What do you use for bedding?

[Missys Chicken Ranch]

Hey ya'll!
I have goats and chickens and currently use hay for the coop and my goat shed to save money from buying 2 different types of bedding. I am thinking about changing to something else.
I am curious, what do put down in your coops? What about your nesting boxes? Is it different in the summer and the winter? If so, tell me what you do for both?
Thanks!

 

[Isadora]

Rough cut wood chips. Sometimes I put straw in the nesting boxes.

 

[WIchickMama]

Lots of threads on this, which may give you more info than the responses you get

I use pine chips (large not small) and straw on the coop floor, straw in the nesting boxes, and then in the run all of the above (as it gets pushed out when they dig and stuff and when I clean out the coop) and then it gets wood chips in the spring, grass clippings and dry leaves in the fall. The chickens mix it up and do the work. They also get some sand/dirt in one corner to dust bath if they choose-but typically just use the mix in the run

 

[citymeetscountry]

For my goats and chickens I just use pine shavings/flake and for my ducks I use straw.

 

[Missys Chicken Ranch]

Lots of threads on this, which may give you more info than the responses you get

I use pine chips (large not small) and straw on the coop floor, straw in the nesting boxes, and then in the run all of the above (as it gets pushed out when they dig and stuff and when I clean out the coop) and then it gets wood chips in the spring, grass clippings and dry leaves in the fall. The chickens mix it up and do the work. They also get some sand/dirt in one corner to dust bath if they choose-but typically just use the mix in the run

Oh really, I only found a couple but not really what I was looking for. I will check again. Thanks

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not sure why you are thinking about changing to something else. That might help with suggestions.

Some or the things I've read about on here for nests include wood chips, wood shavings, straw, hay, dried leaves, Spanish moss, feed bags, shredded paper, and carpet. I'm sure I'm forgetting some. I cut grass from areas I don't mow or weed eat and dry it for use in nests.
For coop bedding I've read wood chips, wood shavings, hay, straw, dried leaves, sand, and bare dirt. Some people turn their coop floor into a compost pile so throw in many of the above as well as grass trimmings, garden excess and waste, and kitchen scraps, anything you'd toss into a compost pile. I use wood shavings on my coop floor. I don't have goats.

 

[saysfaa]

Nest boxes: dry grass. It is mostly blue grass with some orchard grass

Bedding: a mix of maple leaves, and grass clippings from the lawn makes up about 2/3. There is also some commercial pine shavings, some bark shavings and wood shavings and twigs from my projects (mostly douglas fir, maple, and willow currently), some stems and pods from vegetable garden. There is some wood stove pellets and pdz in the bottom several inches. Oh, and some sand that was kicked out of the dust bath tub. And some very, very old grass hay that has been falling off the binder twine I've been sorting - from the seed heads, it is mostly orchard grass.

 

[3KillerBs]

I use wood shavings in my nests. Sometimes mixed with straw or long grass cut from my fenceline in the summer to keep them fluffier.

My current, open air coop has Deep Litter composed of coarse wood chips, pine straw, leaf debris, and some straw that I had to buy because we had so many wet weeks this winter that I was unable to rake up any pine straw or leaf debris and the wood chip pile was soaked through.

Here is my article on Deep Bedding: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

 

[Missys Chicken Ranch]

I'm not sure why you are thinking about changing to something else. That might help with suggestions.

Some or the things I've read about on here for nests include wood chips, wood shavings, straw, hay, dried leaves, Spanish moss, feed bags, shredded paper, and carpet. I'm sure I'm forgetting some. I cut grass from areas I don't mow or weed eat and dry it for use in nests.
For coop bedding I've read wood chips, wood shavings, hay, straw, dried leaves, sand, and bare dirt. Some people turn their coop floor into a compost pile so throw in many of the above as well as grass trimmings, garden excess and waste, and kitchen scraps, anything you'd toss into a compost pile. I use wood shavings on my coop floor. I don't have goats.

I just thought there might be something better than hay. I was using straw before and I think I like it better. It comes apart easier and spreads easier than hay. I bought a bale of hay because it was cheaper and bigger than a straw bale. I also saw where some people use sand or something really fine so I was just curious to learn about all the different things people use and if it was different in the summer vs winter. Texas has some HOT summers so I was thinking something other than hay might be better but maybe not. I have no clue lol.

 

[3KillerBs]

I just thought there might be something better than hay. I was using straw before and I think I like it better. It comes apart easier and spreads easier than hay. I bought a bale of hay because it was cheaper and bigger than a straw bale. I also saw where some people use sand or something really fine so I was just curious to learn about all the different things people use and if it was different in the summer vs winter. Texas has some HOT summers so I was thinking something other than hay might be better but maybe not. I have no clue lol.

One thing that can be a problem with hay as bedding is that it's a compost "green", like the manure itself, rather than a compost "brown". Greens are high nitrogen, browns are high carbon. You need some of each to make good compost or to run a good deep litter system.