What bedding u use for your chickens?

[JNC]

I have an only chicken and I’m new to chickens so I’m wondering what the best bedding will be. I want to use straw but apparently it molds if not cleaned and I’m not planning on cleaning it every day since it’s only one chicken there would hardly be any poop. What’s the best bedding for their feet and comfort, something that I won’t have to get cleaned very often because I don’t like wasting. Id probably clean it once a week or so.

 

[JNC]

Well when I was on a trip 4 hours away from home my sister texted me saying how she found a chicken In a trail hiding in a bush, not to far from the my house. I told her to take care of it till I got back because I really wanted to see it. Well I got home and they chicken was really attached to us. If it saw you I would stand right by you and eat and sometimes even stand on your shoe. And it would chirp very loudly every time we got back in the house. If flew to one of our windows twice, thankfully, no injuries. After talking to some people we realized it needed some friends. We headed off to rural king and asked for a pullet, (we aren’t aloud to have roos since I’m in the city limit) they told us we had to buy at least 6. With the amount of space I have and not knowing much about chickens and just rehoming my ducks I knew I wasn’t going to be able to handle 7 chickens. I tried explaining to them that I had an only chicken at home and that it needed friends but they were stuburn I also talked to TSC but no luck Now she is about three months old living a healthy life on our two acres and getting spoiled

(When we found her)

(Now)

 

[DobieLover]

Well when I was on a trip 4 hours away from home my sister texted me saying how she found a chicken In a trail hiding in a bush, not to far from the my house. I told her to take care of it till I got back because I really wanted to see it. Well I got home and they chicken was really attached to us. If it saw you I would stand right by you and eat and sometimes even stand on your shoe. And it would chirp very loudly every time we got back in the house. If flew to one of our windows twice, thankfully, no injuries. After talking to some people we realized it needed some friends. We headed off to rural king and asked for a pullet, (we aren’t aloud to have roos since I’m in the city limit) they told us we had to buy at least 6. With the amount of space I have and not knowing much about chickens and just rehoming my ducks I knew I wasn’t going to be able to handle 7 chickens. I tried explaining to them that I had an only chicken at home and that it needed friends but they were stuburn I also talked to TSC but no luck Now she is about three months old living a healthy life on our two acres and getting spoiled View attachment 2811631
(When we found her)View attachment 2811633
(Now)

Join local FB Poultry Groups. You should be able to find someone that will sell you a couple of pullets for her.

I use poop boards with Sweet PDZ on them that are scooped daily and hemp and/or pine shavings on the coop floor. I clean the coop out once a year.

 

[aart]

What kind of bedding you use may depend on how you manage the manure.
This is about cleaning, but covers my big picture
-I use poop boards under roosts with thin(<1/2") layer of sand/PDZ mix, sifted daily(takes 5-10mins) into bucket going to friends compost.
-Scrape big or wet poops off roost and ramps as needed.
-Pine shavings on coop floor, add some occasionally, totally changed out once or twice a year, old shavings added to run.
- My runs have semi-deep litter(cold composting), never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.
Aged ramial wood chippings are best IMO.
-Nests are bedded with straw, add some occasionally, change out if needed(broken egg).
There is no odor, unless a fresh cecal has been dropped and when I open the bucket to add more poop.

That's how I keep it 'clean', have not found any reason to clean 'deeper' in 7 years.

 

[Quaen]

These are the bedding types I have used in the past 6 years.

- Dirt and leaves. Probably my least favorite, along with hay. This was a pain to clean out, as I don't have a compost pile. Its much heavier than shavings. I used this for less than a year before I made a switch.

- Hay/straw. My next bedding was hay and straw. I hated this as well. Because chickens have cecal poops and can get diarrhea in the summer time, the hay stank really fast. IMO, this works better for cooler temps and for open air coops, I would imagine. Even though I have proper ventilation, this just did not work. The ammonia was unbearable, so I switched this in less than a month.

- Next, I tried wood shavings. I used this for a good few months. It was okay to clean out. I used the deep litter bedding method with this. It was easy to maintain and I cleaned it once every two days, whereas the hay was cleaned everyday, which also was part of the reason why I hated it. If I ever missed cleaning it, it stank. The wood shavings was okay, but too dusty IMO. I switched this after about half a year.

- Lastly, I tried wood chips. This is my favorite. It takes a longer time to compost and wasn't as dusty. If you have the land, you could get a free batch of wood chips. I got a huge pile for free. It was harder to clean than wood shavings, but I hate dust. I have a pretty large coop, so I pile a wheelbarrow full of wood chips every week, sometimes more in the heat. I have used this for quite awhile now and do not plan to switch it out any time soon.

Overall, I like wood chips. But this is my experience, with my coop, and my flock. And, I never tried some bedding types, so I won't have a say in that. I do not have poop boards and I use hay in the nesting boxes, which I switch out as needed, which is usually once every two weeks, with exceptions (broody hens, broken eggs, mite problem, hay gets kicked out, or I have new layers).

 

[FlipFlopFarmer6279]

I use horse pellets. It absorbs everything and lasts *forever*.

 

[SubArcticFowl]

Why do you need to add dirt?

Dirt is in very short supply where I live. Most of the soil around here got scraped away about 15,000 years ago. One end of the chicken run is exposed bedrock, and the other end it is only about 2-3 inches deep. If I rake out all the existing dirt and poop, there would be nothing left. That would be hard on the chicken's feet, plus the point is I want chickens to build soil for me.

 

[Ryguy3684]

Well when I was on a trip 4 hours away from home my sister texted me saying how she found a chicken In a trail hiding in a bush, not to far from the my house. I told her to take care of it till I got back because I really wanted to see it. Well I got home and they chicken was really attached to us. If it saw you I would stand right by you and eat and sometimes even stand on your shoe. And it would chirp very loudly every time we got back in the house. If flew to one of our windows twice, thankfully, no injuries. After talking to some people we realized it needed some friends. We headed off to rural king and asked for a pullet, (we aren’t aloud to have roos since I’m in the city limit) they told us we had to buy at least 6. With the amount of space I have and not knowing much about chickens and just rehoming my ducks I knew I wasn’t going to be able to handle 7 chickens. I tried explaining to them that I had an only chicken at home and that it needed friends but they were stuburn I also talked to TSC but no luck Now she is about three months old living a healthy life on our two acres and getting spoiled View attachment 2811631
(When we found her)View attachment 2811633
(Now)

That makes sense. Looks like she's got a good home. I sell/give away extra birds on my local Facebook chickens group, or by leaving a flyer at my local tractor supply. You might get lucky and find a buddy for her. Good luck.

 

[HappyClucker7]

I use pine shavings.
Can I ask why you have a single chicken?

 

[Ryguy3684]

I use hemp bedding. It's a little more expensive, but it absorbs odors very well, acts as a good insulator, and it seems to last a lot longer for my coop.
X2 on the "only one chicken" question. Since they're flock animals, they normally don't do well solo.