE, I don't know. I tried not to breath that fine dust. The PDZ does have some dust, but this morning when I scooped out the new roosting area they went in to for the first time last night, I noticed very little dust. I used an organic spray in the coop instead of the DE just because of the possibility of problems. I will still use DE in their dusting areas and around the coop, as it only gets cleaned weekly.

Do you have a garden or does a friend or neighbor have one? If it's a big area I would leave the litter in there for a while and let the flock and the weather break it down into a great compost... I try to find a not-so-good soil mix that I would throw on top of the litter mix I have going. This doubles the amount of compost I rake out for the garden. I plan on only raking it out every 4 months, but I might stretch it to 6 months if it still looks good and not too smelly. I also water it weekly to get the dust down and bring the bugs out... the flock goes bonkers for the bugs...